Statins have been used in an increasing number and variety of conditions. This large, 10-year cohort study from John Hopkins Neurology Department and Cardiac Surgery Group uses a post-hoc analysis to examine the issue of whether statin use prior to Coronary Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG) would decrease post-op morbidity, specifically stroke and encephalopathy, as well as cognitive decline.
The preoperative use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is controversial. Thus, these investigators from the United Kingdom performed a retrospective, observational study of patients undergoing isolated CABG who did not have cardiogenic shock.
In this paper, Packer et al report on the modes of death in patients in the Sudden Cardiac Death-Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT).
The optimal duration for dual anti-platelet therapy (DAT) after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation remains unknown.
Yu et al report a multi-center trial evaluating the relative benefits of right ventricular apical pacing compared to biventricular pacing in patients with a standard indication for pacing and a baseline preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.
Statin and niacin increase HDL-C, omeprazole reduces effectiveness of clopidogrel, darbe-poetin increases risk of stroke, statins decrease risk of gallstone disease, FDA Actions
In this randomized clinical trial, patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes assigned to a Mediterranean-style diet had better glycemic control and were less likely to need oral antihyperglycemic drug therapy than patients assigned to a low-fat diet.
Addressing the accumulating evidence for pomegranate's effects on various cardiovascular parameters, this study explored the impact of 240 mL of pomegranate juice daily for 18 months on carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), a known risk factor for stroke and myocardial infarction. The results failed to show a difference in CIMT or antioxidant parameters (the proposed mechanism), except for subgroup analyses on people at particularly high risk for cardiovascular disease.
