Once again the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has concluded that there is no good evidence to support the routine use of multivitamins or most individual or combination vitamins by healthy adults to prevent cardiovascular disease or cancer. The USPSTF also recommended against the use of two specific vitamins — beta-carotene and vitamin E. Beta-carotene has been…
Victor Dzau Leaving Duke To Head The Institute Of Medicine
February 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Cardiologist Victor Dzau will leave his positions as the chancellor for health affairs at Duke University and the CEO of the Duke University Health System to become the next president of the Institute of Medicine. He will replace Harvey Fineberg, who has been the IOM president for the last 12 years. “I am humbled and…
FDA Panel Gives Support To Novel Stroke Prevention Device From Boston Scientific
December 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The FDA’s Circulatory System Devices Panel yesterday gave a vote of confidence to Boston Scientific’s Watchman left atrial appendage closure device for the prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation patients. By a large majority the panel agreed that the device was effective, that it was safe, and that the benefits outweighed the risks. In each case the…
Go Nuts! Consumption of Nuts Linked to Mortality Benefit
November 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Nut consumption has long been linked to healthy lifestyles. Now, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine extends the finding and demonstrates a strong association with improved mortality. Ying Bao and colleagues examined data from nearly 120,000 people enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study to assess the relationship of nut consumption…
Replacement Versus Repair for Mitral Valve Regurgitation
November 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Surgery is thought to be life-saving for people who have ischemic mitral regurgitation, but it is unknown whether surgical repair or surgical replacement of the mitral valve is the better procedure. Repair is thought to result in fewer preoperative deaths and replacement is thought to have better long-term outcomes with a reduced incidence of recurrent…
Hypertension Treatment Flowchart Fills in for Missing Guideline
November 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
When the AHA and the ACC released four updated clinical guidelines earlier this week, a fifth document, the hypertension guideline, was conspicuous by its absence. According to the AHA and the ACC, the authors of the hypertension document have chosen to publish it independently. (No word has yet emerged about their reasons for doing so or…
FDA Seeks To Eliminate Trans Fats From Food In The US
November 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The FDA said today that it would begin to take efforts to remove trans fats from food in the USA. The agency has made the “preliminary determination that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in processed foods, are not ‘generally recognized as safe’ for use in food.” If the FDA’s preliminary determination is…
Healthy Diet In Middle Age Leads To Healthier Old Age
November 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
New results from a long-running study offer fresh evidence that a “healthy” diet is actually good for you. The study shows that women who followed a healthy diet while in middle age had a much better chance of reaching 70 without any of the major illnesses or impairments usually associated with old age. In a paper…
A Paper In The American Journal Of Cardiology About A Study That Was ‘Not Real’
October 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
New allegations about scientific misconduct have been raised about a cardiology group in a hospital in Italy. Some of the allegations come from a surprising source: Maria Grazia Modena, the former and highly prominent chief of cardiology at the hospital where the research was said to have been performed. The new allegations are the latest…
Could Terrorists Have Hacked Dick Cheney’s ICD?
