Cardiology News

• Big and Tall Young Men and Stout, Middle-Aged Men More Prone to AF Men with a large body surface area or with a large weight gain in middle age are more susceptible to AF, according to a Swedish study of men who were middle-aged in the 1970s, when obesity was rare. Incidence of AF was 18% when the men were older, and the study suggests this would be much higher in a current population.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Hypoglycemia in Insulin-Treated AMI Patients Likely Not a Direct Cause of Increased Mortality The finding may help alleviate some concerns physicians have about controlling glucose in hyperglycemic AMI patients, researchers say. Low blood glucose per se is likely not a direct cause of death, but rather points to a sicker patient population.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Depression Linked to Heart Failure After Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease A study shows that diagnosis of depression is associated with an increased incidence of heart failure after coronary artery disease diagnosis, regardless of antidepressant medication treatment.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2009
• FDA Safety Changes: Toprol XL, Revlimid, Fludara The FDA has approved safety labeling revisions for metoprolol succinate extended-release tablets (Toprol-XL), lenalidomide (Revlimid), and fludarabine phosphate intravenous infusion (Fludara).
  Medscape Medical News, April 2009
• Alert FDA Issues Recall for Arrow International IAB Catheters The FDA has issued a class 1 recall for a number of intra-aortic balloon pump catheters manufactured by Arrow International because of a fault in the connector of the pump tubing assembly. The problem could have serious consequences, the agency notes, although the company said this week there have been no reports of injury or death.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• No Overall Benefit With Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) After Acute Stroke Results of the Paracetamol in Stroke trial do not support the routine use of acetaminophen to reduce body temperature after acute stroke, although in patients with a temperature above 37ºC there was some indication of benefit, a post hoc finding the investigators would like to see examined further.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2009
• Dietary Advice Should Be Tailored to Ethnic Groups One of the first studies to examine the eating patterns of multiple ethnic groups has shown that nutritional advice--in this case accordance with the DASH diet for hypertension control--should be customized for different racial/ethnic groups.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• GISSI-AF: Angiotensin-Receptor Blocker Doesn't Prevent Recurrence of Atrial Fib In what's described as the first large, randomized, placebo-controlled study to explore the issue, valsartan didn't prevent atrial fibrillation in patients with a history of the arrhythmia who were at high risk for recurrence.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Meta-Analysis Supports Heart-Health Benefits From a Mediterranean Diet A review of over 200 studies finds strong evidence that a Mediterranean diet can protect against CHD; dietary patterns appear more important than individual foods.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Reducing LDL Cholesterol With Statins Reduces Stroke Risk: Meta-Analysis The meta-analysis, which included 24 studies and more than 165 000 patients, showed that for every 39-mg/dL decrease in LDL-cholesterol levels, there was a 21% reduction in the relative risk of stroke.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Antiplatelet Treatment Associated With Cerebral Microbleeds A new study shows that use of antiplatelet drugs is associated with the presence of cerebral microbleeds on MRI.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2009
• Genetic Variant Associated With Ischemic Stroke A prospective population-based study has found variants near gene NINJ2, on human chromosome 12, to be strongly associated with risk for ischemic stroke; 1 SNP was further validated in individual replication samples with white Dutch and black participants.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2009
• $10 Million Prize Seeks to Transform U.S. Healthcare Organizers of the X Prize, who have set up contests for space travel, DNA research and super-efficient cars, said on Tuesday they are offering Organizers of the X Prize, who have set up contests for space travel, DNA research and super-efficient cars, said on Tuesday they are offering $10 million to the winner of a contest to transform the health of people in a small U.S. community.0 million t...
  Reuters Health Information, April 2009
• FDA Clears Myxo ETlogix Valve Ving Under New Name But Disagrees With Earlier Decision By Edwards That Device Did Not Need 510(K) After reviewing company documents, the FDA says the ring is safe and effective but says Edwards Lifesciences was "wrong" to commercialize the ring without appropriate clearance. The company will not face sanctions, however, since it made a good-faith effort to follow FDA guidance for devices with only minor modifications. The device will no longer known as the "Myxo."
  Heartwire, April 2009
• CCTA Should Be Routine for Assessing Suspected CAD Patients A new study clearly demonstrates the capability of coronary computed-tomography angiography to predict cardiac events in patients with suspected coronary artery disease, say the German researchers. And they found that CCTA provides additional prognostic information to the Framingham Risk Score.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Much Heart Failure in Elderly Stems From Modifiable Risk Factors, Especially in Blacks: Health ABC Study Almost half the HF risk in whites and two-thirds in blacks could be traced to modifiable risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and coronary heart disease in the community-based study.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Screening for Asymptomatic CAD in Diabetic Patients Does Not Reduce Cardiac Events In light of the findings, researchers conclude that routine screening for inducible ischemia in asymptomatic patients with diabetes mellitus should not be advocated.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Video Highlights From the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 58th Annual Scientific Session Important studies presented include a new analysis of the JUPITER trial showing primary prevention benefits of reducing both LDL and hs-CRP, a large-scale prevention trial with a 5-drug "polypill," a thrombus-prevention device for patients with atrial fibrillation, and a European study supporting statins prior to PCI.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2009
• Cardiac-Myocyte "Renewal" Findings Have Implications for Myocardial-Regeneration Research Using a novel technique for determining the age of heart-muscle cells, researchers concluded that about half of such cells may be replaced in a person's lifetime.
  Heartwire, April 2009
• Drug Use for High Blood Pressure and Diabetes in Kids Goes up, Statin Use Declines Drugs to treat diabetes and hypertension are being increasingly used in children, but for some reason, statins are on the wane. The decrease may be a reflection of the ongoing controversy regarding statin use in this population. The trends in prescription use show awareness of the need to treat cardiovascular risk factors in the pediatric population.
  Heartwire, April 2009