New Details on Potential Adverse Coumarin-Clopidogrel Interaction
The study showing an interaction between coumarin derivatives and the antiplatelet effects of clopidogrel has been published online February 16, 2010 in the European Heart Journal [1].
The study, which was first reported last year at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting, shows a significantly higher degree of platelet [...]
February 12, 2010 (Boston, Massachusetts) — Weight loss by morbidly obese patients may promote improvements in left ventricular structure independent of the other benefits of weight reduction, results of a controlled trial show [1]. In the study, patients with morbid obesity who lost weight after bariatric surgery had improved measures of left ventricular structure, independent [...]
A case study describing a single patient who experienced inappropriate shocks and pacing–seemingly as a result of a rare defibrillator problem–has raised the ire of Boston Scientific, the manufacturer of the two devices singled out in the paper [1]. Authors on the report, however, say they were only trying to alert clinicians to the potential [...]
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A selective invasive strategy may be an attractive alternative in medically stabilized patients, Dr. de Winter’s group concludes.
In an editorial, Dr. John A. Bittl, from the Ocala Heart Institute, Florida, and Dr. David J. Maron at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, comment that advantages of an early conservative approach include the ability to safely [...]
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new public health warning today on the possible interaction between clopidogrel (Plavix) and the proton pump inhibitor omeprazole (Prilosec). The alert states, “New data show that when clopidogrel and omeprazole are taken together, the effectiveness of clopidogrel is reduced. Patients at risk for heart attacks [...]
Both obesity and hypertension were independently significant risk factors for left atrial (LA) enlargement–a risk factor for atrial fibrillation–in >1000 persons in the community who were followed with echocardiography over a decade, but obesity was the most predictive of the two, report investigators in the November 17, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American [...]
Delayed-enhancement MRI (DE-MRI) shows promise as a predictor of cardiac transplantation and all-cause mortality in the largest trial to assess the prognostic value of DE-MRI-identified myocardial scarring over a relatively long follow-up [1]. A review of 857 consecutive patients undergoing DE-MRI at St Luke’s Episcopal Hospital by Dr Benjamin Cheong (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, [...]
