Empagliflozin is the second drug from the SGLT2 receptor inhibitor family to show a significant benefit in patients with heart failure, even in those without diabetes. Adding empagliflozin to optimal medical therapy lowers the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction. Such events include heart failure hospitalization, worsening kidney...
EuroPCR 2020 | Is Renal Denervation Coming Back to Life?
Additional analyses from the Global SYMPLICITY Registry and the RADIANCE-HTN SOLO trial, presented virtually at EuroPCR 2020, can contribute to the comeback of renal denervation as another alternative for patients with uncontrolled hypertension. The 3-year results from the SYMPLICITY registry showed significant and durable reductions in blood pressure regardless of how many medications patients were taking....
SYMPLICITY Registry: Renal Denervation Struggles Not to Be Forgotten
Long-term data from this registry account for the largest cohort of hypertensive patients who received renal denervation in a real-world clinical setting. This study, recently published by the European Heart Journal, confirms both the safety and efficacy of the procedure with significant and sustained reductions in both office and ambulatory blood pressure. The Global SYMPLICITY...
AHA 2018 | PIONEER-HF: Sacubitril/Valsartan in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure
Treating acute decompensated heart failure patients with an angiotensin receptor inhibitor plus a neprilysin receptor inhibitor significantly reduces N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations and clinical events, according to the PIONEER-HF study presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Congress Scientific Sessions and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The study...
EXCEL Sub-Analysis: Angioplasty vs. Surgery in Chronic Renal Insufficiency
EXCEL patients with chronic kidney disease and left main coronary artery disease have higher rates of acute renal failure and other events compared with the general population. However, acute renal failure was less frequent with angioplasty than with surgery, while other events such as death, stroke, or infarction at 3 years were similar for both revascularization...
Liver Failure as a Challenge for TAVR
Although surgical risk scores do not include liver failure (LF), patients who suffer from it and undergo cardiovascular surgery present high rates of morbidity and mortality. This is due to alteration of cardiac function, increased infection susceptibility, gastrointestinal complications, and increased bleeding. As regards transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), these patients have not been included...
How Is Renal Function Affected by Endoprosthesis Implantation?
The occurrence of renal failure after any endovascular intervention is associated with increased morbility and mortality. After a coronary intervention (whether it be angioplasty or surgery), renal failure increases mortality 20-fold. Relatedly, surgical repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm with renal failure is also associated with a significant increase in the number of events. Read...
SYMPLICITY HTN -3: Negative results of renal denervation in patients with resistant hypertension.
Previous studies have shown that renal denervation in a 3-year period, reduced the blood pressure in resistant hypertensive patients in a sustained and meaningful way. The aim of this study was to evaluate this therapy in a larger number of patients with the control group receiving “sham” (renal angiography conscious sedation) procedure. Patients and the...
TOPCAT: Spironolactone in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
The aldosterone blockade has shown benefit in the treatment of heart failure with systolic dysfunction after stroke. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of spironolactone in patients with preserved ejection fraction. This was a multicenter, randomized study that included 1722 patients in the spironolactone group and 1723 in the placebo group....
CORAL: Angioplasty versus medical treatment of renal artery stenosis
Atherosclerotic stenosis of the renal artery is common in the elderly population. Previous clinical trials showed no benefit with angioplasty in relation to renal function but their use for preventing cardiovascular events was still uncertain. A total of 947 patients with atherosclerotic renal artery and systolic hypertension (need two or more drugs) or renal dysfunction...