CardioExchange Archive

January 23rd, 2014

Survival After MI: When and Where Make a Big Difference

Larry Husten, PHD

Two studies published this week offer fresh evidence that the time and place of a myocardial infarction (MI) make a big difference. 1. MI patients in the United Kingdom are more likely to die than MI patients in Sweden, according to a study published in the Lancet. Researchers in Sweden and the U.K. analyzed data from almost 120,000 Swedish patients […]

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January 9th, 2014

Hospital Quality Helps Explain Some Racial Disparities in CABG Outcomes

Larry Husten, PHD

It has long been known that racial disparities exist in health care. A large body of research has found that nonwhite patients have worse outcomes than whites. But it has been difficult to understand the underlying reasons for these disparities.  Now a new study offers evidence that, at least in the case of bypass surgery, […]

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September 22nd, 2013

Join a Conversation About Health Care Innovation

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

Join the conversation launched by The New England Journal of Medicine and Harvard Business Review about the future of health care innovation.

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September 4th, 2013

Too Much Emphasis on Door-to-Balloon Time?

Larry Husten, PHD

One of the great medical advances in recent years has been the improved treatment of acute myocardial infarction. As the enormous benefits of earlier reperfusion became evident, medical systems in many parts of the world aimed to treat increasing numbers of patients in a shorter time frame. The door-to-balloon (D2B) time as a performance measure […]

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February 18th, 2013

St. Jude Raises the Stakes in Renal Denervation with an Outcomes Study

Larry Husten, PHD

The already hot field of renal denervation for resistant hypertension just got a little hotter. With the announcement of a clinical trial powered to detect improvements in cardiovascular outcomes, St. Jude Medical has raised the stakes in the field and demonstrated a new level of commitment to the innovative new technology. For the past few years […]

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October 9th, 2012

PCI Utilization Lower in States with Public Reporting of Outcomes

Larry Husten, PHD

In patients with acute MI, utilization of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is lower in states that publicly report outcomes data, according to a new study published in JAMA. Despite the difference in utilization, however, there was no difference in mortality between reporting and nonreporting states. Karen Joynt and colleagues used Medicare data to analyze PCI utilization and […]

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July 23rd, 2012

A Proposal To Improve The Value Of Observational Studies

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

I believe that observational studies can reveal important truths and have a critical place in the portfolio of clinical research. However, I sometimes wonder, when I see a study, just how it was conducted. Was the study question clearly defined before the analyses were begun…or did the study question emerge only after the investigator conducted […]

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April 23rd, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: Week of April 23rd

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week, Richard discusses JAMA’s coverage of patient-centered care and all things CABG in NEJM.

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February 8th, 2012

Two Different Perspectives on the CABG Versus PCI Message in ASCERT

Fred H Edwards, MD, MS, Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD

At the recent meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), Fred Edwards presented the high-risk subset of ASCERT (ACCF-STS Database Collaboration on the Comparative Effectiveness of Revascularization Strategies). CardioExchange Interventional Cardiology moderators Rick Lange and David Hillis posed the following questions to Edwards and Christopher White, the president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI). Rick Lange and David […]

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January 30th, 2012

Very Large Observational Study Finds Significant Mortality Advantage for CABG Over PCI in High-Risk Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Although PCI has a small, early mortality benefit compared to CABG in high-risk patients, after the first year a striking survival advantage for CABG develops, according to results of the ASCERT study, presented on Monday at the annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Fred Edwards presented the high-risk subset of ASCERT (ACCF-STS Database Collaboration […]

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