Cardiology news: award winning coverage by heartwire

Lipid/Metabolic

Dietary saturated fat has undeserved bad reputation, says review

3 COMMENTS - May 17, 2013 16:45 EDT

It calls for a reappraisal of health recommendations that focus on cutting saturated-fat intake levels, as "mechanisms for adverse health effects are lacking."

Lipid/Metabolic

Hormone therapy associated with MI in male-to-female transsexuals

3 COMMENTS - May 14, 2013 14:00 EDT

Hormone therapy given to transsexuals during gender reassignment appears to be associated with a greater likelihood of cardiovascular disease in men who subsequently become women.

Interventional/Surgery

High-volume gets demoted in new PCI-competence document

May 9, 2013 11:30 EDT

Professional societies have released an update to the "core competence" required of physicians wanting to perform percutaneous coronary interventions. In it, average annual volumes are lower, while patient-centered care, procedure appropriateness, and awareness of personal stats have moved to the forefront.

Heart failure

Dick Cheney: "Coronary artery disease is just a part of who I am"

10 COMMENTS - May 8, 2013 10:40 EDT

Speaking at the 2013 AATS meeting, Cheney describes his LVAD procedure the toughest of all his heart surgeries, while his transplant was a walk in the park. He and his cardiologist, Dr Jonathan Reiner, are coauthoring a book about Cheney's four-decade-long CVD odyssey.

Imaging

What to do when the patient is hot

1 COMMENT - May 7, 2013 15:30 EDT

Patients who've had a nuclear imaging study with radioactive tracers become, themselves, radiation emitters; now researchers in Boston have tried to quantify that risk to others.

<i>Lancet</i> antitobacco series launches as ACC chides FDA inaction

Prevention

Lancet antitobacco series launches as ACC chides FDA inaction

2 COMMENTS - May 2, 2013 18:30 EDT

One of the Lancet papers reviews the successes, failures, and ongoing challenges in beating back the "global tobacco epidemic," including a report from FDA scientists touting the impact of the 2009 Tobacco Control Act in the US.

News

Stopping dabigatran ups stroke risk: New boxed warning

1 COMMENT - Apr 30, 2013 13:30 EDT

It raises the profile of a caution already in the oral anticoagulant's prescribing information.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

Metabolic syndrome in throes of AMI often confirmed later and may up risk by itself

2 COMMENTS - Apr 26, 2013 17:00 EDT

It's never been clear whether the telltale metabolic signs at hospitalization tell the same prognostic story as in the outpatient setting. Certainly it wasn't known whether they had their own story to tell.

News

US cardiologists see incomes climb in changing healthcare climate

5 COMMENTS - Apr 26, 2013 09:00 EDT

Salaries for US cardiologists climbed in 2012, making them the second-highest paid specialty, according to the 2013 Medscape Physician Compensation Report. Some intriguing new numbers suggest changes to healthcare delivery in the US may be influencing income.

Prevention

Cardiologists plead ignorance, lack of time, in helping smokers butt out

5 COMMENTS - Apr 22, 2013 10:30 EDT

A survey of cardiologists in Spain reveals that only three out of four cardiologists are routinely asking patients whether they smoke, and the majority admit they seldom use tools and medications to help their patients quit.

Murmurs

Garrett FitzGerald and Carlo Patrono share 2013 Grand Prix Scientifique

Apr 18, 2013 12:30 EDT

Drs Garrett FitzGerald and Carlo Patrono share the 2013 Grand Prix Scientifique for their work in the development of low-dose aspirin for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

L-carnitine retakes spotlight, hints at survival benefit in acute MI: Meta-analysis

Apr 12, 2013 17:30 EDT

Seemingly at odds with a recent report implicating L-carnitine as a possible villain in heart disease, a report points to a more heroic potential role in acute therapy and perhaps secondary prevention.

