Cardiology

A trial of an anti-clotting therapy that might have given physicians a way to turn on and turn off the blood's tendency to clot had to be halted because some patients had severe allergic reactions, researchers reported. Now they are focusing on why that happened in hopes of reviving the work.

Compared with earlier generation devices, the SAPIEN 3 heart valve exhibited lower death, stroke, and paravalvular leak rates in high-risk surgery patients and demonstrated encouraging results in intermediate-risk patients.

Researchers had high hopes for the potential tissue-damage mediation capabilities of Bendavia, an experimental drug that targets the mitochondria. But a trial of Bendavia in patients undergoing angioplasty failed to show any significant benefit.

Self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in high-risk aortic stenosis patients produces a more consistent survival rate compared with standard surgery, according to 2-year data presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in San Diego, CA.

A new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs is emerging, known as PCSK9 inhibitors. Reporting on results of a safety and efficacy trial of Amgen's entry in this race, evolocumab, showed it did better than standard therapy when it came to adverse events and cholesterol lowering, and showed promise for reducing cardiac events.

AstraZeneca researchers report that a new drug call MED12452 is being developed as an antidote for patients who need to reverse the effects of ticagrelor (Brilinta/AstraZeneca) on an emergency basis. That could be important for patients taking ticagrelor who need emergency surgery or are bleeding from an accident.

With the recent addition of new drugs to help prevent stroke in atrial fibrillation doctors now have more choices to help patients. While there are more choices, there are also potential issues with the new drugs.

Nutritional experts have consistently recommended a Mediterranean dietary pattern to aid in preventing chronic disease.

While many doctors have long believed diet to be the key component in preventing and managing cardiovascular disease, significant gaps in their knowledge often hindering proper education about heart healthy diets

In previous studies, interleukin-6 has been cited as a predictor of mortality in patients with acute decompensated heart failure. But a study by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic challenges that finding.

Previous studies have revealed Aged Garlic Extract (AGE) retards multiple cardiovascular risk factors, including blood pressure, cholesterol, platelet aggregation, and adhesion, while triggering nitric oxide generation within endothelial cells.

The PROMISE Trial (PROspective Multicenter Imaging Study for Evaluation of chest pain) showed no improvement in clinical outcomes when using Anatomic CT over functional testing for screening for coronary artery disease, however it did find an overall increase in radiation exposure.

Full results from PEGASUS-TMI 54, the large-scale trial investigating AstraZeneca's Brilinta (ticagrelor) tablets were presented Saturday, March 14 at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in San Diego, CA.

Electrically stabilizing the myocardial border zone with vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) may offer a new mechanism for reducing arrhythmia.

Physicians could help heart failure patients suffering from reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF) by using pulmonary artery pressure management.

The protein-coding gene FOXO may play a crucial role in defending the heart from coxsackie virus B3, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY.

Wavefront pacing affects accuracy in voltage mapping scars in the heart, UCLA researchers report.

Time is important in getting patients with advanced heart failure (HF) to appropriate care. In a new study, a Utah research team reports on a new electronic approach.

Amgen's monoclonal antibody evolocumab (formerly called AMG 145) did well at inhibiting proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 (PCSK9) and reducing LDL cholesterol in a group of older patients, researchers report.

Certain metabolites could be used as new biomarkers for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

In patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) pulmonary artery hypertension and right ventricular dysfunction are common and associated with mortality. A Duke team looked at ways to improve pulmonary vascular tone.

While various epidemiological studies have shown obesity to be linked with inflammation and with increased cardiovascular risk, the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) takes it a step further, strongly predicting the incidence of cardiovascular events.

Medical experts have long debated over which obesity parameter holds the strongest cardiovascular predictive value.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery has been found to decrease cardiovascular risk in obese patients.

Research has consistently identified obesity as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Investigators have also reported on the obesity paradox concept suggesting improved prognosis in patients with obesity presenting with acute coronary syndromes.

With a steady rise in energy drink consumption, especially among young adults, several medical studies have connected it to accentuated blood pressure response among caffeine-naïve adults, compared to regular caffeine users.

Jamal Rana, MD, Oakland, CA, presented research results on metabolic dyslipidemia and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in adults with diabetes and low LDL-cholesterol.

Chronic illness treatment typically involves some level of long-term use of pharmacotherapy. While these medications may prove efficacious in contesting the disease, their full benefits often go unmet, because nearly 50% of patients do not to take the medications as prescribed.

Some medical experts have contested that patients treated with warfarin with stable INR values might not benefit from being switched to one of the novel oral anticoagulants.

There is a higher risk of certain types of cancer in patients who survive myocardial infarction, according to researchers in Copenhagen, Denmark.