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Statins for heart failure? After they failed to show much effect in two large randomized trials? Yesmaybe; at least in patients with ischemic heart failure who start the drugs early enough, suggests a post hoc analysis based on one of the trials.
An additional year of data from the INCREMENTAL study showed that echo-targeted LV lead positioning increased the likelihood of a response to device therapy by about 40% over standard lead placement. But does that difference translate into better long-term outcomes for the patient?
The fact that elevated baseline NT-proBNP levels predict a diagnosis of AF even 16 years later suggests that peptide elevations precede the onset of arrhythmia, according to the researchers.
The donor, who was later shown to be affected by a novel beta-myosin heavy-chain mutation that causes HCM, is responsible for at least nine children known to be genetically affected with HCM.
Swedish researchers have confirmed a link between stroke and subsequent hip fracture in older people and identified for the first time that a diagnosis of heart failure also increases the risk for this fracture. They also identify a large genetic component to this association, via their use of a twin registry.
Just one-third of hospitalized HF patients who meet the criteria for an aldosterone antagonist receive the drugs upon discharge. On the plus side, few patients with contraindications are prescribed the medication.
Blood transfusions for anemia in acute decompensated heart failure don't exacerbate outcomes, as may happen in some ACS cases, suggests a one-year experience of hospitals in Israel. On the contrary . . .
With few studies in the literature specifically looking at the issue, a prospective, population-based study in Sweden has found no significant rise or fall in risk of heart-failure hospitalization or death at increasing levels of coffee intake.
Two-thirds of the 156 trials considered by the AHA in preparing a recent guideline failed to even record the ethnic backgrounds of participants, a new study has found. The researchers call for the reporting of race/ethnicity to be mandatory in all clinical trials, and they suggest medical journals should enforce this policy.
Are the data not shouting loud enough, or is cardiology hard of herring? Omega-3 fatty acids may have only a modest treatment effect in heart failure, but they've performed swimmingly in randomized and observational studies considering how few new HF drugs have been reeled in lately.
An analysis of Medicare data from heart-failure patients at six California hospitals challenges the notion advanced by some studies that hospital efficiency can be measured by looking back at resource use on behalf of patients who ultimately died.
Could a preoperative blood assay take the place of imaging studies or other more costly assessments of cardiovascular risk? A meta-analysis suggests yes. A massive randomized trial is looking into it now.
Defibrillators implanted within a month of acute MI may prevent sudden cardiac deaths, but they don't reduce overall mortality, according to a trial that supports current guidelines based primarily on the smaller 2004 trial DINAMIT.
Its developers say the prediction model for guiding management of patients presenting with dyspnea can make a difference when clinicians aren't sure about the diagnosis based on clinical signs. An editorial takes issue.
The "Principles on Conduct of Clinical Trials and Communication of Clinical Trial Results" echo recent standards set by medical journal editors, but some observers say the document, which has no penalty component, lacks real teeth.
Now in print after having been presented at meetings, the REVERSE randomized trial's European-cohort two-year results are consistent with the recently published, much larger MADIT-CRT trial in showing both clinical and LV structural benefits from resynchronization therapy in patients with NYHA class 1-2 heart failure.
They lived just as long, but in a small randomized trial, patients with acute decompensated heart failure who received hospital-quality care in their homes as an alternative to hospital admission after presentation to the emergency department benefited in ways missed by those managed as inpatients in the traditional manner.
The proposed biomarker, which seems to apparently play a role in the progression of cardiomyopathy and heart failure, predicted mortality or HF hospitalization in a post hoc analysis from the already published COACH randomized trial.
A single-nucleotide polymorphism associated with chronically raised natriuretic-peptide levels is common enough to potentially influence interpretation of BNP and NT-proBNP assays under some circumstances, researchers say; there is increasing evidence that the gene variant may enhance survival in some patient groups.
A packed session of interventionalists eager to hear more about long-term safety and efficacy were caught off-guard by news that a new co-primary end point has been added to cohort B.
A pilot analysis suggests the cell therapy can improve functional capacity, but amiodarone may be needed to prevent ventricular arrhythmias; its investigators say they plan to switch gears on the remainder of the study.
Better late than never in the age of evidence-based medicine, a randomized test of an established strategy might have confirmed the value of adding dopamine to loop diuretics to allow the latter at reduced, less kidney-damaging dosages.
The two-year prospective registry-based study of a performance-improvement initiative's effectiveness saw significant jumps, >70% in some cases, in the appropriate use of six out of seven measured evidence-based treatments for patients with chronic heart failure.
Dr. Ileana Piña discusses the design and outcomes of the MADIT-CRT trial with Drs. Moss and Estes, and how these new data may benefit patients with heart failure.
An older patient appearing obviously fatigued and "worn out" presents in the office complaining of heaviness in the chest, and shortness of breath especially with any type of exercise. Not your typical angina patient, or is it? How do you go about working up this patient to make the right diagnosis? Drs. Pepine and Wenger discuss the approach to patients with ischemia and treatment considerations.