GLG News by Non-Electrophysiologist Cardiologists (US)

Acute myocardial infarction is caused by a clot in the artery that obstructs and quickly reduces blood flow to the artery. The best treatment for STEMI is rapid opening of the artery with angioplasty and stenting. The article is important since it shows that active removal of the clot prior to stenting...

It is well known that the addition of thiazide diuretic to ACEI or ARB treatment adds about 10 mm Hg reduction on top of the 10 mm Hg reduction provided by the ACEI or ARB agent.  It is expected that blocking renin in the renin angiotensin system with Tekturna would provide a similar result.

Patients with rare malignancies, especially those with already metastatic diseases, are being treated with novel oncologic agents.  However, as is being seen with many drugs, the hemodynamic consequences of these agents, in many cases a rise in blood pressure, may lead to cardiovascular consequences. ...

Statin therapy in lower risk populations will not have as profound an effect as in high risk subsets but still very likely has overall positive benefits.

TRITON-TIMI 38 study of 13,608 patients with ACS compared prasugrel against clopidogrel, combined with aspirin.  Prasugrel reduced the combined rate of CV death, MI or stroke (12.1% for clopidogrel vs. 9.9% for prasugrel). The benefit came at a cost of increased serious bleeding (1.4%, vs....

The Supreme Court has rejected the use of experimental drugs by the dying patients on the grounds that "The framers (of the US constitution) understood that the pursuit of life is an inalienable right that should not be abridged without due process of law." Over the years our patients with terminal...

The reality that the actual details of the ENHANCE have not been circulated and that alternate explanations or caveats may be raised is probably unimportant.   The bottom line carries the day and the bottom line is that the trial's title, ENHANCE, was not achieved by the addition of VYTORIN when...

Physicians have several possible conclusions that can be taken; These include: - the trial is flawed - the selection of patients with much less CIMT than previous trials such as ASAP and ARBITER flaws the study -  the failure to meet the trial endpoint is only a surrogate and clinical trial data...

Challenges to pharmaceutical patents prior to the "official" expiration of the patent are proliferating; if they are allowed to stand, that is, if the "original" patent is successfully voided one of the crucial financial incentives to novel pharmaceutical research will be abridged and the "profit" motive...

This is great news for Canada.  This is the first new drug approved for the treatment of acute heart failure since 1989, when milrinone was approved.  Nesiritide was approved in the United States in 2001.  Since then, it has proven to be of great benefit in patients with acute heart failure,...