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The Best in Cardiology | Reconsidering Colchicine
October 31, 2024
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Together with
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“I am frequently asked ‘When’ should people start thinking about assessing their risk of heart disease and also focusing on reducing it. The answer is…. Now.”
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Preventive Cardiologist Dr. Paddy Barrett
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We’re dedicating today’s top story to the people and publications that we rely on to find the most interesting cardiology stories from across the web. Assuming that you already subscribe to Cardiac Wire, these are the 40 other newsletters, websites, and social media stars to follow if you want to keep up with the latest and greatest in cardiology.
I’ll always check the mainstream cardiology news websites (TCTMD, Medscape, et al.) and the major cardiovascular journals (JACC, AHA, JAMA Cardiology, etc.), but in order to find news that you won’t see elsewhere and understand how it impacts care, the juiciest stories usually come from the newsletters and websites run by people of cardiology.
The Best Cardiology Social Media “Influencers” to Follow
Nowadays the juiciest news isn’t even published, it’s posted. And it’s often posted by these legends of cardiology social media.
- Andrew J Sauer MD – A true HF thought and research leader
- Anu Lala-Trindade, MD – A must-follow voice for HF research
- C. Michael Gibson, MD – Could be a journalist if he wasn’t a physician
- Christopher Cannon, MD – Go-to source for preventative cardiology
- Deepak L. Bhatt, MD – He’s everywhere
- Erin D. Michos, MMD – Prolific cardiology researcher and poster
- Giovanni Lorenz, DO – The source for cardiovascular imaging
- Dr. Glaucomflecken – Super funny, and sometimes pretends to be a cardiologist
- Gregg W. Stone, MD – Always solid interventional insights
- John Mandrola, MD – Where we look for scientific second opinions
- James Januzzi Jr MD – Excellent HF resource, and Red Sox team doc
- Ken Nelson – A great eye for cardiology business news
- Mamas A. Mamas, MD – Great cardiology perspectives with a UK lean
- Martha Gulati, MD – Informed insights into preventative and women’s cardiology
- Michael Albert, MD – Solid perspectives on obesity care and treatments
- Purvi Parwani, MD – The person to follow for echo
- Sam Ghali, MD – Excellent lessons from the ED
- Shelley Zieroth, MD – A great source for “heart success”
- Srihari S. Naidu, MD – Views from the intersection of HF and IC
- Sunil V. Rao, MD – Our first stop for interventional cardiology
The Best Healthcare Newsletters and Sites
It can be pretty comfy inside the cardiovascular news bubble, but cardiology is just one part of healthcare. That’s what makes these newsletters and websites from outside the cardiology department so important.
The Takeaway
If you want to stay informed about cardiology news and know what’s going on across healthcare, these sources will give you everything you need. You can also join over 28k cardiology lifers and sign up for Cardiac Wire.
PS – If there’s any cardiology publications or people that should be on this list, let me know!
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Discover Innovation in Intervention
Explore how the AGENT™ Drug-Coated Balloon from Boston Scientific is advancing U.S.-based treatment options for patients with coronary artery disease. Rx Only. (Sponsored by Boston Scientific)
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Cardiology’s Path to Enterprise Imaging
By connecting healthcare teams through every image, every scan and every report, we can reveal the full picture of a patient’s story. Check out this GE HealthCare Cardiology Coffee Break and see how enterprise imaging seamlessly integrates with existing technology infrastructures, ensuring compatibility across systems and platforms, enhances workflow efficiency, and more.
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- Is Colchicine Actually Effective? Surprising results from the CLEAR SYNERGY (OASIS 9) trial showed routine colchicine use fails to reduce MACE risk in patients treated with PCI after acute MI, conflicting with two smaller prior studies. The TCT late-breaker contrasted colchicine’s previously seen MACE reductions in the COLCOT and LoDoCo2 trials (-23% and -31%) by finding no significant difference from placebo after 3.5 years. “We really tried to understand if there was something about this trial, but every way we sliced it, the result was very neutral.”
- EPs or ICs for LAAO? In a win for CV care access, a study presented at this week’s TCT conference found outcomes of percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) are similar whether an electrophysiologist (EP) or interventional cardiologist performs (IC) the procedure. Though EP-performed procedures were more likely to involve echocardiography (25.2% vs 9.7% for ICs) and came with lower radiation exposure (235 mGy vs 305 mGy), rates of death and major adverse events in the hospital did not differ based on operator subspecialty.
- Medtronic’s Second PFA Approval: Medtronic received FDA-approval for its all-in-one pulsed field and radiofrequency ablation device called Affera for the treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation and typical atrial flutter. The approval stems from the SPHERE PER-AF trial, which confirmed the Affera and Sphere-9 technologies were non-inferior to standard AFib treatment. This follows Medtronic’s 2022 acquisition of Affera for ~$925M and makes it the first company to offer two FDA-approved PFA systems for AFib.
- Heparin Timing Matters: Another TCT late-breaker from the HELP-PCI trial found STEMI patients undergoing PCI pretreatment who received early unfractionated heparin saw improved spontaneous reperfusion without increased major bleeding. The trial compared patients who received heparin at first contact to those who received it in the cath lab and found earlier dosing contributed to better TIMI flow grade and a significantly lower risk of MACCE after 30 days (2.2% vs 4.7%).
