CardioExchange Archive

May 7th, 2015

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: May 7th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics are a comparison of a retrievable inferior vena cava filter plus anticoagulation vs. anticogulation alone for recurrent PE, the cost effectiveness and population impact of statins for primary prevention in U.S. adults age 75 and older, and more.

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May 1st, 2015

Red Yeast Rice: Let’s Lower Cholesterol with Unknown Amounts of a Statin

Anthony Pearson, MD

Anthony Pearson wonders why some patients would choose unregulated “natural” cholesterol-lowering dietary supplements over safe and effective prescription statins.

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February 16th, 2015

Cardiovascular Risk Calculators Overestimate

Larry Husten, PHD

Calculating cardiovascular risk has become a central and highly controversial component of cardiovascular guidelines. Now a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that most of the commonly employed tools seriously overestimate the risk of people today. Researchers used data from 4,227 people enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) between 2000 and 2002 to assess the predictive […]

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February 13th, 2015

Can Clopidogrel Get Along with Proton Pump Inhibitors?

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

Are there clinically significant interactions between clopidogrel, proton pump inhibitors, and other drugs?

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October 6th, 2014

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: October 6th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include medical device safety and effectiveness, familial hypercholesterolemia, and more.

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October 6th, 2014

Nissen Urges Prompt Revision of Cardiovascular Guidelines

Larry Husten, PHD

Sparked by a new study that once again finds serious flaws in the cardiovascular risk calculator at the heart of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association cardiovascular guidelines, Steve Nissen states that “the ACC and AHA should promptly revise the guidelines to address the criticisms offered by independent authorities.” The CV risk calculator is a […]

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October 1st, 2014

Case: Testosterone Replacement Therapy and CV Risk

Seth D Bilazarian, MD, Anna Catino, MD and James Fang, MD

A 47-year-old man presents to the hospital reporting 4 days of chest pain that occurs during treadmill exercise, left-arm and jaw discomfort, and shortness of breath with diaphoresis. His medical history is noteworthy only for orthopedic surgeries and use of testosterone replacement therapy for reportedly low testosterone syndrome. He does not smoke and drinks alcohol only occasionally. He […]

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September 15th, 2014

Cheaper Generic Statins Beat Brand-Name Statins in Adherence and Outcomes

Larry Husten, PHD

A large observational study finds that people who received a prescription for a generic statin were more likely to take their pills than people who received a prescription for a brand-name statin. This increased adherence appeared to lead to a small but significant improvement in outcomes. In a paper published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Joshua Gagne […]

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September 10th, 2014

FDA Advisory Panel Offers Cautious Support for Polypill

Larry Husten, PHD

The controversial polypill took one step closer to reaching the U.S. market after receiving a mostly positive reception from the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee on Wednesday. The idea for the polypill– which in this case would be composed of aspirin, a statin, and one or more blood pressure drugs– has been kicking around for […]

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September 9th, 2014

Lower Rate of Microvascular Complications in Statin Users Who Develop Diabetes

Larry Husten, PHD

In recent years, the medical community has become increasingly aware that taking statins can result in slightly higher glucose levels, and this can lead to a diagnosis of diabetes in a small but statistically significant number of people. But it has been unclear whether the diagnosis of diabetes in people taking statins also places them […]

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