• A bad week for Cardiology Part III

    Updated: 2011-07-29 04:46:41
    We now come to the worst part of this week’s news.  This issue I have blogged about before on 04/07, 04/12 and 04/14, and will become an ever increasing issue for us.  Once the infrastructure is in place to track and understand this data, physician’s behavior will have to change or they will not get [...]

  • An answer to a question

    Updated: 2011-07-26 23:10:52
    I received a question about a recent blog post about Pradaxa.  One of my goals when I started the blog was to provide an interactive forum with my readers about cardiac issues that interest you.  I urge you to comment or send me issues that you would like to see more thoroughly discussed.  The question [...]

  • Married men seek help for heart attacks faster

    Updated: 2011-07-22 20:52:21
    Men: Listen to your wives! It could save your life. Fast treatment after a heart attack can make the difference between life and death. So, if you experience chest pain, the sooner you get treated the better. But many people...

  • Drug used to treat atrial fibrillation increases heart risks

    Updated: 2011-07-22 06:30:00
    The drug Multaq, also known as dronedarone, which is used to treat abnormal heart rhythms, appears to double the risk of premature death in patients with a long-term form of atrial fibrillation, according to early results of a major clinical...

  • A bad week in Cardiology Part II

    Updated: 2011-07-21 18:54:15
    Now let’s talk about why we keep doing things to patients even though no clinical benefit is derived, and the most recent guidelines state that it is a Class III event i.e. of no  clinical benefit and possibly harmful. When angioplasty started we were so proud of ourselves that we invented a whole scenario as to [...]

  • A bad week for Cardiology Part I

    Updated: 2011-07-20 00:25:39
    At times, in the process of writing this blog, I am forced to confront the limitations of education and humanity.  This past week is a prime example.  An article has been published stating that 50% of all angioplasties done are unnecessary, that we continue to perform angioplasties’ on arteries that have been shown to be [...]

  • What TAVI is and isn’t

    Updated: 2011-07-12 21:41:55
    Photo from http://uphs.upenn.edu There has been enormous interest generated by TAVI or Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation.  I have blogged about it before, and it represents the dawning of a new era in valvular heart disease. As with any paradigm change, there are good parts and bad parts.  Perhaps the most important part is keeping control of the [...]

  • Differentiation of resident stem cell population improves cardiac function

    Updated: 2011-07-12 08:26:47
    The quest to regenerate functional myocardium from stem cells following myocardial infarction has garnered a great deal of media attention and has become something of a holy grail in cardiovascular medicine.  Despite the basic science of stem cells still being at an early stage, the first human trials have already been conducted – but the [...]

  • Healthy lifestyle choices lower risk of sudden death

    Updated: 2011-07-12 08:18:04
    More than 50% of all cardiac deaths are due to sudden cardiac death (SCD), and in the majority of individuals SCD is the first sign of coronary heart disease – this is especially true in women.  The aim of this study was to determine the degree to which adherence to a healthy lifestyle may lower [...]

  • High-dose statin therapy linked to diabetes

    Updated: 2011-07-10 12:45:59
    Three recent trials comparing intensive- to moderate-dose statin therapy have suggested an increased risk of incident diabetes in patients treated with high-dose statin regimens.  To investigate this phenomenon further, the authors conducted a collaborative meta-anlysis of published and unpublished data from five statin trials, all of which were randomise controlled end-point trials that compared intensive-dose [...]

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