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All Blog Posts (145)

(GRACE) Risk Score is Enhanced by Selected Nonnecrosis Biomarkers

Background: The Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) risk score is widely recommended for risk assessment in patients with acute coronary syndrome. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the utility of this score for long-term risk prediction in unselected patients with acute chest pain and whether it might be improved by the integration of nonnecrosis biomarkers.

Methods: We calculated the GRACE risk score in 453 chest pain patients and assessed its value for r… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 27, 2010 at 8:44am — No Comments

An Interesting Year for FDA Watchers -- What Should They Do Next About Rosiglitzone?

Hi, I'm Dr. Henry Black. I'm a Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, member of the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, and Immediate Past President of the American Society of Hypertension.

The summer of 2010 has been a very interesting season for US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) watchers. Avastin®, a cancer drug, recently lost its indication for breast cancer, and rosiglitazone (Avandia®) was the subject of a very… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 27, 2010 at 8:39am — No Comments

President's Page: The ACC Encourages Multi-pronged Approach to Radiation Safety

Diagnostic imaging procedures and fluoroscopically-guided interventions have led to improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of numerous medical conditions, including heart disease. At the same time, many of these procedures also expose patients to ionizing radiation. As a result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),[1] Congress, and others are increasingly looking at medical radiation exposure and considering policies and/or programs to ensure patient and clinician safety.[2,3]
… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 27, 2010 at 8:38am — No Comments

Screening Asymptomatic Subjects for Subclinical Atherosclerosis: Can we, does it Matter, and should we?

Unheralded vaso-occlusive cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, sudden death, and stroke) are common manifestations of atherothrombotic vascular disease, and accurate identification of individuals at risk of such events is highly desirable. Risk factor assessment and management have been the cornerstones of preventive strategies but are constrained by less than desirable accuracy and less than optimal compliance, respectively. In selected populations, noninvasive imaging using carotid ul… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 27, 2010 at 8:37am — No Comments

Cardiac Amyloidosis: An Approach to Diagnosis and Management

Cardiac amyloidosis is a myocardial disease characterized by extracellular amyloid infiltration throughout the heart. Cardiac amyloidosis has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations but the most frequent presentation is heart failure. Differential diagnoses from other restrictive cardiomyopathies is important. A combination of clinical, electrocardiographic and imaging methods is commonly used to diagnose this disease. Definite diagnosis is based on endomyocardial biopsy and treatment of card… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 27, 2010 at 8:36am — No Comments

Anatomy and Electrophysiology of the Human AV Node

The atrioventricular node (AVN) has mystified generations of investigators over the last century and continues today to be at the epicenter of debates among anatomists, experimentalists, and electrophysiologists. Over the years, discrepancies have remained in regard to correlating components of AVN structure to function, as evidenced by studies from microelectrodes, optical mapping, and the electrophysiology laboratory. Historically, the AVN has been defined by classical histological methods; ho… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 27, 2010 at 8:35am — No Comments

Syncope induced by exercise testing in 40 years old woman runner

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Added by Bolognesi Massimo on August 25, 2010 at 2:44pm — No Comments

HDL cholesterol and residual risk of first cardiovascular events after treatment with potent statin therapy: an analysis from the JUPITER trial

Background

HDL-cholesterol concentrations are inversely associated with occurrence of cardiovascular events. We addressed, using the JUPITER trial cohort, whether this association remains when LDL-cholesterol concentrations are reduced to the very low ranges with high-dose statin treatment.

Methods

… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 22, 2010 at 2:16pm — No Comments

The "MacStatin": Fast Food With Some Ketchup, Salt, and a Statin to Go

August 13, 2010 (Updated August 17, 2010) (London, United Kingdom) — Pushing the envelope of primary prevention to a point few cardiologists are likely to be comfortable with, a group of British cardiologists are proposing a rather radical strategy to neutralize the risk of cardiovascular disease caused by unhealthy eating habits.

They suggest that fast-food restaurants, such as McDonald's, offer customers a statin to go with their meal, one that could be found alongside the salt, sug… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 22, 2010 at 2:50am — 1 Comment

No MI, Mortality Threat From Echo Contrast Agents in Meta-Analysis

August 13, 2010 (Detroit, Michigan) — A meta-analysis of eight controlled studies found no significant elevation in risk of MI or mortality in patients who received echocardiographic contrast agents [1], supporting other evidence that they are generally safe for their approved indications despite "black-box" safety cautions in their labeling.

