Category Archives: Clinical Cardiology

Cardiologists of all stripes must have fair and equal access not only to pay but also to opportunity, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) asserts in a newly released document that sets standards for compensation and professional growth. Both are critical to the health and future of the cardiovascular workforce, the document stresses. Continue reading →

Friends, family, and non-physician health workers (NPHWs) can make a dramatic difference in reducing the risk factors for heart problems in patients with hypertension, according to a new international study. People with new or poorly controlled hypertension given an integrated and comprehensive intervention by non-physician health workers along with personal supporters over a yearhad a reduction in cardiovascular risk of more than 40% compared to usual care, according to the study. There was a doubling in blood pressure control, with reductions in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and improvements in medication adherence, physical activity, and diet, says lead author Jon-David Schwalm, MD, of the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences. Continue reading →

Most instances of major bleeding among patients with CAD or PAD who take rivaroxaban plus aspirin occur within the first year of treatment, according to a new analysis from the COMPASS randomized trial. On top of that, the advantage of combination therapy over aspirin alone in preventing CV events does not taper off during year two. John W Continue reading →

Conjugated bilirubin , a liver function biomarker, proved to be a relatively powerful indicator of in-hospital and long-term adverse prognosis of infective endocarditis (IE), according to study results published in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. To investigate the potential link between conjugated bilirubin and adverse prognosis in patients with IE, 1010 patients with IE were enrolled between January 2009 and July 2015. Researchers divided patients into 2 groups according to their conjugated bilirubin level at admission: normal (7; n=820) and elevated (> 7; n=190) Continue reading →

New Jersey-based RWJBarnabas Health and St. Lukes University Health Network, based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, signed a three-year clinical affiliation agreement primarilyto expand access to care for patients in northern New Jersey Continue reading →

For patients with inoperable or residual postendarterectomy chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, performing a balloon pulmonary angioplasty provided improvements in pressure measurements, functional class, and exercise capacity with an acceptable risk profile, according to a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of completing balloon pulmonary angioplasty procedure in patients with inoperable or residual postendarterectomy chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension at the Mayo Clinic between August 11, 2014, and May 17, 2018. Continue reading →

The FDA has cleared two new Siemens Healthineers angiography systems, designed to cover a wide variety of procedures, from neuroradiology to interventional cardiology. The ARTIS icono biplane angiography system is designed for minimally-invasive procedures that require imaging within the neuroradiology space, such as stroke and cerebral aneurysms Continue reading →

For patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction, sacubitril-valsartan therapy did not significantly lower risk for hospitalization or death from cardiovascular (CV) causes compared with valsartan alone, according to study results published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The investigators of this randomized, double-blind clinical trial compared the effects of angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibition (sacubitril-valsartan) against angiotensin system inhibition alone (valsartan) in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The study included 4796 patients age 50 years with symptoms of heart failure (HF), ejection fraction 45%, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-IV, elevated natriuretic peptide levels, and evidence of structural heart disease Continue reading →

Compared with placebo, serelaxin infusion did not lower the incidence of worsening heart failure at 5 days or cardiovascular (CV)-related death at 180 days among patients hospitalized for acute heart failure (AHF), according to study results published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Serelaxin is a recombinant form of human relaxin-2, which is a vasodilator hormone that contributes to renal and CV adaptations in pregnancy. This multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind, event-driven clinical trial (RELAX-AHF-2) enrolled participants hospitalized for AHF who also had dyspnea, mild-to-moderate renal insufficiency, increased plasma concentrations of natriuretic peptides, vascular congestion on chest radiography, and a systolic blood pressure 125 mm Hg. Continue reading →

This years TCT meeting will be back in San Francisco, CA, a familiar setting for the conference. I am excited to attend for my sixth time. I am in my third year of general cardiology fellowship and looking forward to soon becoming an interventional fellow, so there are a few sessions that I am particularly eager to check out Continue reading →