Systolic hypertension is more often associated to cardiovascular events. However, diastolic blood pressure should not be disregarded, since it can also predict even worse outcomes. Although systolic blood pressure is very frequently associated to adverse cardiovascular events, by no means should diastolic blood pressure be considered unimportant. Such is the message of this study recently...
Americans spend billions in dietary supplements every year but, in truth, this money is only wasted, according to evidence form a recent study published in Intern Med. Most of dietary interventions and nutritional supplements including multi-vitamins, selenium and antioxidants, do not reduce cardiovascular risk or mortality, according to this large analysis and systematic revision of...
This study found after surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) patients had shorter life expectancy, compared against the general population. This loss in life expectancy was significant, especially in young patients. These results provide essential information to advice patients before and after SAVR. This is an observational national cohort study to assess long term relative survival...
Long after myocardial revascularization guidelines had established no medical reason justifies the use of bare metal stents (BMS), along comes this study to refresh the old trials comparing drug eluting vs bare metal stents in the context of primary PCI. The problem for many countries is that primary PCI obviously occurs in the context of...
Several clinical guidelines differ in their recommendation regarding the prescription of proton pump inhibitors to patients being treated with dual antiplatelet therapy after infarction. In 2015, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recommended their use in patients with high bleeding risk; however, in the 2017 update that recommendation became general after the assumption that, for...
According to the EXCEL trial, peri-procedural infarction was more common after left main coronary artery surgery compared with angioplasty, and it was strongly associated with increased 3-year mortality after controlling all possible confounding variables. This increased mortality was only present in extensive infarctions with an increase in CK-MB ≥10×. The EXCEL trial seems to want...
The new ProEducar Educational Newsletter is out for all fellows, interventional trainees, and specialists in hemodynamics seeking to be up to date in their professional practice. This is a special issue on chronic total occlusion (CTO), one of the main current challenges for interventional cardiologists. This comprehensive, extensive work directed by Dr. Gustavo Pedernera includes...
Computer tomography (CT) had taken over in the race to develop software capable of measuring FFR non-invasively. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) wouldn’t fall behind and has also tried non-inferiority vs an FFR based strategy, according to this study recently published in the prestigious NEJM, called MR-INFORM. In patients with chronic angina and CAD risk factors,...
According to this recent Excel analysis, mortality seems to rise when the SYNTAX II score is not taken into account when defining the revascularization strategy. The difference does not reach statistical significance and further studies are required, but the message is clear: the left main coronary artery is not the only thing that matters; other...
Non-adherence to dual antiplatelet therapy varies with age and patients older than 75 years old are those who discontinue treatment most frequently. However, this characteristic in elderly patients was not associated with more cardiovascular events. Treatment compliance protected patients younger than 75 years old from events, while there was increased cardiovascular risk among this population...