Tag Archives: Apixaban

New editorial board member Dr Ketan Dhatariya We are delighted to welcome Dr Ketan Dhatariya to our editorial board. Dr Dhatariya is a consultant in diabetes, endocrinology and general medicine at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich. He is also a senior lecturer at the University of East Anglia, and an assistant professor of medicine at St George’s University, Grenada, in the West Indies. He has published on a wide variety of diabetes- and endocrine-related subjects, including diabetes-related foot disease. He serves as meetings secretary for the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists, and medical secretary for the Spec

First UK operation for HF with nerve-stimulating implant The UK’s first operation to tackle heart failure (HF) with a novel nerve-stimulating device was performed recently at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester. The operation was part of the INOVATE-HF clinical trial, a global investigation to determine the safety and efficacy of the an implantable electrical stimulation device (CardioFit,® BioControl Medical), designed to improve heart function in patients with HF. The study will evaluate the system’s ability to reduce hospitalisation and death among patients with HF, while also exploring whether combined treatment with the system and pres

ARISTOTLE: apixaban superior to warfarin in AF patients Another oral anticoagulant has shown good results in comparison to warfarin for use in the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The new oral factor Xa inhibitor, apixaban, was superior to warfarin in preventing stroke or systemic embolism and was also associated with less bleeding and lower mortality than warfarin in the ARISTOTLE trial. Apixaban is the third of the new generation of oral anticoagulants to be tested in this indication, and seems to have performed the best. The other two agents – dabigatran and rivaroxaban – have also been shown to be viable

NHA joins with BHS The Nurses Hypertension Association (NHA) has become part of the British Hypertension Society (BHS) after the BHS decided to invite nurses working in the field of hypertension and cardiovascular disease to be full members of the society. “This acknowledges the shift of care towards specialist nurses, particularly in primary care,” said Naomi Stetson, former head of the NHA. “In the current economic climate, it also made good business sense to have one united organisation.” All members of the NHA are now full BHS members and so the NHA has disbanded. “There is a strong Nurses Working Party within the society, which

The trial was stopped after a predefined interim analysis by the independent data monitoring committee “revealed clear evidence of a clinically important reduction in stroke and systemic embolism”, a company statement announced. The AVERROES (Apixaban Versus Acetylsalicylic Acid to Prevent Strokes) study included 5,600 patients with all types of atrial fibrillation who were intolerant of or unsuitable for warfarin. They were randomised to 5 mg of apixaban or 81–324 mg of aspirin for up to 36 months. The primary efficacy outcome is the time from the first dose of the study drug to the first occurrence of ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic