Caffeine Study Gives Heart Failure Patients Green Light To Drink Coffee

–A small but rigorous study found no arrhythmias caused by caffeine consumption. Many people with heart failure are advised to avoid coffee because of fears that caffeine might provoke an arrhythmia. Now a rare example of a randomized controlled trial in the field offers some assuring evidence that these patients can safely drink coffee. The…

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Increased Heart Risk Linked To Popular Antibiotic

Acute use of the popular macrolide antibiotic clarithromycin has been linked to a small but significant increase in cardiac death. In a report in the BMJ, researchers in Denmark analyzed the effects over a 14-year period of the acute use of penicillin V, roxithromycin, and clarithromycin. Earlier research raised concerns that marcrolide antibiotics in general, and erythromycin and azithromycin in particular,…

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Updated Rhythm Device Guidelines Clarify And Expand CRT Criteria

A newly released update of 2008 guidelines for device-based therapy of cardiac arrhythmias contains some much-needed clarification about indications for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The document was developed jointly by the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Rhythm Society. Highlights of the documents include: The Class 1 recommendation for CRT…

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