News and views

The 31st HEART UK Annual Medical and Scientific Conference took place at the University of Warwick from 5th – 7th July 2017. This year’s conference focused on cholesterol management in the future and reflected the current period of change in health care delivery and expectation. Jaqui Walker reports the meeting’s highlights....

A new advisory careers test has been designed with the aim of transforming the recruitment of potential doctors. It is hoped the test will address the shortage of GPs and emergency doctors in the NHS, and give pupils from all backgrounds equal opportunities. Historically state sector students have been at a disadvantage over private school pupils....

Around 7,400 individuals will have a stroke in Wales each year, with 66,000 currently living with the after effects of a stroke. It is estimated that 70 % of stroke cases could be avoided....

The European Commission (EC) has approved an update to the label of rivaroxaban (Xarelto®, Bayer) to include a 10 mg once daily dose for the extended prevention of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE). This label update applies to patients who have already received at least six months of standard anticoagulation therapy, and provides clinicians with an additional treatment option alongside the 20 mg once daily dose already licensed in this indication....

The ESC decision is a huge vote of confidence in London as a leading centre for medical research. London overcame stiff competition from other key European cities in winning the event for 2021. When the ESC last came to London in 2015, it generated £100 million of economic benefit for the city, attracting more than 32,700 delegates from 140 countries....

We are delighted that the BJC is now an offcial partner with Anticoagulation UK....

This year’s meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) provided results from a wide range of clinical trials on anticoagulation, lipid lowering, diet and cardiovascular outcomes, and the use of oxygen in acute myocardial infarction. There were also exciting findings with a novel anti-inflammatory agent, targeted at atherosclerosis. Held in Barcelona, Spain, from 26th – 30th August 2017, our report – written by the BJC team and Drs Kevin Cheng and Chris Allen – focuses on the implications of these new data, as well as providing overviews on electrolyte disturbances and iron deficiency in patients with systolic heart failure....

A consistent criticism of the ESC congress in recent years has been that, outside of the chronic heart failure arena at least, the late breaker sessions have lacked headline-grabbing, big-hitting landmark trials. Not this year. “This is our 1994!” proclaimed chief investigator, Paul Ridker (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA), on presentation of the results of CANTOS (Canakinumab Anti-Inflammatory Thrombosis Outcomes Study), drawing parallels with the practice-changing impact of the 4S (Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study) trial, which demonstrated the efficacy of statins for the first time and opened the door to lipid lowering as a highly prosperous therapeutic pathway in cardiovascular disease in the process....

In the same hotline session as CANTOS, the results of COMPASS (Cardiovascular Outcomes for People using Anticoagulation Strategies) also caught the attention. In a stable cardiovascular disease population (established coronary or peripheral arterial disease), over 27,000 patients were randomised to one of three groups: rivaroxaban 2.5 mg b.i.d plus aspirin 100 mg daily rivaroxaban 5 mg b.i.d, or aspirin 100 mg daily alone. ...

RE-DUAL PCI (the Randomized Evaluation of Dual Antithrombotic Therapy With Dabigatran vs Triple Therapy With Warfarin in Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) has shown a significant reduction in the incidence of bleeding complications in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing stent placement in patients receiving dabigatran dual therapy (dabigatran, plus clopidogrel or ticagrelor) compared to those receiving warfarin triple therapy (warfarin, plus clopidogrel or ticagrelor, and aspirin)....