Tag Archives: SMC

SAPIEN valve positive results Clinicians have achieved successful one-year outcomes in high-risk or inoperable patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement during the first two years since release of the valve (Sapien®, Edwards) commercially, according to results presented at the Euro PCR 2001 meeting in Paris, France. Despite high predicted mortality and multiple co-morbidities in many of these patients, survival at one year was 76% in the 1,038 patients treated as part of Cohort I (first year of commercialisation), and 77% in the 1,269 patients treated as part of Cohort II (second year of commercialisation).  Since November

Controversial salt paper published A new European study has caused controversy by suggesting that lowering salt intake may not be beneficial. The study, published recently in JAMA (May 4th 2011 issue), was conducted by a team from the University of Leuven, Belgium. They followed 3,681 participants who were free of cardiovascular disease at baseline for a median of 7.9 years, and found an inverse relationship between cardiovascular deaths and 24-hour sodium excretion (which correlates to salt intake), although systolic blood pressure was higher with higher salt intake. But an editorial in the Lancet (May 12th 2011 issue) criticises the study,

Increase in kidney failure in people with diabetes Diabetes UK has reported ‘concern’ in recently released figures showing a 20% increase in people with diabetes in England needing dialysis or a kidney transplant between 2008–2009. The figures released by the National Diabetes Audit also reveals, for the same period, that a third of people with diabetes did not have their urine tested, half of people with diabetes were found to have not met their blood pressure targets, and more than a third were found to have poor blood glucose control, with the latter more prevalent in younger people with diabetes. Data for the audit was contributed f