–The AHA reports that he received a stent and is doing well. The president of the American Heart Association, John Warner, had a “mild heart attack” on Monday morning, according to the AHA. Warner received a stent at an undisclosed hospital. The AHA said he is “doing well.” Warner is 52. The attack occurred while…
New Test May Allow Early Discharge Of Chest Pain Patients
October 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Each year in the US about six million people go to the emergency department with chest pain or other symptoms suggesting that they might be having a heart attack or other acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The vast majority of them do not have ACS, but because it is difficult to quickly rule out ACS many of them end…
A Requiem for Routine Clot Removal During Heart Attacks
March 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Using a stent to open a blocked coronary artery is the treatment of choice in the early period of a heart attack (myocardial infarction). A limitation is the risk of dislodging part of the clot, leading to new downstream blockages of smaller vessels. One strategy that has been under development for a long time is thrombectomy, in…
AstraZeneca Drug Improves Outcomes After Heart Attacks
January 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
For the first time a very large trial has shown that dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) improves cardiovascular outcomes when given to patients one to three years after a heart attack. Because it has been shown previously to reduce the high risk of recurrent events for up to a year following a heart attack, DAPT is considered to be…
Counterintuitive Advice About Staying Alive After A Heart Attack
September 21, 2014 by 1 Comment
… An interventional cardiologist– the cardiologists who put in stents and usually treat heart attack patients in the first few hours– asked an electrophysiologist– the cardiologists who treat arrhythmias– whether wearable defibrillators should be used post-MI. Here’s what that electrophysiologist, Edward J. Schloss, the medical director of cardiac electrophysiology at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, OH, replied….
Intensive Insulin Therapy Saves Lives– But Is The Finding Still Relevant?
May 12, 2014 by 1 Comment
A trial that started back in 1990 continues to demonstrate a significant mortality advantage for intensive insulin therapy in heart attack (MI) patients. But experts say the trial design is so outdated that the findings should have no influence on clinical practice today. During the years 1990 through 1993 the Swedish DIGAMI I (Diabetes Mellitus…
High-Sensitivity Troponin Test Could Identify Low Risk Chest Pain Patients In The ED
March 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Approximately 15-20 million people in Europe and the United States go to the emergency department every year with chest pain. Many can be discharged early if they are not having an acute coronary syndrome. A large new single-center observational study, presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Washington, DC and published simultaneously in the Journal…
Surviving A Heart Attack: Location And Time Make A Big Difference
January 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Two studies published this week offer fresh evidence that your life may depend on where and when you have a heart attack. 1. Heart attack patients in the United Kingdom are more likely to die than heart attack patients in Sweden, according to a study published in the Lancet. … 2. Heart attack patients are more likely to die…
Merck’s Vorapaxar Gets Positive FDA Review
January 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment
A few years ago a novel antiplatelet agent from Merck seemed all but dead. Vorapaxar, a thrombin receptor antagonist, was widely thought to have no future after unacceptably high serious bleeding rates were found in two large clinical trials studying the drug in a wide variety of acute and chronic cardiovascular patients. But hopes for the drug resurfaced with…
Veterans Study Finds HIV To Be An Independent Risk Factor For MI
March 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Although it has long been suspected that people with the HIV virus are at increased risk for cardiovascular (CV) disease, reliable data has not been available. Now a new study published online in JAMA Internal Medicine provides a much clearer picture of the relationship between CV disease and HIV. … In an accompanying editorial, Patrick Mallon writes…
Timing Of Heart Attacks Shifted In New Orleans After Katrina
January 7, 2013 by 3 Comments
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, heart attacks in New Orleans followed a well-known circadian and septadian (today’s word of the day, meaning day of the week) pattern, with predictable increases on Mondays and in the morning hours. Now a new study finds that the notorious 2005 hurricane dramatically altered that pattern for at least three years,…
New Guidelines Define State-of-the-Art STEMI Care
December 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
New guidelines published online today in Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology provide an efficient overview of the best treatments for STEMI patients. (Click here to download the PDFs of the full version (64 pages) or the executive summary (27 pages) of the 2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction.) “We’re looking to a future where more…
Expert Consensus Document Offers Advice On Troponin Tests
November 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment
A newly published document provides practical advice on the use of the popular and potent troponin tests. The Expert Consensus Document on Practical Clinical Considerations in the Interpretation of Troponin Elevations was developed by the American College of Cardiology Foundation in collaboration with several other societies to help address the many complex issues raised by the introduction…
Unrecognized MI: More Prevalent And Dangerous Than Previously Suspected
September 5, 2012 by 2 Comments
Unrecognized myocardial infarction (UMI) is more prevalent, and is associated with a worse prognosis, than may be generally understood, according to a new study published in JAMA. Studying an elderly (67-93 years of age) population in Iceland, Erik Schelbert and colleagues used ECG and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) to detect UMI. CMR was more effective than…
Troponin Test May Allow Rapid MI Rule-Out in the Emergency Department
August 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment
More than three-quarters of people with chest pain can be triaged within an hour of arrival at the emergency department with a novel strategy utilizing high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnT), according to a study from Switzerland published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The strategy is promising, according to anaccompanying editorial, but much work remains before it can be implemented…
Metaanalysis: Air Pollutants Raise Short Term Risk of MI
February 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Air pollution significantly raises the short-term seven-day risk of myocardial infarction (MI), according to a new metaanalysis published in JAMA. Hazrije Mustafic and colleagues analyzed data from 34 studies and found a significant increase in the relative risk (RR) of MI for all the main air pollutants except ozone: carbon monoxide: RR 1.048, CI 1.026-1.070 nitrogen…
Recent Comments