"Some of the studies had weak signals one way or another, but they didn't reach significance. When we combined them and had thousands and thousa… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 22, 2010 at 2:49am — No Comments

CRESCENDO, Rimonabant's "Obituary," Published in Lancet

August 13, 2010 (La Jolla, California) — The drug was hailed as a breakthrough for the treatment of obesity, as well as for the improvement of other cardiovascular risk factors, but in the end the psychiatric side effects with rimonabant (Sanofi-Aventis) were its undoing. In a paper published in the August 14, 2010 issue of the Lancet [1], investigators report truncated results from rimonabant's large morbidity and mortality study, a report that editorialists' call "the obituary for a wonder dru… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 22, 2010 at 2:48am — No Comments

Allowing Patients to Refuse VAD Support Is Ethical, Mayo Review Concludes

August 17, 2010 (Updated August 19, 2010) (Rochester, Minnesota) — Withdrawing ventricular assist device (VAD) support at the request of the patient or their surrogate is ethical and not tantamount to physician-assisted suicide, an ethics review published online June 28, 2010 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings concludes [1].

"Patients have the right to refuse or request the withdrawal of any unwanted treatment, and . . . this right extends to VAD support," Dr Paul Mueller (Mayo Clinic, Roches… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 22, 2010 at 2:48am — No Comments

Lorcaserin - A New, but Not Yet Approved, Weight Loss Drug

Background

Lorcaserin is a selective serotonin 2C receptor agonist that could be useful in reducing body weight.

Full Text of Background...

Methods

In this double-blind c

… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 6, 2010 at 12:28am — No Comments

Effect of high-dose allopurinol on exercise in patients with chronic stable angina: a randomised, placebo controlled crossover trial

Background
Experimental evidence suggests that xanthine oxidase inhibitors can reduce myocardial oxygen consumption for a particular stroke volume. If such an effect also occurs in man, this class of inhibitors could become a new treatment for ischaemia in patients with angina pectoris. We ascertained whether high-dose allopurinol prolongs exercise capability in patients with chronic stable angina.

Methods
65 patients (aged 18—85 years) with angiographically documented coron… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 6, 2010 at 12:27am — No Comments

The role of cellular micronutrient analysis, nutraceuticals, vitamins, antioxidants and minerals in the prevention and treatment of hypertension and cardiovascular disease

Macronutrient and micronutrient deficiencies are very common in the general population and may be even more common in patients with hypertension and cardiovascular disease due to genetic, environmental causes and prescription drug use. The Hypertension Institute in Nashville, TN, has evaluated micronutrient deficiencies and oxidation status, in a group of hypertensive versus normotensive patients. There are significant differences in numerous intracellular micronutrients and oxidation status bet… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on August 6, 2010 at 12:07am — No Comments

Braunwald's Heart Disease 9th Edition - A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine

Does anyone knows when is the scheduled
release of Braunwald's Heart Disease : A Textbook of Cardiovascular
Medicine 9th Edition release?

Dr. Braunwald's masterwork returns ... bringing you the definitive guidance you need to overcome any challenge in clinical cardiology
today, using the best approaches available! Hundreds of world
authorities, many of them ne… Continue

Added by Dr.Pratap on July 30, 2010 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Advisory Panel Votes to Recommend FDA Approval of Ticagrelor

The FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee voted to recommend approval of antiplatelet drug ticagrelor (Brilinta, AstraZeneca) for preventing thrombotic events in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

The panel voted seven to one in favor of approving the drug for patients with either ST-elevation-MI or unstable angina/non-ST-elevation MI who will be treated with PCI and then voted seven to one again in favor of STEMI/NSTEMI patients who will be treated with medical ma… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on July 30, 2010 at 1:55pm — No Comments

FDA Approves Another Triple-Drug Combination for Resistant Hypertension: Tribenzor

The FDA has granted marketing approval to another three-drug combination for the treatment of hypertension in patients unable to get their blood pressure controlled with any two of the three classes of drugs that make up the combination [1]. The new product, Tribenzor (Daiichi Sankyo), combines the angiotensin-receptor blocker olmesartan (40 mg), the calcium-channel blocker amlodipine (10 mg), and the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) (25 mg).

More at… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on July 30, 2010 at 1:54pm — No Comments

Lack of Rest Does Not Affect Residents' Surgery Outcomes

Surgeries performed at night by unrested residents have outcomes comparable to those performed at the beginning of a shift, during the day, according to a new study.

Arezou Yaghoubian, MD, from the Department of Surgery, Harbor–University of California–Los Angeles Medical Center, Torrance, and colleagues reported the findings online July 26 in the Journal of Surgical Research.

More at … Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on July 30, 2010 at 1:52pm — No Comments

Everolimus-Eluting Versus Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents in Coronary Artery Disease

Methods: The SPIRIT IV investigators randomly assigned 3,687 patients at 66 US sites to receive everolimus-eluting or paclitaxel-eluting stents without routine follow-up angiography. The primary endpoint was a 1-year composter rate of target lesion failure (defined as cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, or ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization).

Results: Everolimus-eluting

… Continue

Added by Cardiology Network Team on May 13, 2010 at 9:44pm — No Comments