2008, Volume 15, Issue 02, pages 57-112

News in brief from the world of...

Echocardiography: Oxford specialist handbook in cardiology is an invaluable tool in the diagnosis and management of patients with cardiac disease. This new Oxford Handbook is...

This handbook is a comprehensive and practical overview of all aspects of electrophysiology. It covers fundamentals such as the set-up of an electrophysiology laboratory and...

We continue our series in which Consultant Interventionist Dr Michael Norell takes a sideways look at life in the cath lab… and beyond. In this...

Familial hypercholesterolaemia is a common genetic disorder that remains under-recognised. At present a simple genetic test is not available, although targeted genetic screening is being...

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-apheresis is the treatment of choice in homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia as well as various other severe dyslipidaemic conditions. However, it appears to be...

Anticoagulant therapy plays a key role in pharmacological reperfusion therapy for acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Until recently, the established role of unfractionated...

Data from 101 practices that had completed a survey of cholesterol target achievement using rosuvastatin in routine general practice were pooled to assess effectiveness at...

The Eplerenone Post-Acute Myocardial Infarction Heart Failure Efficacy and Survival Study (EPHESUS) showed that addition of eplerenone to optimal medical therapy reduced morbidity and mortality...

Achieving a lower heart rate is important in treating angina. Established approaches include the use of beta blockers and certain calcium channel blockers. However, the...

A 63-year-old gentleman presented with palpitations and a sensation of chest fullness. He had previously undergone laparoscopic oesophageal...

So now we know ... drug-eluting stents (DES) are not to vanish from our armoury at the whim of a National Institute for Health and...

In recent years, general practitioners (GPs) have been swamped by the burden of diabetes in the UK. The incidence has been growing almost as fast...

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended that drug-eluting stents can continue to be used in patients who have a higher...

The results of two major trials of intensive glucose lowering in patients with type 2 diabetes appear to have reached different...

Dextrocardia is a rare anomaly with an estimated prevalence of about one in 10,000. The incidence of coronary artery disease is the same as in...

In contrast, the ADVANCE study, has not shown any harm in its intensive treatment arm. In this trial, 11,140 high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes,...

A new study has highlighted a changing pattern of cardiovascular mortality within Europe, and shows that while cardiovascular mortality rates are decreasing in general, Eastern...