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Wednesday, March 17 2010
Heart patients who took proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) along with clopidogrel were half as likely to be hospitalized for upper digestive tract bleeding than those who used clopidogrel alone. In addition, the PPIs did not inhibit clopidogrel’s therapeutic effect, according to a study published in the March 16 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Wednesday, March 10 2010
While the rates of hospitalization for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with acute MI (AMI) have dropped significantly between 2002 and 2007, researchers found that these rates varied based on demographics, particularly race and gender, according to a study published online March 8 in Circulation.
Wednesday, March 10 2010
A coronary CT angiography-only approach -- when factoring in a $20,000 threshold level for cost per correct diagnosis and $50,000 per quality-adjusted life-year -- is the most cost-effective diagnostic strategy for the evaluation of patients presenting with stable chest pain without known coronary artery disease (CAD) with intermediate CAD prevalence, according to a decision analysis study published in the March issue of Radiology.
Wednesday, March 03 2010
Individuals who were identified as being at increased risk of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events based on screening for low ankle brachial index did not significantly reduce their risk of these events with the use of aspirin, according to a randomized, controlled trial in the March 3 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
Tuesday, March 02 2010
A standard test of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) is linked to significant thought-processing problems that improve for most patients within a year after the device is inserted, according to a study published in the March 2 issue of Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology.
Monday, March 01 2010
Compared with no screening, screening young athletes with a 12-lead ECG, coupled with cardiovascular-focused history and physical exams, can significantly reduce costs and add years of life, according to a study published in the March 2 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Wednesday, February 24 2010
Physicians are working fewer weekly hours and making less money than they did in recent decades, which is inconsistent with other professional careers. Any further negative economic factors could be the tipping point for unsustainable decreases in hours worked in a market already hurt by physician shortages, according to a study in the Feb. 24 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
Monday, February 22 2010
At five years, Cordis’ Cypher sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) had a safety record comparable to CABG and superior to bare-metal stents (BMS), and a major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular event (MACCE) rate that was higher than in patients treated with CABG and lower than in those treated with BMS, based on the results of the randomized ARTS II trial.
Thursday, February 18 2010
Hospitals that participate in the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke initiative have narrowed the age-related gaps in care and outcomes for acute ischemic stroke patients in all age groups, but particularly benefiting the elderly, according to a study published online Feb. 8 in Circulation.
Wednesday, February 17 2010
Modest reductions in dietary salt could substantially reduce cardiovascular events and medical costs and should be a public health target in the U.S., according to a study in the Feb. 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Friday, March 12 2010
The use of contrast media agent iodixanol (Visipaque, GE Healthcare) may be an appropriate strategy for reducing the risk of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in elderly patients with renal impairment undergoing coronary intervention for suspected coronary artery disease, according to a study presented during the European Congress of Radiology’s (ECR) annual conference in Vienna.
Wednesday, March 10 2010
The reversible anti-clotting medication ticagrelor can overcome a patient's nonresponsiveness to clopidogrel, according to results of the RESPOND trial published online March 1 in Circulation.
Monday, March 08 2010
Black and Hispanic heart failure (HF) Medicare beneficiaries are less likely to receive hospice care than white patients with the same diagnosis, according to a study published in the March 8 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Wednesday, March 03 2010
Aggressive device therapy, more frequent follow-ups and better heart failure management programs could help decrease mortality and readmission rates of heart failure patients, according to a study published online March 1 in the European Journal of Heart Failure.
Tuesday, March 02 2010
In patients undergoing carotid artery stenting, use of the FiberNet Embolic Protection System (EPS) proved 97.5 percent effective and put stroke rate levels below the American Heart Association’s (AHA) standard of 3 percent following carotid endarterectomy, according to the EPIC trial published online March 3 in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.
Friday, February 26 2010
Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have created a new method to test the activity of mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channel (mKATP) and identified a molecule, phosphatidyilnositol-4, 5- bisphosphate (PIP2), that holds the ability to restore heart activity once it has stopped, according to research published in the Feb. 25 issue of Circulation Research.
Monday, February 22 2010
When physicians indicate a medical situation is an exception to a guideline, most of the time these medical decisions are correct. These findings have implications for improved decision-support tools, according to a study published in the Feb. 16 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Thursday, February 18 2010
A large single-center study has found that carotid artery restenosis (post-stenting) greater than 50 percent and cerebral events rather than retinal events are risk factors for recurrent stroke. Clopidogrel, however, reduced the risk, according to the investigation published in the February issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.
Thursday, February 18 2010
In patients undergoing elective PCI, impaired microcirculatory reperfusion is improved by vitamin C infusion, suggesting that oxidative stress is implicated in such a phenomenon, according to a study published in the February issue of the Journal of the American College Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.
Wednesday, February 17 2010
Creation of a genetic risk score comprised of multiple genetic markers associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) was not associated with significant improvement in CVD risk prediction in a study that included more than 19,000 women, according to a study in the Feb. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Middle age introduces itself in many ways; one is atrial fibrillation (AF). My onset of AF seems to have coincided with a mountain bike accident in the woods of North Carolina that resulted in some cracked ribs.
The use of health IT to reduce rehospitalizations will be welcome but also disruptive, said Stephen Jencks, an independent consultant in healthcare safety during a Feb. 24 webinar on the potential use of health IT to mitigate rehospitalizations, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).