The American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC) has as its mission “to promote the prevention of cardiovascular disease, advocate for the preservation of cardiovascular health, and disseminate high-quality, evidence-based information through the education of healthcare clinicians and their patients.” The origins of ASPC date back to a working group of National Heart, Lung, and Blood …
Since the introduction of the need to use imaging for the monitoring of cardiomyopathies and particularly ischemic cardiomyopathies in international guidelines, articles reporting the place, the accuracy and the prognostic impact of cardiac imaging have grown exponentially. During 2015, the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging published selected pre-clinical, technical an…
Is the term geriatric cardiology redundant? Technically, geriatric cardiology refers to cardiovascular care of patients 65 years of age or older. The United States Census Bureau predicts that by the year 2050, almost 81 million Americans will fall into this demographic. The geriatric population is further broken down into elderly (between ages 75 and 84 years) and very elderly (85 years of ag…
Despite advances over the past decade, the incidence of cardiogenic shock secondary to acute myocardial infarction has increased, with an unchanged mortality near 50%. Recent trials have not clarified the best strategies in treatment. While dedicated cardiac shock centers are being established, there are no standardized agreements on the utilization of mechanical circulatory support and the tim…
The availability of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has led to a paradigm shift in the field of anticoagulation, with DOACs increasingly being prescribed for patients in preference to vitamin K antagonists and low molecular weight heparin. Despite good experience with the use of these agents at fixed doses, there are clinical scenarios where monitoring is recommended. Data from phase III st…
What is the best approach for resuscitation of a patien twit hseptic shock? Despite considerable investigation over several decades, this important question still has no clear answer. There is agreement that resuscitation should proceed quickly, for the longer the delay, the greater the physiologic stress and endorgan injury. However, treatment options are principally intravenous fluids and va…
The electrocardiographic pattern during sleep was recorded in 140 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease by the Holter continuous recording system. Among the 97 patients who had fixed abnormal ST-T changes during the day, the severity of the pathologic pattern decreased during sleep in 39, remained unchanged in 35 and became more marked in 23 patients. The deterioration of ST-T changes i…
Stroke is an important complication after cardiac catheterization procedures, resulting in death and disability for thousands of patients each year. Common risk factors include advanced age, vascular comorbidities, and more complicated and invasive procedures. Several lines of evidence suggest that these strokes are embolic, from either dislodgement of a clot or atheromatous debris off the aort…
Advances in medical care, particularly cardiac surgery, over the past half century have led to significant improvements in outcomes for children with chronic medical conditions. Children with structural heart defects, both genetic and acquired, have seen a profound improvement in survival
To study whether the renin-angiotensin system is related to hyperuricemia in hypertension, the serum concentration of uric acid was determined in 96 patients with various types of hypertension and various degrees of plasma renin activity (PRA). In malignant hypertension, both PRA and the serum uric acid level were higher than in essential hypertension; but in primary aldosteronism or desoxycort…