October 19, 2013 by 3 Comments
It happened in Homeland. Could it happen in real life? In a 60 Minutes segment scheduled for broadcast tomorrow, Dick Cheney says that his doctors turned off the wireless function of his implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD) “in case a terrorist tried to send his heart a fatal shock,” according to the Associated Press. Years later, Cheney…
Prevalence Of Cardiovascular Disease Likely To Increase Despite Gains In Treatment
October 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
It is the best of times and the worst of times in the battle against cardiovascular disease. On the one hand, mortality rates from cardiovascular disease in the US have dropped by more than half in the last 30 years, likely due in large part to improvements in treatment for elevated blood pressure and cholesterol…
New Questions Raised About Italian Cardiologists Already Under Cloud Of Suspicion
October 2, 2013 by 1 Comment
(This story was updated on Friday, October 4 with a response from Dr. Modena.) New questions are being raised about the integrity and reliability of research published by a prominent Italian cardiologist and her colleagues. Last November, as previous reported here, Maria Grazia Modena, a former president of the Italian Society of Cardiology, and 8 other…
Saying Sorry May Not Be Good Enough For Novartis
September 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Novartis has issued a formal apology over misconduct relating to valsartan (Diovan) research in Japan, but that apology does not appear likely to satisfy the Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which plans to fully investigate the company’s role in the scandal. If necessary, ministry officials are prepared to raid the company’s offices in Japan. A Novartis…
Editor: “Close to 10% of the papers we receive show some sign of academic misconduct”
September 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Speedy Tour de France Racers Slower To Die
September 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In recent years concerns have been raised about possible adverse cardiovascular effects of intense endurance exercise. Additional concerns have been raised about sports where performance enhancing drugs are commonly used. However, a new study shows that despite these potential hazards, elite endurance athletes appear to live longer than their contemporaries. Xavier Jouven, a triathlete and…
Disappointing Results with Dabigatran for Mechanical Valves
September 1, 2013 by 1 Comment
Despite being more durable than bioprosthetic valves, mechanical heart valves are often not chosen because of the requirement for lifelong anticoagulant therapy. It has been hoped that the newer generation of oral anticoagulants might eventually replace warfarin, making anticoagulation more tolerable and better accepted, since these agents don’t require continuous monitoring and have much fewer…
Positive Results for New Anticoagulant From Daiichi Sankyo
September 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A new entrant in the growing oral anticoagulant field shows promise for the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and pulmonary embolism (PE). The drug, edoxaban, is a new, once-daily Factor Xa inhibitor with a rapid onset of action that is under development by Daiichi Sankyo. Results of the Hokusai-VTE trial were presented at the European Society of…
Questions About President George W. Bush’s Stent
August 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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…
Large NIH Trial Finds No Cardiovascular Benefits For Weight Loss And Exercise In Type 2 Diabetics
June 24, 2013 by 1 Comment
A large NIH-sponsored trial has found that an intensive lifestyle intervention was no better than standard care in reducing cardiovascular events in people with type 2 diabetes. The results of the Look AHEAD trial were presented today at the American Diabetes Association meeting and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. 5,145 people with type 2 diabetes were randomized…
Dramatic Increase in Use of Radial Artery Access for PCI in the U.S.
June 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In the last six years interventional cardiologists have dramatically increased their use of radial access for PCI, according to a retrospective study published in Circulation. Using data from the CathPCI registry on more than 2.8 million procedures between January 2007 and September 2012, Dmitriy Feldman and colleagues found that radial access PCI increased 13-fold, from a negligible 1.2% at the beginning of the study…
FDA Advisory Panel Backs Looser Restrictions On Avandia
June 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
After two days of deliberation an FDA advisory panel today recommended that the severe restrictions (REMS) placed on rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline) be modified. The vote constitutes a modest revival in fortune for the embattled drug and its maker after many years of controversy and bad news. Only 5 panel members voted to continue the current severe restrictions….
Large Meta-Analysis Quantifies Risk Of NSAIDs And Coxibs
May 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Findings from a very large meta-analysis of clinical trials of NSAIDs may now allow physicians to quantify the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal risks associated with these drugs. The results of the Coxib and traditional NSAID Trialists’ (CNT) Collaboration, employing data from more than 350,000 randomized patients, have now been published in the Lancet. Here are some of the key findings:…
Bruise Control: Continued Warfarin Beats Heparin Bridging During Device Implantation
May 9, 2013 by 1 Comment
Many patients receiving an ICD or a pacemaker are already receiving oral anticoagulants. Current guidelines recommend replacement of the oral anticoagulant with the temporary use of heparin as a bridging strategy. Now a new study, BRUISE CONTROL (Bridge or Continue Coumadin for Device Surgery Randomized Controlled Trial), offers convincing evidence that this strategy is not…
Longer Detection Time Helps Prevent Unnecessary ICD Shocks
May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Increasing the detection intervals in ICD programming can reduce the number of unnecessary or inappropriate shocks, according to results of the ADVANCE III study published in JAMA. A group of Italian investigators randomized 1,902 patients receiving an ICD to programming with either long- or standard-detection intervals. After 12 months of followup, patients in the long-detection…
Metaanalysis Finds Same Day Discharge For Low Risk PCI May Be Feasible
May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Although elective PCI for most low risk patients is extremely safe, overnight observation is still standard practice in the US, largely due to the lack of evidence demonstrating that same-day discharge is safe. Now a new metaanalysis, published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, provides support for same-day discharge in carefully…
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