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Ablation vs. Drug Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation, Revisited
A three-year follow-up of EARLY-AF, a study of relatively young and healthy patients with recent atrial fibrillation, showed cryoablation remains superior to drug therapy for preventing the development of persistent atrial fibrillation.
An Easy Measure of Potentially Harmful Salt Intake
Those who rarely or never added salt to their food and strongly adhered to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet exhibited the lowest incidence of subsequent cardiovascular disease.
Novel Bedside Procedure Improves Tracheostomy Outcomes
Nurse-driven initiative led to zero incidents of tracheostomy medical device-related pressure injuries for three years.
Effectiveness of Dietary Supplements on Lipid and Inflammatory Biomarkers
In a comparison of rosuvastatin 5 mg/day, six common dietary supplements marketed for improving heart health, and placebo, none reduced high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels. Only rosuvastatin significantly reduced LDL cholesterol levels compared to placebo.
Long-Term Maintenance Therapy After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
An extended six-year follow-up of the HOST-EXAM study revealed the consistent benefit of the primary endpoint of fewer major cardiovascular events and less bleeding with clopidogrel vs. low-dose aspirin monotherapy in post-percutaneous coronary intervention patients who were on dual antiplatelet therapy for one year.
How to Diagnose ATTR Cardiac Amyloidosis
A retrospective study of patients with confirmed cardiac amyloidosis showed negative light chain biomarkers and a typical pattern of cardiac amyloid on cardiac MRI was highly specific for the diagnosis of the transthyretin subtype and may obviate the need for further testing before starting treatment.
ECMO-Supported CPR Disappoints for Treating Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
For patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest that was refractory to initial resuscitation efforts, adding extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to standard CPR did not result in a significant improvement in survival with favorable neurologic outcome.
Surgical Risk of Mitral Valve Repair, Updated
A contemporary update of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons risk calculator for operative mortality and morbidity in nonemergent primary mitral valve repair for regurgitation shows an operative mortality rate of 1.2%, with a conversion to replacement of 6%, in more than 53,000 patients.
Long-Term Air Pollution Exposure Could Raise Risk for Depression, Anxiety
Two research groups reported on breathing dirty air and how that affects mental health.
A Comparison of Ceftaroline and Daptomycin in the Treatment of MRSA Bloodstream Infections
Ceftaroline is an acceptable alternative therapy for treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.