CardioExchange Archive

April 14th, 2014

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: April 14th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include TOPCAT, fibrinolysis for those with intermediate-risk PE, and more.

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March 19th, 2014

New Statin Guidelines Recommend Therapy for 12.8 Million More Adults Than The Prior Guideline

Larry Husten, PHD

Millions more people are now eligible for statin therapy under the new cholesterol guideline published last year, according to a new estimate published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Under the earlier guideline statins were indicated for primary and secondary prevention based largely on LDL cholesterol levels. The new guideline, announced last year, places much less […]

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March 3rd, 2014

New Guidelines Issued for Valvular Heart Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology today released new practice guidelines for the management of patients with valvular heart disease (VHD). Among its most notable features, the new document provides a new system of classification for VHD and lowers the threshold for interventions, including, for the first time, transcatheter as well […]

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February 6th, 2014

First-Ever Guidelines Issued on Stroke Prevention in Women

Nicholas Downing, MD

The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association have issued the first stroke-prevention guidelines that focus on women’s unique risks. Among the recommendations: Pregnant women with chronic hypertension or a history of pregnancy-related hypertension should take low-dose aspirin, beginning at 12 weeks’ gestation, to reduce pre-eclampsia risk. Preeclampsia is a risk factor for stroke later in life, […]

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January 13th, 2014

Minority Report: Five Guideline Authors Reject Change in Systolic Blood Pressure Goal

Larry Husten, PHD

It didn’t seem possible, but the guideline situation just got even more confusing. Last December, after  years of delay and other twists and turns, the Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC 8) hypertension guideline was published in JAMA. The previous guideline recommended that all adults have a target systolic blood pressure below 140 mm Hg. In the new guideline, […]

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January 3rd, 2014

2013: The Year of the Guideline

John W McEvoy, MB BCh BAO

John (Bill) McEvoy looks back at 2013’s guidelines and shares his thoughts on what is needed going forward and his hopes for how we’ll use guidelines in the future.

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December 13th, 2013

Dispatch From the Wild Frontier of the Statin Wars

Larry Husten, PHD

The long simmering controversy over the relative benefits and harms of statins has heated to a high boil with the release of the new AHA/ACC U.S. guidelines. But nowhere is the battle more intense right now than in Australia, where, according to the National Heart Foundation, a TV show may be the cause of 2,000 heart attacks […]

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December 11th, 2013

Inside The KDIGO Guideline On Lipid Management In Patients With CKD

Marcello Tonelli, MD, SM and Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

Recently the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Lipid Management in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease Guideline was published in Kidney International. Now a synopsis has appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Harlan Krumholz spoke with the co-chairman of the guideline, Marcello Tonelli. Krumholz: Like the new US Guidelines, the KDIGO Guideline abandons targets. Were you aware of the US Guidelines or did […]

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November 18th, 2013

Controversy Erupts Over Accuracy of Cardiovascular Risk Calculator for Guidelines

Larry Husten, PHD

In the face of a highly critical story in the New York Times by Gina Kolata about the new cardiovascular guidelines, authors of the guidelines and leaders of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) defended the value and integrity of the guidelines. The Times story claims that the cardiovascular risk calculator used to assess individual risk in the new guidelines is deeply […]

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November 15th, 2013

Hypertension Treatment Algorithm Fills in for Missing Guideline

Larry Husten, PHD

When the AHA and the ACC released four updated clinical guidelines earlier this week, a fifth document, the hypertension guideline, was conspicuous by its absence. According to the AHA and the ACC, the authors of the hypertension document have chosen to publish it independently. (No word has yet emerged about their reasons for doing so […]

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