Cardiology news: award winning coverage by heartwire

Features

The doctor will see you now (from the other side of the world)

5 COMMENTS - Feb 10, 2012 12:30 EST

A unique "medical mission" using handheld echo in a remote rural population in India is being hailed as a success after cardiologists around the globe logged on over a two-day period to read the echocardiograms of unseen patients half a world away.

Features

The flap over flavonoids

7 COMMENTS - Feb 2, 2012 15:15 EST

The field of flavonoids and polyphenols continues to attract a massive amount of interest, from researchers and the public alike. But can health really be improved by eating chocolate and drinking red wine?

Interventional/Surgery

US "roadmap" for TAVI rollout published

1 COMMENT - Feb 1, 2012 15:00 EST

A new US expert-consensus document on transcatheter aortic-valve implantation aims to smooth the rollout of this new technology stateside.

Heart failure

Shifty and dangerous: Worsening diastolic dysfunction ups mortality

Jan 31, 2012 16:45 EST

Actually, it was just as strong a mortality predictor as worsening systolic function in a retrospective series of patients followed with echocardiography.

Imaging

New data will shed light on cancer risk from imaging

Jan 31, 2012 13:00 EST

Ongoing epidemiological studies in children who have undergone CT scans should help provide a better understanding of radiation-associated cancer risks from cardiac imaging over the next few years.

Heart failure

3B or not 3B? Should patients get an LVAD before reaching end-stage HF?

2 COMMENTS - Jan 30, 2012 10:00 EST

Experts debated the evidence supporting the expansion of LVAD therapy to patients whose heart failure has not yet progressed to the so-called end stage.

Arrhythmia/EP

Riata Summit insights: Vigilance key to following functional but "recalled" ICD leads

Jan 27, 2012 10:00 EST

UPDATED // Most attending the recent Riata ICD lead summit felt that fluoroscopic screening of Riata recipients was a reasonable thing to do, at odds with some recommendations; remote monitoring has its limits here, say VA data.

Murmurs

Cardiologists flagging woeful patient care say they paid with their jobs

8 COMMENTS - Jan 25, 2012 15:30 EST

An echocardiographer and cardiac surgeon who say their jobs were axed in retaliation after they lodged numerous complaints of substandard patient care at a county hospital in Santa Clara are suing some of their former bosses, including two other cardiologists. The plaintiffs also claim they suffered severe harassment as a result of expressing their concerns. The defendants' attorney says the case "is hotly disputed."

Medscape Medical News

Pay for SGR repeal with war savings, say medical groups

3 COMMENTS - Jan 24, 2012 15:45 EST

A letter to Rep Dave Camp from 110 medical societies admits that war savings from military pullbacks are a "budget gimmick" but says they could retire SGR debt, another budget gimmick.

Imaging

Carotid images don't boost quit rates or cut CV risk factors in smokers

8 COMMENTS - Jan 23, 2012 17:00 EST

A new randomized controlled trial is the latest addition to a contentious field of research trying to establish whether "seeing is believing" when it comes to motivating cardiovascular risk reduction.

Arrhythmia/EP

"Recalled" Riata ICD leads: Brainstorming conference aims for guidance

4 COMMENTS - Jan 20, 2012 13:30 EST

The lead failures can take years to manifest with inappropriate shocks or a variety of other issues, or they may not cause problems at all. There could be more agreement on how to manage the patients after today's Minnesota Heart Institute Riata ICD Lead Summit.

Interventional/Surgery

FFR shows benefit in FAME II; enrollment halted

12 COMMENTS - Jan 18, 2012 12:00 EST

An interim analysis of the FAME II study shows a significant benefit of fractional-flow-reserve-guided stenting plus optimal medical therapy over and above optimal medical therapy alone; as a result the data safety monitoring board has said no further patients should be randomized to medical therapy alone.

Heart failure

Mortality climbs with rising PA pressure in heart failure: Community-based study

Jan 18, 2012 09:45 EST

The finding in a broad community-based HF population confirms and extends what is recognized in the hospital setting.

