Saphenous Vein Graft Harvesting for CABG: Endoscopic Vs Open Technique
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed no significant difference in the risk of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) between patients undergoing endoscopic and open…
Fish Oil or Vitamin D Supplementation as Protection Against Cardiovascular Events or Cancer Suffers Deteriorating ‘VITAL’ Signs
The VITAL trial conducted by Manson et al. showed that supplementation with either n–3 fatty acids at a dose of 1 g/day or vitamin D3 at a dose of 2000 IU/day was…
Inducible Myocardial Ischemia May Be Excluded by Low Levels of High Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin Levels
In an original cohort study by Hammadah et al recently published in Annals of Internal Medicine, it has been found that very low high-sensitivity cardiac troponin(hs-cTn) levels can be used…
The Latest Incarnation of the Blood Cholesterol Management Guideline 2018: Numbers Matter, Lower LDL-C is better
The AHA/ACC 2018 guideline on the management of blood cholesterol, endorsed by at least 10 other medical societies, was published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and in Circulation to…
Type 2 Diabetes: SGLT2 Inhibitors Demonstrate Robust Benefits on Cardiovascular and Renal Outcomes
The results of a study presented at AHA 2018 have shown that SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i ) have robust benefits on the reduction of hospitalization for heart failure (HF) and progression…
Fish Oil Use in Hypertriglyceridemia Reduces Risk of Ischemic Events, Over-The-Counter Fish Oil Supplements Still ‘Fishy’
A study by Bhatt et al. published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, accompanied by a detailed supplement, was presented at AHA 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. The study…
Endogenous Fibrinolysis Measurement as a Predictive Test for Recurrent Cardiovascular Events
A prospective cohort study that was conducted by Mohamed Farag et al. in European Heart Journal demonstrated that evaluating endogenous fibrinolysis in patients with acute coronary syndrome may help physicians…
Does a Low Salt Diet Improve Heart Failure Prognosis?
A systematic review conducted by Kamal R. Mahtani et al in JAMA looked into the evidence of salt restriction recommendation on heart failure prognosis. The investigators evaluated previous trials but…
Cardiogenic Shock in Takotsubo Syndrome: Incidence, Predictors, and Outcomes
Cardiogenic shock (CS) is not a rare complication in patients with Takotsubo syndrome (TTS). Moreover, it is associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes in the short- and long-term…
Drug-Eluting Stents Fare Better Than Bare-Metal Stents in Patients With High Bleeding Risk
A meta-analysis conducted by Shah and his colleagues published in JAMA cardiology demonstrated that in patients with high bleeding risk, coronary interventions with drug-eluting stents (DES) optimized for biocompatibility were…
Persistently High Residual Inflammatory Risk Associated with Increased Mortality and MI Risk in Patients Undergoing PCI
A recent study published in the European Heart Journal showed that a high percentage of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) had persistently high residual inflammatory risk (RIR). Moreover, high…
Deciphering the Underpinnings of MINOCA (MI with Non-Obstructive Coronary Arteries)
A new prospective observational study of 38 patients suffering from myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary artery disease (MINOCA) with the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and complementary cardiac magnetic…
Emergency Department Chest Pain Volume Impacts Patient Outcomes
A study published in Circulation showed that the evaluation of chest pain in emergency departments with higher chest pain volume had lower rates of death or hospitalization for patients with acute…
PPIs for GI Bleeding Prophylaxis in Critically Ill ICU Patients: Benefits Vs Risks
The use of Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) for prophylaxis against gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding due to stress ulceration in critically ill patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was not…
Bariatric Surgery in Severe Obese Diabetics Associated with Lower Risk of Macrovascular Outcomes
A retrospective cohort study performed by David P. Fisher and his colleagues was published in JAMA, showing that bariatric surgery in obese patients with diabetes was associated with a lower incidence…
Physical Fitness Associated with Lower Mortality?
A recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association showed that higher level of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was associated with decreased long-term mortality with no observed upper limit of…
Assessment of Genomic MetaGRS Scoring System in Prediction of Coronary Artery Disease
A study published by Journal of the American College of Cardiology described a genomic score having the potential to stratify the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and emphasized the…
Worse Clinical Outcomes of Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with HFpEF Compared to HFrEF
A multinational prospective cohort study performed by Barak Zafrir et al. and published in the European Heart Journal concluded that worse cardiovascular outcomes of atrial fibrillation (AF) were associated with heart…
SGLT-2 Inhibitors Associated with Lower Heart Failure Hospitalization
A new meta-analysis published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology showed that sodium glucose co-transporter (SGLT)-2 inhibitors are more effective than glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase…
CoQ10 supplementation: A Remedy for Statin‐Induced Myopathy?
A meta‐analysis performed by Choi et al., the results of which were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, indicated that CoQ10 supplementation improved statin‐associated muscle symptoms, suggesting…