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• A meta-analysis suggests that an invasive strategy offered comparable benefits among men and high-risk women following NSTEMI in reducing death, myocardial infarction and re-hospitalization with acute coronary syndrome and recommends conservative strategy for low-risk women.

June 25, 2008: Drug Eluting Stents Continue to Demonstrate Superiority over Bare Metal Stents in Reducing the Need for Repeat Revascularization

• A Medicare study demonstrates the beneficial effects of drug eluting stents over bare metal stents in reducing the need for repeat revascularization with no difference in death or ST elevation myocardial infarction at two years.

June 24, 2008: Intracoronary abciximab is superior to intravenous infusion in reducing infarct size during primary PCI

• A new study published ahead of print in Circulation demonstrates that intracoronary abciximab is superior to intravenous infusion in reducing infarct size, microvascular obstruction and improving myocardial perfusion during primary PCI.

June 19, 2008: Rhythm control is no better than rate control among patients with atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure

• New research demonstrates that rhythm control is no better than rate control in the management of patients with atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure.

June 18, 2008: Successful PCI for Chronic Total Occlusion of the LAD is Associated with Improved Long-term Survival

• A new study demonstrates that PCI for chronic total occlusion of the left anterior descending artery is associated with improved long-term survival compared with PCI to the right coronary and the circumflex arteries.

June 12, 2008: Intensive blood sugar control is associated with increased mortality among type 2 diabetics in ACCORD

• The results of the ACCORD study published recently demonstrate increased mortality in the intensive blood sugar control arm compared with standard therapy among type 2 diabetes patients.

June 11, 2008: One third of deaths following coronary artery bypass surgery are preventable

• A new study from Ontario demonstrates that one third of deaths (32%) following coronary artery bypass surgery are preventable and are related to operating room and intensive care unit problems.

June 10, 2008: A large study demonstrates no gender differences in short- and long-term outcomes following PCI

• A new study demonstrates no difference in short-term and long-term mortality among men and women following PCI with improved 30-day mortality rates in the past 25 years.

June 6, 2008: Thrombus Aspiration is Associated with Improved 1 Year Mortality Rates in STEMI Patients: the Results of the 1 Year TAPAS Follow-Up Study

• Investigators from University Medical Centre Groningen published a 1 year follow-up of TAPAS in which they demonstrated that thrombus aspiration prior to stenting improved clinical outcomes when compared to conventional PCI.

June 3, 2008: Unprotected Left Main Stem PCI with Drug Eluting Stents is Associated with Favorable Long-term Outcomes

• Percutaneous coronary intervention using drug eluting stents for unprotected left main stem stenosis demonstrates favorable long-term (3 years) outcomes in a new study among elective and emergency cases.

June 3, 2008: Extended Use of Clopidogrel is Associated with Reduction in Death or Death and Non-fatal Myocardial Infarction among Diabetics following PCI

• A new study suggests that prolonged use of clopidogrel is associated with reduction in death or death and non fatal myocardial infarction following PCI using bare metal and drug eluting stents among diabetic patients.

May 29, 2008: Coronary Calcium Coverage Score is Associated with an Increase in the Risk of Coronary Artery Disease

• Researchers demonstrate that calcium coverage score (% of coronary arteries affected by calcific plaque) detected on computed tomography is associated with an increase in the risk for any coronary artery disease event.

May 29, 2008: Pre-operative Statin Therapy Improves Clinical Outcomes among Cardiac Surgical Patients: Results from a Meta-Analysis

• A recent meta-analysis demonstrates significant clinical benefits with pre-operative statin therapy among 31, 725 cardiac surgical patients.

May 29, 2008: Cocoa Containing Flavanols might be Beneficial in Diabetic Patients with Vascular Dysfunction

• A new study suggests that consumption of flavanol-containing cocoa drinks reverses vascular dysfunction among diabetic patients.

May 22, 2008: Bivalirudin during primary PCI reduces major bleeding and adverse events at 30 days in the HORIZONS-AMI trial

• 30-day results of the HORIZONS-AMI trial demonstrate that the use of bivalirudin alone during primary PCI is associated with significant reduction in major bleeding, thrombocytopenia and net adverse clinical events.

May 22, 2008: Upstream Pharmacotherapy not Superior to Cath Lab Based Therapy in Primary PCI: Results from the FINESSE Trial

• The FINESSE trial demonstrates no clinical benefit with facilitation of PCI using reteplase plus abciximab or abciximab alone following ST elevation myocardial infarction compared with primary PCI alone.

May 22, 2008: Gradual decline in mortality rate following STEMI in the United States

• Data presented at the World Congress in Cardiology meeting in Argentina suggests that the age adjusted mortality rate from ST elevation myocardial infarction continues to decline in the United States.

