CardioExchange Archive

March 30th, 2014

High-Sensitivity Troponin Test Could Identify Low-Risk Chest Pain Patients in the ED

Larry Husten, PHD

Approximately 15-20 million people in Europe and the United States go to the emergency department every year with chest pain. Many can be discharged early if they are not having an acute coronary syndrome. A large, new, single-center observational study, presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Washington, DC and published simultaneously in the Journal […]

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January 21st, 2014

A Clinical Decision-Making Toolkit from Europe

Héctor Bueno, MD, PhD

Héctor Bueno introduces a new clinical decision-making toolkit, for non-experts and experts in training, developed by the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association of the European Society of Cardiology

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November 26th, 2013

Little Difference in Chest Pain Between Men and Women

Larry Husten, PHD

In recent years, the medical community has grown increasingly concerned that women with heart attacks may be less likely to receive prompt and effective treatment. The difference between the sexes in the presentation of symptoms is thought to be a major barrier to better treatment for women. But now a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine finds that […]

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November 25th, 2013

A 2-Hour Diagnostic Protocol for Assessing Chest Pain in the ED

Martin Than, MBBS

Martin Than discusses his study group’s randomized trial comparing a 2-hour diagnostic protocol with a standard protocol for patients who report chest pain in the emergency department.

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January 24th, 2013

Hospital Readmissions May Be Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Anita Vashi, MD, MPH

Do you know when your patients end up back in the ED but are not rehospitalized?

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August 13th, 2012

Troponin Test May Allow Rapid MI Rule-Out in the Emergency Department

Larry Husten, PHD

More than three-quarters of people with chest pain can be triaged within an hour of arrival at the emergency department with a novel strategy utilizing high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnT), according to a study from Switzerland published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The strategy is promising, according to an accompanying editorial, but much work remains before […]

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July 25th, 2012

ROMICAT-II Provokes Opposing Views on CT Angiography in the ED

Larry Husten, PHD

For patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes (ACS), CT angiography (CTA) compared to standard treatment can reduce the time in the emergency department (ED), according to results of the ROMICAT-II (Rule Out Myocardial Infarction/Ischemia Using Computer-Assisted Tomography) trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, CTA resulted in more tests being performed and increased radiation exposure. One […]

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March 23rd, 2011

New Protocol Identifies Low-Risk Chest-Pain Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Investigators in the Asia-Pacific region are proposing a “reliable, reproducible, and fast” 2-hour protocol to identify chest-pain patients in the emergency department who have a low short-term risk of having a major adverse cardiac event and who may therefore be suitable for early discharge. The accelerated diagnosis protocol (ADP) consists of the TIMI score, ECG, and […]

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