Will ORBITA Change Clinical Practice? The Role of Perverse Economic Incentives

Editor’s note: In this guest post Sanjay Kaul (Cedars-Sinai) explains why it is unlikely that the ORBITA trial will have a big impact on clinical practice. Guest Post: Will ORBITA Change Clinical Practice? The Role of Perverse Economic Incentives.   by Sanjay Kaul, MD (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) Shortly after celebrating the 40th anniversary of PCI, first…

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ORBITA Trial Puts Interventional Cardiologists On The Defensive

(Updated) Since it’s debut a week ago the ORBITA trial has provoked the most furious debate in cardiology since the COURAGE trial a decade earlier. But the ORBITA debate has proceeded far faster, fuelled by Twitter and its ability to  instantaneously deliver point and counterpoint. Although ORBITA has been showered with praise for its innovative…

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Diving Deep Into The ORBITA Trial

William Boden, Ajay Kirtane, and Dan Mark analyze the ORBITA trial. Editor’s note: I asked a wide variety of cardiologists for their thoughts about ORBITA, presented at the TCT meeting in Denver and published simultaneously in the Lancet. Three of them, William Boden, Ajay Kirtane, and Dan Mark, sent highly detailed comments about the trial….

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Small Trial Raises Big Concerns That PCI In Stable Angina Is Just A Placebo

ORBITA trial may spark a heated debate in the cardiology community. It is only a small trial but it may have an enormous impact as it raises major questions about one of the core beliefs of clinical cardiology as it suggests that PCI for stable coronary disease has no more effect than a sham procedure….

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Waiting For ISCHEMIA: Why Won’t Cardiologists Enroll Patients?

One of the most important unanswered questions in medicine today– the best treatment for stable ischemic heart disease– may never get a satisfactory answer because cardiologists are unwilling to enter their patients in a clinical trial. One major reason why the question is urgent: about a third of the 1 million PCI procedures performed each year in the…

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Questions About President George W. Bush’s Stent

Former President George W. Bush received a stent today at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Here is the statement from Bush’s office: During President George W. Bush’s annual physical examination at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas yesterday, a blockage was discovered in an artery in his heart. At the recommendation of his doctors, President Bush agreed to have a stent…

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FAME 2: Can FFR Save PCI From Medical Therapy?

Two sharply divergent views have developed about the value of fractional flow reserve (FFR) in PCI. FFR advocates think the new technology can help identify ischemic lesions that will benefit from PCI, thereby helping to salvage or enhance the reputation of PCI. FFR skeptics think that optimal medical therapy is still the preferred option for most…

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Has COURAGE been vindicated?

The ACC, the AHA, and a whole alphabet soup worth of other cardiovascular organizations (SCAI, STS, AATS, ASNC, ASE, HFSA SCCT) have published (or in some cases just endorsed) a report, called the ACCF/SCAI/STS/AATS/AHA/ASNC 2009 Appropriateness Criteria for Coronary Revascularization. The report  will probably provide comfort to those who were big supporters of COURAGE. I’m guessing…

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