Cardiology

When you weigh the potential benefits to the patient against the risk of treatment-related adverse effects and drug-drug interactions, most diabetic patients will benefit from treatment with statins.

Otezla (apremilast) is an oral, selective phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis for whom phototherapy or systemic therapy is appropriate.

New research indicates that doctors who treat anaphylaxis with intravenous epinephrine rather than intramuscular or subcutaneous injections are increasing the risk that patients will suffer overdoses or other adverse reactions.

Anil Asgaonkar, MD, provides an overview of the signs, symptoms, and causes that are frequently associated with hyponatremia, and outlines several standard treatment approaches.

Researchers in Wisconsin recently announced the discovery of a gene which could help explain certain traits seen in patients diagnosed with diabetes.

Is one beta blocker better than another for patients born with long QT syndrome? In a report published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Abeer Abu-Zeitone, PhD, and colleagues found that in their study group, nadolol worked best at preventing a recurrent serious cardiac event and that propranolol, the oldest beta-blocker available, did the worst.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has had a change of heart. The group is now recommending doctors treating heart attack patients for arterial blockages should treat lesions in both cardiac arteries, not just the "culprit" artery that led to the MI.

Effective management requires clinicians to recognize the underlying conditions and symptoms causing the patient's decrease in serum sodium levels and provide treatment tailored to that patient.

In this issue of Cardiology Review, we cover a wide variety of topics while saying goodbye to the summer of 2014.

In this edition of Clinical Forum, we asked 3 Cardiology Review editorial board members to comment on the role of renal denervation following the publication of the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial results.

In their recent article published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vivek Y. Reddy, MD, and Jeffrey W. Olin, DO, noted "there are few areas in medicine that have gained as much prominence as quickly, or have been as widely dismissed as quickly, as catheter-based renal sympathetic denervation for the treatment of resistant hypertension.

The 74th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) brought together more than 17,300 attendees from more than 121 countries. This year's program included 96 symposia, 50 oral abstract sessions, 10 interest group discussions, 18 meet-the-expert sessions, and 10 special lectures and addresses. Cardiology Review is covering 6 of the top sessions.

Despite the availability of lipid-lowering and antihypertensive drugs, lifestyle changes could prevent 79% of myocardial infarction (MI) in men, a Swedish study found. The drugs can be effective but "adherence to a healthy lifestyle still has an impressive impact" and avoids any pharmalogical side effects, according Agneta Akesson, PHD, of the Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden. Writing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology[link TK], Akesson concludes that "A healthy diet together with low-risk lifestyle practices and absence of abdominal adiposity may prevent the vast majority of MI events in men."

The optimal duration of DAPT following PCI with drug-eluting stents remains dubious.

The presence of coronary collateral circulation should be cardioprotective and beneficial, but the demonstration of such benefit has been more challenging.

This interesting study compared the effectiveness of human-led versus website-based counseling to reduce CHD risk.

The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus tripled in the last 20 years. What has that meant for rates of complications?

The use of various dietary supplements by patients will probably continue, so medical practitioners must be able to advise patients about potential harms and benefits.

Trulicity (dulaglutide) is a once-weekly subcutaneous injection to improve glycemic control, along with diet and exercise, in adults with type 2 diabetes.

Patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have long known the benefits of ease and convenience that comes with using an insulin pump instead of relying on multiple daily insulin injections to control their condition. A recent study has shown that using a pump is also associated with positive effects on long-term cardiovascular risk and mortality.

Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia recently released the results of a study that identified a protein that could play a key role in a variety of diseases.

Researchers have identified several combinations of drugs that outperform metformin monotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Using an experimental and highly sensitive test for cardiac troponin, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers found undetected signs of heart muscle damage in people with diabetes and pre-diabetes. That may suggest that hypoglycemia directly damages the heart.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new algorithm that will enable many smart phones to detect signs of atrial fibrillation.

Contrave (naltrexone hydrochloride and bupropion hydrochloride extended-release tablets) is a treatment option for chronic weight management in addition to a reduced-calorie diet and physical activity.

The patients who are most likely to develop a hospital-acquired condition after bariatric surgery are precisely those who stand to benefit the most from undergoing the procedure

Public health researchers have long believed that if patients could take one pill instead of several they would be more likely to comply with the drug regimens prescribed by their physicians. The US Food and Drug Administration's cardiovascular and renal drugs advisory committee is evaluating the "potential clinical utility" of a single pill that would contain an anti-hypertensive drug, aspirin, and a statin. The goal would be to prevent strokes and heart attacks in patients with a history of cardiovascular disease.

The makeup of a person's brain chemistry could play a role in their environmental food cues, according to the results of a new study.

A study finds that new national guidelines can improve the way statins are prescribed to patients at risk for cardiovascular disease, and produce only a modest increase in the number of patients being given the medication.