Editor’s note: 86-year-old Nina Mishkin was still healthy and active when she went to Dublin, Ireland last September. After she returned home she developed atrial fibrillation, and then much more. “I never felt particularly vulnerable and fragile before,” she writes. “Now I do… It’s a different universe I inhabit.” I am grateful to Nina for giving…
If You Look For Atrial Fibrillation You Will Find Atrial Fibrillation
July 10, 2018 by 3 Comments
If you look hard to find people who have atrial fibrillation (AF) you will in fact find people who have atrial fibrillation, a new paper published in JAMA shows. But the paper offers no evidence whatsoever that the new diagnosis improves outcomes in these people, though it does find that the diagnosis leads to increased use of…
FDA Approves ECG Band For Apple Watch
November 30, 2017 by 4 Comments
(Updated) —Kardia Band is the first FDA approved medical accessory for the Apple Watch. The FDA has cleared a band for the Apple Watch that records an ECG. According to AliveCor, the Kardia Band is the first medical device accessory cleared by the FDA for the Apple Watch. The Kardia Band is activated with a…
CMS Proposal Would Plug Up Watchman Reimbursement
November 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Medicare is proposing to put severe constraints on reimbursement for percutaneous left atrial appendage closure using the Boston Scientific Watchman device to prevent stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. On Tuesday afternoon the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the draft of a restrictive national coverage determination (NCD) for Watchman that would almost certainly apply the…
FDA Advisory Panel Gives Tepid Support To New Daiichi Sankyo Drug
October 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment
On Thursday the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee voted 9-1 in favor of approval for Daiichi Sankyo’s edoxaban(Savaysa), but the outcome will likely result in a drug that will be on the market but that few physicians will prescribe until further studies are performed. … Click here to read the full post on Forbes….
Warfarin Benefits Extended To Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
March 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Anticoagulation is a cornerstone of therapy for atrial fibrillation because it lowers the heightened risk for stroke in this population. People with chronic kidney disease are also at increased risk for stroke, but the benefits of anticoagulation are less clear in this group, and anticoagulation is used less often in AF patients who have CKD….
Problems Persist Despite Gains In Oral Anticoagulant Use
January 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Although significant progress has been made in recent years, a new survey from the European Society of Cardiology finds that there are still too many atrial fibrillation patients who are not taking the best medications to reduce their elevated risk of stroke. Many elderly patients are not receiving oral anticoagulants and overall too many patients…
Atrial Fibrillation: Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation And Antiarrhythmic Drug Therapy Compared
October 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
A trial comparing radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFA) to antiarrhythmic drug therapy (AAD) as initial therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) found no difference in the overall burden of AF between the groups. But the trial also turned up evidence supporting the use of RFA as an initial treatment strategy in some patients. In a paper published…
High Rate Of Warfarin Discontinuation Observed In Study
October 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
One of the many potential problems with warfarin-based anticoagulant therapy is the poor rate of adherence and persistence among patients who are prescribed the drug. Now a new observational study published in Archives of Internal Medicine raises the possibility that the problem may be even worse than many may have previously suspected, as discontinuation rates in clinical…
FDA Sets New Decision Date For Eliquis (Apixaban)
September 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The FDA will decide the fate of apixaban (Eliquis) by March 17, 2013. The new Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date was announced yesterday by the drug’s manufacturers, Pfizer and BristolMyers Squibb. The new drug application (NDA) for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation has been delayed twice. Although the pivotal ARISTOTLE trial was…
In AF, Women Have A Bigger Risk Of Stroke Than Men
May 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment
When compared to elderly men with atrial fibrillation, elderly women with AF have a significantly elevated risk for stroke. This increased risk occurs regardless of warfarin use, according to a new study published in JAMA. Meytal Avgil Tsadok and colleagues reviewed data from Quebec, Canada on more than 80,000 AF patients at least 65 years of age. Much of…
Study Explores Role of Periprocedural Dabigatran in AF Ablation
February 2, 2012 by 1 Comment
Updated with a comment from John Mandrola– As dabigatran becomes more widely used in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients, electrophysiologists are now trying to figure out how to handle anticoagulation in patients taking dabigatran (Pradaxa) for whom AF ablation is planned. In a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy and colleagues…
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