May 21, 2008: PRoFESS®, the Largest Recurrent Stroke Prevention Trial Results were Presented at the 17th European Stroke Conference

• PRoFESS® trial demonstrated similar recurrent stroke rates with dipyridamole plus aspirin combination compared to clopidogrel with slightly increased major bleeding events in the former group.

May 20, 2008: Landmark analysis of the TRITON-TIMI 38 trial demonstrates significant benefit with the loading and maintenance doses of prasugrel

• The latest analysis of the TRITON-TIMI 38 trials demonstrates that both the loading and the maintenance doses of prasugrel are superior to clopidogrel in reducing ischemic events.

May 20, 2008: Xience V stent continues to demonstrate superior efficacy over the Taxus stent up to 2 years in the SPIRIT III trial

• Dr Gregg Stone presented the 2 years results of the SPIRIT III trial which demonstrated significant reduction in target vessel failure and major adverse cardiac events with Xience V stent vs. Taxus stent.

May 20, 2008: NOBORI™ stent is non-inferior to Taxus® stents in the NOBORI 1 trial

• Dr Bernard Chevalier presented the results of the NOBORI trial at the EUROPCR 08 meeting in Barcelona last week which demonstrated the non-inferiority of the NOBORI™ drug eluting stent over the Taxus® drug eluting stents.

May 20, 2008: Erectile dysfunction is associated with adverse cardiovascular events among diabetic patients

• Two recent publications in the latest issue of JACC suggest that erectile dysfunction is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among diabetic patients with silent coronary artery disease.

May 16, 2008: The 2009 SCAI Annual Scientific Sessions is to be held in Las Vegas

• The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) announced that next year’s annual meeting will be held at Caesar’s Place, Las Vegas in May 6-9.

May 15, 2008: Dronedarone (Multaq®) a Promising New Drug for the Management of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation or Flutter

• The results from the ATHENA study presented at the 29th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society demonstrate that treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation or flutter with dronedarone is associated with significant reductions in cardiovascular hospitalizations or death.

May 10, 2008: Predicting who will benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy: results of PROSPECT

• This multicenter trial suggests that no single echocardiographic measure of dyssynchrony is useful for predicting CRT responders.

May 4, 2008: Treatment of hypertension in the very old reduces all-cause mortality

• HYVET published: This randomized, placebo-controlled trial demonstrated that treatment of stage II hypertension in patients over 80 years of age reduced the incidence of stroke and all cause mortality.

April 23, 2008: CoStar Drug Eluting Stent is not Non-inferior to TAXUS Drug Eluting Stents

• The CoStar (Cobalt Chromium Stent With Antiproliferative for Restenosis) II trial demonstrates that the CoStar drug eluting stent is not non-inferior to Taxus drug eluting stent based on the angiographic and clinical outcome analyses at 9 months.

April 1, 2008: High dose tirofiban and clopidogrel are safe and effective in the ON-TIME-2 trial

• The ON-TIME-2 investigators demonstrated that the early administration of high dose tirofiban together with 600mg of clopidogrel is safe and effective among patients with acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing PCI.

April 1, 2008: Implantation of skeletal myoblasts into scarred myocardium improves symptoms but not heart function

• The SEISMIC study demonstrates that administration of skeletal myoblast improves symptoms in patients with heart failure with no effect on left ventricular function and dimensions.

April 1, 2008: Reloading With Clopidogrel Improves Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes: ARMYDA-RELOAD

• Results from the ARMYDA-RELOAD trial demonstrate improved clinical outcomes when patients with acute coronary syndromes already on clopidogrel are administered an additional 600mg prior to PCI but not for patients with stable angina.

April 1, 2008: MEND-CABG II trial does not suggest improved outcomes with the novel drug MC1 in patients undergoing high risk coronary artery bypass surgery

• A novel drug MC-1 used during coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) does not result in improved cardiovascular outcomes.

April 1, 2008: ExoSeal® Vascular Closure Device is safe and effective

• Results from the ECLIPSE trial demonstrate the superiority of the ExoSeal® Vascular Closure Device compared to manual compression in reducing both the time to hemostasis and the time to ambulation following intervention.

April 1, 2008: The ASTRAL Trial Demonstrates Angioplasty and Stenting Offer No Benefit Over Medical Therapy in Patients with Renal Arterial Stenoses

• Results from the ASTRAL trial demonstrate that there were no improvements in kidney function, blood pressure control, or rates of major cardiovascular illness in patients who receives catheter-based interventions for renal artery stenosis compared with those treated with medical therapy alone.

April 1, 2008: Standard Physician Care for Heart Failure is Just as Effective as and Less Expensive Than a Home Monitoring System

• The Heart Failure Home Care (HFHC) trial demonstrates that HF patients receiving standard follow-up care from a physician have just as good of a clinical result and a better economic outcome than those using a home-monitoring interactive system.

