Conference News

 
 

Conference News

  • EuroPCR DESSOLVE III: Novel Drug-Eluting MiStent Passes 1-Year Test The ultrathin MiStent with a fast-dissolving polymer and prolonged drug elution held its ground for efficacy against the mainstay Xience stent.
  • EuroPCR Good News From the Far East for Beleaguered Absorb Scaffold Scaffold thrombosis, an Achilles' heel of the device, occurred in just one patient between years 2 and 3 in ABSORB JAPAN and ABSORB CHINA.
  • EuroPCR SURTAVI: Early Stroke Rate Favors TAVR Over Surgery Most disabling strokes clustered around the transcatheter aortic-valve implantation procedure itself, while extending days beyond surgical aortic replacement.
  • EuroPCR EuroCTO: PCI for Chronic Total Occlusion May Improve QOL PCI resulted in less angina than optimal medical therapy, though the trial was plagued by poor recruitment and leaves CTO PCI still seeking RCT validation.
  • CV Events Linked to Poor Glycemic Control Diabetics with HbA1C levels of 7% or higher face a statistically increased risk of cardiovascular events, a retrospective analysis of a large managed-care database suggests.
  • Hba1c Out, Average Glucose In? ADAG, which showed a tight correlation between HbA1c-derived measurements and continuous glucose monitoring, supports a recent consensus statement by diabetes associations internationally that called for chronic glycemia measurements to be reported according to old and new methods. The move should standardize and simplify glycemia monitoring, experts say.
  • Rosiglitazone a Reminder of Need for FDA Reform Dr Clifford Rosen, who chaired the recent FDA panel meeting, says rosiglitazone's rise and fall highlight the need for a tougher preapproval process, and postmarketing trials with teeth.
  • Reanalysis of Rosiglitazone Meta-Analysis Raises Questions A new analysis of the same 42 trials, but using a number of different statistical methods to account for all the zero events, found no significant increase in either MI or CV death and highlights flaws in the original study. In response, Nissen counters that the report is now neither useful nor relevant in the wake of the FDA hearing.
  • Fracture Risk With Avandia Not unlike a prizefighter battered and bruised, rosiglitazone continued to take it on the chin this week with an analysis of ADOPT expanding upon the increased risk of fracture among diabetic women taking the controversial TZD.
  • Rosiglitazone Policy Implications The rosiglitazone saga has led to more calls for reform of the FDA, the latest coming from drug safety expert Dr Brian Strom and former FDA commissioner Dr Donald Kennedy. While Strom and Kennedy concur that changes are needed at the FDA, they disagree on the merits of Nissen’s meta-analysis. Dr Valentin Fuster also comments on the rosiglitazone saga.
  • RECORD Interim Analysis One RECORD investigator calls interim findings from RECORD "moderately reassuring": at 3.75 years there are no differences in risk of hospitalizations or death from cardiovascular causes. While MI trends higher, deaths trend lower in the results so far. Three accompanying editorials take a considerably dimmer view.
  • Rosiglitazone: What Does It All Mean? Experts give heartwire their take on the furor that has resulted from the meta-analysis published earlier this week. The prevailing view appears to be that there is no need for panic and that while the analysis does suggest a safety signal, it does not justify removing the drug from the market at this time or the general chaos that has occurred.
  • Weekly Classes Alleviate ICD "Shock Anxiety" Levels of both anxiety and stress hormones fell after six weeks of classes designed to let patients come to terms with their implanted devices.
  • CARISMA: Autonomic Function in Post-MI Risk Stratification Measures of heart-rate variability, especially when combined with QRS duration, were at least as predictive as electrophysiologic VT/VF inducibility.
  • ICE-CHIP: Intracardiac Echo and TEE at Cardioversion Transesophageal and intracardiac echocardiography were highly concordant in disclosing intra-atrial thrombi and defining structural abnormalities in a prospective comparative study.
  • iPod as a Source of Pacemaker Interference Whether their music tastes are mainstream or offbeat, should patients with pacemakers consider sticking with CDs? A study suggests some digital music players can interfere with pacemaker telemetry and sensing functions.
  • DAVID II Atrial pacing offered no advantage or disadvantage over ventricular backup pacing, and these findings, say investigators, help show that the issues identified in DAVID--decreased left ventricular performance--were caused by ventricular stimulation.
  • Ablation Techniques Go Head to Head Real-world results from a multicenter study have shown that pulmonary vein antrum isolation guided by intracardiac echocardiography is more likely to result in freedom from atrial fibrillation off antiarrhythmic medication when compared with circumferential pulmonary vein ablation.
  • Sudden Cardiac Arrest Coalition The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Coalition, a group whose goal is to increase research, awareness, and educational efforts, is composed of medical organizations, patient-advocacy groups, and industry. The aim of coalition, said HRS president Dwight Reynolds, is not simply to implant more devices.
  • The "Other" T-Wave Alternans Test A form of microvolt-TWA test that's less familiar than the widely studied "spectral-analysis" version hints that it, too, could be useful for stratifying patients for risk of sudden death.