CardioExchange Archive

April 9th, 2015

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: April 9th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include the PROMISE trial, the efficacy of folic acid therapy in primary prevention of stroke among patients with hypertension in China, and more.

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April 6th, 2015

Bringing Clarity and Consensus to the Treatment of Hypertension in Patients with CAD

Elliott Antman, MD

AHA President Elliott Antman discusses the recent scientific statement from the AHA/ACC/ASH on the treatment of hypertension in patients with existing CAD.

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February 19th, 2015

Companies Plan To Resume Renal Denervation Trials

Larry Husten, PHD

Medtronic and Boston Scientific have announced plans to start phase 2 clinical trials this year for their updated renal denervation catheters. The once promising new technology is intended to treat hypertension unresponsive to drug therapy. The failure last year of Medtronic’s Symplicity HTN-3, the first large pivotal trial to rigorously test renal denervation, sent manufacturers back to their […]

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January 28th, 2015

Tight Control of Hypertension During Pregnancy Tested

Larry Husten, PHD

High blood pressure during pregnancy is increasingly common, largely due to older age and obesity. Although there is widespread agreement that hypertension in these women should be treated when it is high enough to raise the risk of stroke, there is little agreement about whether or how to treat mild hypertension. In a study reported in […]

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January 22nd, 2015

New Device to Lower Resistant Hypertension Shows Early Promise

Larry Husten, PHD

A novel implantable device appears to show early promise in the treatment of resistant hypertension. The “Coupler” device from ROX Medical is about the size of a paper clip and is delivered via a catheter to the upper thigh, where it creates an anastomosis between the distal external iliac vein and artery, thereby mechanically lowering […]

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January 13th, 2015

40-Year Effort in One Rural County to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease Found Successful

Larry Husten, PHD

A 40-year program in one poor rural county to combat cardiovascular disease appears to have been successful, resulting in reduced rates of hospitalization and death compared with other counties in the same state over the same period. The new findings are described in a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Beginning in 1970, Franklin County, […]

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December 10th, 2014

Focus on Getting Rid of Sugar, Not Salt, Say Authors

Larry Husten, PHD

Too much negative attention has been focused on salt and not enough on sugar, write two authors in Open Heart. Reviewing the extensive literature on salt and sugar, they write that the adverse effects of salt are less than the adverse effects of sugar. The evidence supporting efforts to reduce salt in the diet is […]

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October 27th, 2014

Case: When an “Inappropriate” Stress Test Might Be Appropriate

Jean-Pierre Usdin, MD and James Fang, MD

Jean-Pierre Usdin presents the case of a 58-year-old man with well-treated hypertension who experiences an ST-segment-elevation MI shortly after a stress test he had requested to clear him for exercise.

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August 18th, 2014

New Analysis of Old Study Fuels Debate Over Blood Pressure Guidelines

Larry Husten, PHD

In the last year new guidelines relating to cardiovascular disease have been the subject of intense criticism and debate. The status of the blood pressure guidelines has been particularly contentious, since several different groups have published contradictory guidelines, while several authors of the most prominent group, the Eighth Joint National Committee, published an impassioned dissent […]

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August 13th, 2014

Two New Studies Fuel the Debate Over Sodium

Larry Husten, PHD

Three papers and an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine are sure to throw fresh fuel on the ongoing fiery debate over sodium recommendations. Current guidelines recommend that people should limit their intake of sodium to 1.5  to 2.4 grams per day, but these recommendations are based on projections and have never been tested in […]

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