Tag Archives: American College of Cardiology

European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines recommend low-density lipoprotein (LDL) below 1.4 mmol/L in patients post ACS, which differs from UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline recommendations of 1.8 mmol/L and 1.4 mmol/L in very-high-risk patients only.6,7 The fifth European survey of Cardiovascular Disease prevention and Diabetes (EUROASPIRE V) survey showed that only 30% of post-ACS patients had low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels <1.8 mmol/L one year after discharge.8 The ACS EuroPath survey showed a considerable lack of physicians’ compliance with guidelines in managing lipid low

American College of Cardiology The Annual Scientific Session of American College of Cardiology (ACC) took place in Chicago, USA, from April 2nd–4th 2016. FIRE AND ICE: to freeze or fry the atrium? Cryoballoon atrial ablation was found to be non-inferior to radiofrequency (RF) ablation with respect to efficacy for the treatment of patients with drug-refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). There was also no significant difference between the two procedures in regard to patient safety, according to late-breaking clinical trial research presented at ACC and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine (doi: 10.1056/NE

Too much sitting increases coronary artery calcification Sitting for many hours per day is associated with increased coronary artery calcification, a marker of subclinical heart disease, a new study suggests. The study found no association between coronary artery calcification (CAC) and the amount of exercise a person gets, suggesting that too much sitting might have a greater impact than exercise on this particular measure of heart health. The results suggest that exercise may not entirely counteract the negative effects of a mostly sedentary lifestyle on coronary artery calcium. Presenting the study at the ACC meeting, Dr Jacquelyn Kulinski

HEAT-PPCI: heparin outperforms bivalirudin in primary PCI The major talking point of this year’s American College of Cardiology meeting was without doubt the aptly named HEAT-PPCI trial which generated more heat than has been seen at such conferences for quite some time. The trial acronym stands for How Effective Are Antithrombotic Therapies in Primary PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention), and the study – conducted in the UK under the leadership of Dr Rod Stables (Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital) – compared unfractionated heparin with bivalirudin (Angiomax®, the Medicines Company) in patients with ST-elevation myoca

PREVAIL not presented but eases safety concerns on Watchman The PREVAIL trial of a new device which closes the left atrial appendage in the heart (Watchman®, Boston Scientific) attracted huge controversy at the ACC meeting when it was removed from the programme within an hour of its presentation because of an embargo break by the sponsor, Boston Scientific. But the slides and a press release were still made available to the media, and preliminary results appear to suggest some reassurance on safety concerns generated in a previous study. The device, which is implanted via a trans-septal catheter-based delivery system, is already available in

PARTNER: transcatheter valves just as good as surgery for high risk aortic stenosis Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is just as effective at reducing mortality as surgery for severe aortic stenosis in elderly patients whose age and overall health posed high risks for conventional surgery, according to the results of the PARTNER (Placement of AoRTic TraNscathetER Valve trial). However, stroke rates were higher in the trancatheter group. The transcatheter approach involves delivering a bioprosthetic valve to its target location with a catheter using either transfemoral access or trans-apical access (through the ribs) if peripheral