April 1, 2008: Similar nephrotoxic effects with iodixanol and iomeprol in the CONTRAST trial

• The CONTRAST trial demonstrates that the nephrotoxic effects are similar with the iso-osmolar contrast media (iodixanol 320) versus low-osmolar contrast media (iomeprol 350) in patients with impaired renal function undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

April 1, 2008: Atrial tachyarrhythmia burden ≥5.5h in a day doubles the risk for thromboembolism in the TRENDS study

• Device-detected atrial fibrillation (AF), a commonly diagnosed cardiac arrhythmia, may increase the risk of stroke, even in brief AF episodes, according to the TRENDS study presented today at ACC 08.

April 1, 2008: The EVEREST trial suggests MitraClip® for mitral regurgitation is effective

• Percutaneous mitral valve repair with the Mitraclip® device for functional mitral regurgitation is effective with low major adverse events and significant reverse remodeling at one year in the initial EVEREST cohort.

April 1, 2008: Rimonabant does not reduce atherosclerosis progression in STRADIVARIUS

• Treatment of patients with abdominal obesity with rimonabant reduces body weight and waist circumference but not atherosclerosis progression.

April 1, 2008: Automated External Defibrillators offer no benefit in cardiac arrests that occur at home in the HAT trial

• Results from the HAT trial demonstrate that survival rates did not improve among patients with access to a home AED compared with patients with only an EMS call and a companion with CPR training.

April 1, 2008: Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy and Optimal Medical Therapy May Reverse Left Ventricular Remodeling in the REVERSE trial

• Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) along with optimal medical therapy (OMT), may reverse left ventricular remodeling in patients with mild or no heart failure symptoms according to the REVERSE study.

April 1, 2008: Insertable Loop Recorder Tracks Cardiac Arrhythmias Following Acute Myocardial Infarction

• Results of the CARISMA trial demonstrate that the insertable loop recorders (ILR) can document cardiac arrhythmias following myocardial infarction.

March 31, 2008: Telmisartan is as effective and safe as ramipril in patients at high risk for vascular events: Results from the ONTARGET trial

• The ONTARGET study suggests that the angiotensin receptor blocker, telmisartan is effective and safe in patients with vascular disease and high-risk diabetes compared with ramipril.

March 31, 2008: Treatment of hypertension with indapamide with or without perindopril is beneficial in the elderly: Results from the HYVET study

• Results of the HYpertension in the Very Elderly Trial (HYVET) demonstrate a benefit in the antihypertensive treatment of persons at least 80 years old with or without perindopril.

March 31, 2008: Cardiovascular risk increases with incremental doses of celecoxib

• Pooled data from a six-study analysis recommends the lowest dose possible of celecoxib for patients who derive benefit from the drug.

March 31, 2008: Dual therapy better than monotherapy to treat hypertension in the ACCOMPLISH trial

• The interim results from the ACCOMPLISH trial demonstrated that patients with hypertension and at high risk for CV complications experienced 20% fewer events with a combination of an ace inhibitor and calcium channel blocker.

March 31, 2008: Pioglitazone Prevents Progression of Coronary Atherosclerosis in Diabetic Patients With Coronary Artery Disease: Results of the PERISCOPE Trial

• Results of the PERISCOPE trial reveal that pioglitazone slows progression of plaque in type 2 diabetic patients with coronary artery disease in comparison to glimepiride.

March 31, 2008: Rosuvastatin reduces coronary artery disease progression over time in the ASTEROID trial

• Results of the ASTEROID trial demonstrates that treatment with rosuvastatin may promote atherosclerosis regression in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

March 31, 2008: The GENESIS Trial Demonstrates Disappointing Results With Pimecrolimus Eluting Stents

• Results from the GENESIS trial demonstrate that patients treated with CORIO™ (Pimecrolimus-eluting) stents had worse outcomes compared with individuals treated with SYMBIO™ (dual drug delivery of Pimecrolimus and Paclitaxel) stents or the CoStar® (Paclitaxel-eluting) stents.

March 31, 2008: PEPCAD II ISR study suggests that drug eluting balloons are safe and effective compared with drug eluting stents in treating in-stent restenosis

• Paclitaxel-eluting balloons are effective in reducing late lumen loss and 12 month major adverse cardiac events (MACE) compared with drug eluting stents.

March 31, 2008: The Efficacy of XIENCE V Stent over Taxus Stent Decreases with Time: Results from the SPIRIT II study

• The 2-year results of the SPIRIT II study demonstrate no significant difference between the outcomes obtained from implantation of the XIENCE V everolimus-eluting stent or the TAXUS paclitaxel-eluting stent.