Interventional/Surgery

"Nonsystem" issues prolong door-to-balloon times, up mortality in primary PCI

Apr 10, 2013 16:55 EDT

The specific delays identified in the NCDR-based study, covering about 15% of STEMI cases, were associated with a sixfold jump in in-hospital mortality.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

Prasugrel noninferior to ticagrelor, but both achieve poor platelet inhibition at two hours

2 COMMENTS - Apr 9, 2013 09:00 EDT

The Rapid Activity of Platelet Inhibitor Drugs Study showed that four hours is needed to achieve effective platelet inhibition in most patients, with just 50% of treated patients having effective platelet inhibition two hours after the loading dose.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

TACT published: Controversial study under scrutiny in JAMA

7 COMMENTS - Mar 26, 2013 16:00 EDT

TACT, a positive, if perplexing, study, suggested that chelation therapy may modestly improve clinical outcomes in patients after an acute MI. Over a four-year follow-up, those who followed an arduous regimen involving up to 40 separate three-hour infusions of a standard chelation-therapy solution of multiple ingredients, compared with a placebo, showed an 18% drop in the trial's primary end point.

Lipid/Metabolic

No, again: European regulators refuse mipomersen

Mar 22, 2013 15:30 EDT

The drugmaker, Genzyme Europe, had asked for a reexamination of the EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use December 2012 decision not to recommend approval. But once again, the recommendation was "no," despite a recent FDA decision to approve the drug.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

Rivaroxaban gets ACS indication recommendation from European regulators

Mar 22, 2013 10:01 EDT

In a move that runs counter to recent actions by the US FDA, the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended extending the indication for rivaroxaban to include prevention of atherothrombotic events in adult patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Hypertension

Excess salt blamed for 2.3 million deaths from CVD worldwide in 2010

3 COMMENTS - Mar 21, 2013 16:00 EDT

Researchers estimate that, on average, people throughout the world consume about twice as much salt as guidelines recommend, and this excess salt intake contributes to millions of hypertension-related deaths from CVD.

Prevention

Sugary drinks may explain 180 000 deaths worldwide each year

4 COMMENTS - Mar 19, 2013 17:15 EDT

CORRECTED // In a global epidemiologic study, slurping back too many sugary drinks was linked with hundreds of thousands of BMI-related deaths from CVD, diabetes, and cancer each year.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

REMINDER: Upbeat results for early post-MI eplerenone, but relevance questioned

2 COMMENTS - Mar 15, 2013 11:30 EDT

There was a significant drop in the composite primary end point in low-risk MI patients who took the aldosterone blocker, but only one part of that composite end point actually improved.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

No win for vitamin therapy in the TACT chelation study

4 COMMENTS - Mar 14, 2013 17:30 EDT

The use of high-dose oral vitamin therapy failed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy, a 2x2 factorial-design, randomized, double-blind trial that previously showed chelation therapy modestly improved clinical outcomes in patients after an acute MI.

Arrhythmia/EP

Older survivors of in-hospital cardiac arrest do well long term

Mar 14, 2013 11:45 EDT

A new study is challenging common perceptions about survival rates in patients who suffer an in-hospital cardiac arrest, underscoring the need for concerted resuscitation efforts, respecting patients' wishes, even in the elderly.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

CVD risks of breast cancer radiation quantified in new study

1 COMMENT - Mar 13, 2013 17:00 EDT

Exposure of the heart to ionizing radiation during radiotherapy for breast cancer increases the risk of ischemic heart disease in a population-based case-control study.

Arrhythmia/EP

Loving gaze: When family witness CPR at home

Mar 13, 2013 17:00 EDT

Family members who were invited to stay and witness cardiac-resuscitation efforts on a loved one who had a cardiac arrest in the home coped better later on, and their presence did not impede care delivery, in a large study.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

HIV linked to higher MI risk

Mar 13, 2013 10:45 EDT

The rate could not be explained by recognized risk factors, report investigators.