Imaging

CCTA is less useful in patients with high calcium score

2 COMMENTS - Jan 16, 2012 16:15 EST

The diagnostic accuracy of any test depends largely on disease prevalence in the tested population. CORE-64 researchers looked at how calcium scores could help identify patients with such a high likelihood of disease that CCTA is not useful.

News

Resveratrol scientists react to Das fraud scandal: "Research will continue"

4 COMMENTS - Jan 13, 2012 17:20 EST

As the controversy over the research fraud allegations against Dr Dipak Das enters its third day, researchers told heartwire what the news means for the field of resveratrol research and, more pressingly, an upcoming scientific meeting.

Imaging

FDA: CardioGen-82 problems site-specific

Jan 13, 2012 10:15 EST

The generators, used in cardiac nuclear scans, were recalled by the manufacturer last summer, and the FDA previously found fault with manufacturing processes. Now the FDA says the excessive radiation cases appear to have occurred only at specific clinical sites and were unrelated to any manufacturing deficiencies.

Medscape Medical News

Red-wine researcher charged with photo-editing fraud

6 COMMENTS - Jan 13, 2012 09:30 EST

A University of Connecticut investigation found Dr Dipak K Das guilty of falsifying and fabricating images that appeared in published research.

Acute Coronary Syndromes

Aortic stenosis grading system misses rare, high-risk group

Jan 9, 2012 17:00 EST

A new study has examined the clinical outcomes of asymptomatic aortic-stenosis patients classified by valve area plus flow-gradient patterns instead of the older, inherently inconsistent system based on separate area, gradient, and flow measurements.

Imaging

MR beats out SPECT in CE-MARC crossover trial

9 COMMENTS - Dec 23, 2011 18:30 EST

UPDATED // The diagnostic accuracy of SPECT imaging for assessment of myocardial ischemia is variable and exposes patients to ionizing radiation, so evidence that magnetic resonance can be at least as accurate might make it an attractive alternative.

Medscape Medical News

Congress postpones Medicare pay cut

Dec 23, 2011 09:30 EST

UPDATED // After the Senate had overwhelmingly approved the plan and a tumultuous few days among House Republicans, this morning Congress voted to put off a steep cut in Medicare physician reimbursements that was to take effect on January 1, 2012.

News

Combining wireless sensors and genomics for CVD prevention?

Dec 19, 2011 10:00 EST

Monitoring an individual's risk for MI in the future would ideally first take into account his or her genome sequence or other biomarkers and then might use an implanted nanosensor smaller than a grain of sand. In an excerpt from his new book, The Creative Destruction of Medicine, theheart.org's editor in chief offers a glimpse of what that might look like.

News

AHA Statistics: New year, same trends

Dec 15, 2011 16:00 EST

The new annual update on the state of America's heart health is out and provides some encouraging news about outcomes while underscoring the severity of the country's problems with obesity and poor fitness.

Interventional/Surgery

"Striking" variation in PCI/CABG across Ontario hospitals

Dec 12, 2011 12:00 EST

A large study in Ontario has identified a threefold variation in the ratio of PCI to CABG, depending on which hospital a patient attends. The widest range was seen among those with multivessel disease, and the results indicate that proper, unbiased discussion with each patient is needed to determine the best course of treatment for each individual, say the authors and accompanying editorialists.

Imaging

There's a (cath-lab) app for that! iPad collects and streams real-time data to families, colleagues

6 COMMENTS - Dec 9, 2011 10:30 EST

The iPad application collects clinical information during the coronary catheterization procedure and sends the information directly to the device, which allows clinicians to show patients the entire cardiovascular diagnostic workup and procedure. In some cases, the families can watch the entire cath procedure unfold in real time.

News

Waiting game: ACC, SCAI, HRS await details on CMS prepayment audits

Dec 9, 2011 09:00 EST

Cardiology organizations appear to be scrambling to get more information from the CMS as to just what kinds of procedures will be affected by the new prepayment audit programs in 11 states and are asking the CMS to hear their concerns and opinions about the proposal for Florida.