CardioExchange Archive

May 11th, 2012

A ‘Brilinta’ Theory on Why Ticagrelor Doesn’t Work as Well in the U.S.

Harry Peled, md

Harry Peled wonders whether intermediate-dose aspirin may simply be so effective that it obviates the need for a P2Y12-receptor antagonist.

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May 3rd, 2012

WARCEF: No Advantage for Warfarin over Aspirin in Heart Failure

Larry Husten, PHD

A new study offers “no compelling reason” to use warfarin instead of aspirin in heart failure patients who don’t have atrial fibrillation. In a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Shunichi Homma and members of the Warfarin versus Aspirin in Reduced Cardiac Ejection Fraction (WARCEF) study group report the results of a trial in which […]

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March 20th, 2012

Meta-Analysis Adds New Evidence for Cancer Benefits of Daily Aspirin

Larry Husten, PHD

Although daily aspirin was originally proposed to reduce cardiovascular events, aspirin’s effects on cancer have become increasingly apparent while the vascular benefits, especially in primary prevention, have become less clear. Now a meta-analysis in the Lancet adds important new details to our understanding about the effects of aspirin and increases the evidence in support of a long-term beneficial […]

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February 13th, 2012

Meta-Analysis Raises More Questions About Routine Use of Aspirin for Primary Prevention

Larry Husten, PHD

Although aspirin can reduce the risk for cardiovascular (CV) events, the associated increase in bleeding suggests that it should not be used routinely in  people without prior CV disease, say the authors of a meta-analysis published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Sreenivasa Rao Kondapally Seshasai and colleagues combined data from nine clinical studies including more […]

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August 29th, 2011

ESC: A Closure Device and a Warfarin Substitute for High-Risk AFib Patients

Stephen Fleet, MD

How can we manage a patient with atrial fibrillation and contraindications to warfarin therapy such as recurrent severe bleeding — a common scenario in clinical practice? Data from the manufacturer-sponsored ASAP study (ASA Plavix Feasibility Study with WATCHMAN Left Atrial Appendage Closure Technology) provides some hope, beyond what we had learned from the Protect AF […]

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July 25th, 2011

Panel: Will You Prescribe Ticagrelor (Brilinta)?

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

Three experts discuss whether — and with which patients — they will use ticagrelor in clinical practice.

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June 27th, 2011

Asprin Dosage in U.S. May Explain Disparity in Ticagrelor Results in PLATO

Larry Husten, PHD

Although the PLATO trial demonstrated the overall superiority of ticagrelor (Brilinta, AstraZeneca) to clopidogrel in more than 18,000 acute coronary syndrome patients worldwide, approval of the drug in the U.S. has been delayed because of ticagrelor’s lack of effect in the prespecified subgroup of patients from North America. Now, two analyses of the trial, presented […]

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May 13th, 2011

Simultaneous TIA and ACS After Aspirin Cessation for Palpebral Surgery

Jean-Pierre Usdin, MD and James Fang, MD

A 77-year-old man with metformin-treated type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, moderate renal insufficiency, stable angina, and a history of phlebitis stopped taking aspirin in preparation for palpebral surgery. A day after the surgery, he presented to the ER with two transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) affecting the left arm. The patient complained to the examining neurologist of […]

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December 6th, 2010

Meta-Analysis: Daily Aspirin Reduces Cancer Deaths

Larry Husten, PHD

A new analysis finds that long-term aspirin use reduces deaths from several common cancers. Previous studies had only shown a convincing benefit in colorectal cancer. In the new meta-analysis, appearing online in the Lancet, Peter Rothwell and colleagues combined data from more than 25,000 patients enrolled in long-term randomized trials of aspirin. They showed that […]

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October 6th, 2010

Study Finds No Evidence for Clopidogrel-Omeprazole Interaction

Sanjay Kaul, MD and Larry Husten, PHD

A large clinical trial has found no evidence that omeprazole interferes with the cardiovascular efficacy of clopidogrel. COGENT (Clopidogrel and the Optimization of Gastrointestinal Events Trial) randomized 3873 patients eligible for dual antiplatelet therapy to receive aspirin, clopidogrel, and either omeprazole or placebo. The COGENT investigators had planned to enroll 5000 patients, but the trial […]

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