CardioExchange Archive

August 31st, 2014

Entrusting Imaging to Robotic Hands: The Potential of Remote Echocardiography and Tele-Consultation

Jagat Narula, MD, DM, PhD, MACC, FAHA, FRCP

CardioExchange’s Harlan M. Krumholz interviews Dr. Jagat Narula about his research group’s study of remote, robot-assisted echocardiographic technology and its applications worldwide.

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October 9th, 2013

Defining the “Appropriate Use” of Transthoracic Echo

Susan A Matulevicius, MD, MSCS

Susan Matulevicius discusses her study group’s analysis of the use of transthoracic echocardiography at a tertiary-care academic medical center.

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September 30th, 2013

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: September 30th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include the RE-ALIGN trial of dabigatran vs. warfarin in patients with mechanical heart valves, general population echo screening and long-term survival, and antihypertensives and breast cancer risk among middle aged women.

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September 3rd, 2013

For CRT, Let ECG — Not Echo — Be Your Guide

Clyde Yancy, MD and John Ryan, MD

Clyde Yancy, coauthor of the NEJM editorial about the EchoCRT Study Group’s randomized trial of echocardiography-guided CRT, provides further insights about the findings.

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September 3rd, 2013

Study Fails to Support Broader Patient Population for Cardiac-Resynchronization Therapy

Larry Husten, PHD

A new study from the Echo-CRT study group shows that CRT is not beneficial in patients with HF and a narrow QRS complex and may even be harmful.

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July 22nd, 2013

Studies Raise Questions About Echocardiography

Larry Husten, PHD

Echocardiography is a safe, noninvasive tool to image the heart without the use of radiation. For this reason it has become the most frequently used method to look at the heart for a wide variety of medical indications. Now two new studies suggest that, despite its popularity, transthoracic echocardiography is often not beneficial. One study […]

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April 18th, 2013

Educating House Staff on Appropriate Use of Echoes

Rory B Weiner, MD, Rajan Sacha Bhatia, MD/MBA and John Ryan, MD

A relatively simple educational intervention reduces the ordering of inappropriate echoes

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January 5th, 2012

Coach Wants Me to Play. Will You Let Me, Doc?

Tariq Ahmad, MD, MPH and James Fang, MD

A 21-year-old Division I college football player presented with palpitations that had started during athletic practice. He was referred to a cardiologist for further evaluation. Vital signs and physical exam were normal. An EKG showed prominent R waves, inverted T waves in leads V1–V2, along with a biphasic T wave in lead V3. QRS axis and QTc […]

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August 17th, 2011

Details of Updated U.K. Heart Failure Guidelines Raise Some Eyebrows

Larry Husten, PHD

Although the updated heart failure guidelines from the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are broadly consistent with similar guidelines from Europe and the U.S., outside experts are questioning several key details of the update. A summary of the new guidelines has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, along with […]

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June 16th, 2011

Advice for New Cardiology Fellows — Part 1: The Learning Curve

John Ryan, MD, Andrew M. Kates, MD and James De Lemos, MD

With July just around the corner and a new generation of cardiologists about to start their training, the CardioExchange editors have asked the fellowship moderators to share their advice about how to face this exciting new challenge. We bring you that advice in a three-part series through the end of June. Part 1 focuses on […]

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