March 31, 2008: Long Term Adherence to Clopidogrel and Late Adverse Cardiac Events after Off-Label Use of Sirolimus-Eluting Stents: Results of the MATRIX Registry

• Results from the MATRIX Registry, a large community-based registry consisting of patients who were treated with drug-eluting stents (DES), were presented today at the SCAI-i2 summit Annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago by Dr. George Dangas of Columbia University Medical Center.

March 31, 2008: Left main stenting is associated with similar rates of death, Q wave myocardial infarction and stroke compared with CABG at 3-year follow-up

• A non-randomized study from Korea demonstrate no significant difference in mortality rate or the composite risk of death, Q-wave myocardial infarction or stroke among patients undergoing stenting or surgery for unprotected left main stem disease.

March 31, 2008: Excel biodegradable stents are safe and effective: Results from the CREATE trial

• The 12 month clinical outcome of a prospective multicenter registry of Excel™ biodegradable polymer sirolimus eluting stents suggests that these stents are safe and effective in the “real world” population.

March 30, 2008: Drug eluting stents are associated with reduced mortality in patients with myocardial infarction at two years

• Investigators from Boston demonstrated that the use of drug-eluting stents is associated with reduced mortality at two years compared with bare metal stents among patients with an acute infarct.

March 30, 2008: High Dose Tirofiban is similar to Abciximab in reducing Major Adverse Cardiac Events

• The Multistrategy study demonstrates that high dose tirofiban is non-inferior to abciximab during PCI for acute myocardial infarction and the use of sirolimus eluting stents reduces major adverse cardiac events.

March 30, 2008: Abciximab in addition to a high loading dose of clopidogrel does not improve outcomes in STEMI patients: Results from the BRAVE-3 Trial

• Investigators from Germany demonstrate that dual therapy with high loading dose of clopidogrel (600 mg) and intravenous abciximab does not improve outcomes in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients compared with clopidogrel therapy alone.

March 30, 2008: Removal of debris from the coronary arteries does not improve outcomes: Results from the A-F study

• Vascular protection in high risk non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes in the Angioplasty Balloon-associated Coronary Debris and the EZ Filter-wire (A-F) randomized, controlled trial did not improve cardiovascular outcomes compared with conventional PCI.

March 30, 2008: Thrombus aspiration in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction improves mortality at 1 year in the TAPAS trial

• Researchers from the Netherlands demonstrate that thrombus aspiration during coronary angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction improves one year mortality compared with conventional PCI.

March 30, 2008: Early Transfer of AMI Patients for PCI improves cardiovascular outcomes in the TRANSFER-AMI study

• The TRANSFER-AMI study demonstrates improved cardiovascular outcomes with early PCI following the administration of pharmacotherapy in patients presenting to a non-PCI treatment center with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

March 29, 2008: Bivalirudin is no better than heparin in patients pretreated with clopidogrel undergoing PCI: Results from the ISAR-REACT-3 trial

• Investigators from Germany demonstrated that bivalirudin is not superior to unfractionated heparin (UFH) among stable patients pretreated with 600 mg of clopidogrel undergoing PCI.

March 29, 2008: Culotte is better than crush for bifurcation lesions: Results from the Nordic Stent Technique study

• Eight month angiographic follow-up in patients randomized to crush or culotte bifurcation stenting demonstrates that culotte technique might be better with reduced side branch restenosis rates.

March 29, 2008: Percutaneous Coronary Interventions can be performed in centers without on-site cardiac surgical back-up

• An analysis from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) demonstrates that PCI can be performed safely and successfully at medical facilities without on-site cardiac surgical back-up.

March 29, 2008: High recurrence rate of stent thrombosis after the first event: Results from the Dutch Stent Thrombosis Registry

• Results from the Dutch Stent Thrombosis study demonstrate that the implantation of an additional stent during emergency treatment of the initial stent thrombosis is among the strongest predictors of recurrent stent thrombosis.

March 29, 2008: TRITON-TIMI 38 stent analysis demonstrates that prasugrel is better than clopidogrel in reducing the incidence of early and late stent thrombosis

• The TRITON-TIMI 38 stent study demonstrates that prasugrel is better than clopidogrel in reducing the incidence of early and late stent thrombosis in patients with acute coronary syndromes undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

March 29, 2008: Platelet monitoring can improve outcomes following PCI among clopidogrel resistant patients

• Investigators from France demonstrate that platelet monitoring of clopidogrel response using VASP phosphorylation index decreases the rate of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with clopidogrel resistance.

March 28, 2008: A meta-analysis of over 180,000 patients suggests that drug eluting stents are safe for both on-label and off-label use

• The results of this meta-analysis were presented by Dr. Ajay Kirtane from the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), New York at the CRF Drug-Eluting Stent (DES) symposium in Chicago tonight.

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