- Fellow Safety in CHIPs: Observational data out of Wales suggests complex high-risk indicated PCI procedures (CHIP) can be safely performed by fellows in training. The analysis found in-hospital procedural outcomes like death and MACCE were not significantly different between cases led by a supervised trainee or consultant (1.4% vs 1.7%) – opening the discussion about letting trainees take on more complex PCIs rather than the current norm of waiting until after fellowship.
- AI-ECGs Risk Stratify CHD: Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital used over 1,125 ECGs to develop an AI-enhanced ECG tool that accurately predicted 5-year mortality in patients with congenital heart disease, outperforming traditional measures like age, QRS duration, and left ventricular ejection fraction. The tool was validated in a contemporary cohort, achieving a 0.79 AUC.
- Radiation Risks in Cath Labs: A survey also shared at TCT showed that many interventional cardiologists could be doing more to protect themselves and patients from excessive radiation in the cath lab. Over 300 respondents from 47 countries reported that most ICs use lead aprons and thyroid collars, but only 30% use lead glasses, and just 2% have access to equipment like robotic PCI and portable radiation shielding. Alarmingly, a quarter of respondents didn’t wear a dosimeter and 37% were unaware of whether radiation risks were an occupational hazard.
- Impella Improves Lactate Levels: For patients with STEMI complicated by cardiogenic shock (STEMI-CS), the long-awaited DanGer Shock trial showed better 180-day survival using a microaxial flow pump (Abiomed’s Impella CP). Researchers found patients treated using Impella had significantly lower lactate with normalization occurring 12 hours faster than standard care. However, those same patients had a 16% greater chance of developing acute kidney injury, showing the treatment was not without its tradeoffs.
- Qure Joins Roche Pilot Project: Qure.ai is partnering with lab diagnostics giant Roche on a pilot project to investigate AI’s utility for earlier detection of cardiovascular conditions and lung diseases in the Asia-Pacific region. The collaboration is taking place as part of Roche’s Startup Creasphere, which aims to promote digital health innovation through pilot projects addressing important health issues.
- MI Protein Associations: A new analysis found 45 different circulating protein structures that may play a role in MI development, including 13 sex-specific proteins that were largely more prevalent in women. Further analysis also linked higher levels of renin, follistatin, and chemerin to an increased risk of MI, unveiling previously unknown protein interactions.
- WELL Health + HEALWELL: WELL Health and HEALWELL AI expanded their multi-year agreement for co-launching and managing clinical trial sites across Canada. This allows the duo to leverage HEALWELL’s Contract Research Organization alongside WELL’s network of clinics to use patient data to enhance research, particularly in CVD and its comorbidities. The partnership now offers a vertically integrated patient recruitment service from WELL’s specialty care roster, including cardiology, radiology, sleep medicine, and endocrinology.
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A Better Way to Coordinate Post-Stroke Care
Think your EHR messaging system might be holding back your post-stroke care? See how UC San Diego Medical Center streamlined its neuro and EP teams’ post-stroke workflow with Viz Connect, and the impact it had on cardiac monitor placements in inpatient and outpatient settings.
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Streamlining Cath Lab Hemodynamic Workflows
Is your hemodynamic solution keeping your cath lab efficient? Merge Hemo is a cath lab hemodynamic monitoring solution, providing a Best in KLAS user experience, while enhancing clinical workflows, automating data collection, and streamlining inventory management.
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Experience the Future of Learning: Medtronic Academy 2.0 is Here!
Unlock your ultimate destination for structural heart medical education with the newly redesigned Medtronic Academy 2.0. Gain access to expert-led courses, webinars, and a wealth of resources to stay ahead in cardiovascular care. Visit now!
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- Single-Database Simplification: Ready to simplify your cardiovascular imaging data? See how one cardiovascular group used Optum’s single-database system to combine data, get rid of dictation systems, make registry submissions easier, and improve reporting compliance.
- Explore the Potential of Cardio AI: Explore the potential of AI-powered cardiology solutions in this on-demand TeraRecon webinar, detailing how its Cardio Suite solutions help expedite disease diagnosis, care coordination, and provide the data to support cardiac treatment decisions.
- Connecting the ECG Monitoring Ecosystem: There’s so much that goes into building the solutions that providers use each week, and that’s definitely true for ECG monitoring. In this Cardiac Wire Show interview with Flipside Media’s president Brad Ummer, we get an insider’s view of what it takes to develop an ECG monitoring solution, including Flipside’s partnership with Monebo Technologies.
- HeartFlow’s FFRCT’s Nationwide Improvements: What happens when HeartFlow’s FFRCT Analysis is adopted nationwide? See how the NHS’ nationwide implementation of HeartFlow’s FFRCT solution led to significant reductions in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality, plus solid efficiency gains.
- PIA Medical Processes It All: Need an analysis like calcium scoring, strain or even FFR? PIA Medical began as a Core Lab and can handle creative cardiac research and clinical trials along with the full breadth of clinical analyses available today.
- Staging Coronary Artery Disease: Believe it or not, there’s been no clinically relevant atherosclerosis staging system used to characterize heart disease — until now. Check out Cleerly’s four-stage system for evaluating atherosclerotic plaque burden, which is the direct cause of coronary artery disease (CAD).
- Identify and Treat Cardiovascular Disease: Complex care pathways make getting patients to the next step a challenge. See how Tempus Next, an AI enabled care pathway platform, helps providers identify and reduce under treatment in cardiovascular disease by adding an intelligent layer onto their routinely generated EHR data.
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