Cardiology

About a quarter of patients who survived heart attacks due to blocked arteries could be treated with drugs, not invasive procedures. The trick is determining whether the blockage is cause by plaque erosion, not plaque rupture. With optical coherence tomography a team in Boston did just that.

At the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2016 (ESC) in Rome, Italy, Anselm Gitt, MD discussed the DYSIS program, which was designed to get an idea to see how patients were treated for secondary prevention, focusing on dyslipidemia patients.

The antiplatelet drugs prasugrel and ticagrelor are both fine for dual antiplatelet therapy following acute myocardial infarctions with ST segment elevations, a Czech study found.

Drug-eluting stents are falling far short of their promises of fewer complications, improved mortality and quality of life, a study found. In the largest study ever done comparing newer drug-eluting stents to bare metal devices, Norwegian researchers found the drug stents did not show a difference in these outcomes.

At the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2016 (ESC) in Rome, Italy, Chris Cannon, MD, Brigham & Women's Hospital, discussed the latest changes with the dyslipidemia guidelines.

The MD Magazine editors rounded up the 10 best stories from August – did you read them all?

Adding a PCSK9 inhibitor to apheresis therapy worked so well in reducing LDL in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia that two-thirds of the patients stopped getting apheresis.

At the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2016 (ESC) in Rome, Italy, Michael Lincoff, MD, Cleveland Clinic explained results from ACCELERATE trial involving patients with high risk vascular disease who received evacetrapib on top of standard care.

As one of the leading educational institutions on the island of Grenada, St. George's University plays a unique role not only in helping the students that come to the school to learn but also those who have already called the island home.

Whether medical students learn their craft at the most established institutions or newer schools around the world their ultimate goal is the same, to help the patient in front of them when they enter practice.

As an international university St. Geroge's can take their own route when it comes to preparing their students while still abiding by some of the traditions of other schools in the United States.

Located on the island of Grenada St. George's University has made a name for itself as one of the top international medical schools providing doctors to the United States.

Renato Delascio Lopes, MD, Duke University Medical Center, discussed at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2016 (ESC), the progress of anticoagulant therapies for patients.

Victor Sandor, MD, Array BioPharma, shared results from ARRY 797 study at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2016.

Should cardiac rehab be standard for patients who've had a heart attack. If so, how long should it last? A Dutch study found a year was about right.

Apheresis, the blood-filtering treatment used to remove cholesterol, appears to work for patients whose angina cannot be alleviated with drugs or surgical interventions researchers said today.

Simple preventive measures like reducing cholesterol and blood pressure should cut the risk of heart disease deaths and hospitalizations by up to 90%, an analysis found.

At the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2016 (ESC), Sigrun Halvorsen, MD, Oslo University discussed the results of her study which analyzed the bleeding rates among NVAF patients who were prescribed anticoagulants.

Christopher Granger, MD, professor of medicine, director of the Critical Care Unit at the Duke University Medical Center discussed that the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has grown to be one of the best forums to discuss best practices of cardiovascular care.

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators are not for all heart failure patients, the DANISH study found.

Experts at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2016 (ESC) expressed varied opinions on the DANISH trial. Researchers presented that implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) do not work for all heart patients.

Not all the news on remote monitoring of cardiac devices was bad at the ESC Congress 2016. Though a UK study had negative findings,Italian researchers said their use reduced office and ED visits and saved patients time and money.

Remote monitoring of heart patients who have implanted heart devices does not appear to help them live longer, a UK study called REM-HF found.

Christopher Granger, MD, Duke University Medical Center also spoke at the European Society of Cardiology COngress 2016 about the issues surrounding patients' tolerability of anticoagulants and other drugs.

Statins should not be physicians' first option in treating all patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease, according to new European treatment guidelines.

Sonal Bhatia, MD, Vice President, Global Eliquis Medical Lead, Pfizer, highlighted the significance of the consistency in data over the last five years, in relation to the five-year-anniversary of her team's Aristotle study at the European Society of Cardiology 2016 (ESC).

An international team looked at oral anticoagulants and decided dabigatran is the best for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

Percutaneous balloon mitral valvulopasty (PMV) has now been around long enough for long term outcomes to be assessed. The verdict is positive.

Data mining may be a promising method to search for unknown drug-drug interactions in cardiovascular medicine.

Lung cancer patients who develop sinus tachycardia due to some treatments for their cancer can successfully reduce their heart rates with ivabradine, researchers in Romania report.