
Keith Fox, Royal Infirmary Edinburgh
The RITA-3 trial - focussing on how to manage patients with acute coronary syndromes - reported 5-year data at this year’s ESC Congress. Keith Fox from Edinburgh told Audio Medica about new evidence that strengthens the case for aggressive management.

Bruno Scheller, Universitatsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg Saar
A future option for treating in-stent restenosis is the idea of coating a balloon with an anti-proliferative drug and inflating it inside the newly-occluded stent. At the ESC Congress, Bruno Scheller from the University of Saarland presented the first study of such a device in humans. He told Audio Medica about it.

The ESC heard the latest on the Endeavor stent, which elutes the sirolimus analogue ABT-578. Jean Fajadet from Toulouse told Audio Medica about the findings from ENDEAVOR II study of around 1200 patients.

Heart disease patients need to change lifestyle and not just take medicines. That’s the message in Stockholm from the EuroAction Project, which is investigating the potential of a nurse-led patient-education initiative. David Wood from London’s Charing Cross Hospital told Audio Medica what’s happening.

The Euroheart survey has found significant differences in both diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women as compared with men. Audio Medica asked Caroline Daly of London’s Royal Brompton Hospital about the clinical implications.
Audio Medica talked with Roberto Ferrari , Vice President of the ESC, about the PREAMI study on the use of the ACE inhibitor perindopril in older patients who have survived acute myocardial infarction.
Click here for all the interviews from ESC 2005

In the treatment of acute myocardial infarction the 24-country ASSENT-4 study seems to show an overall increase of risk if you use thrombolysis before primary PCI. Frans Van de Werf from Leuven gave Audio Medica results from the 30 day analysis. Kim Fox of London commented.
Frans Van de Werf:
Kim Fox:

Cardiac resynchronisation has proved even more beneficial in severe heart failure than was proven a year ago by early results from the CARE-HF study. At the European Cardiology meeting in Stockholm John Cleland of Hull has now presented the latest findings. He talked to Audio Medica.

It could be just as good to start treatment for heart failure with a beta blocker first and subsequently use an ACE inhibitor, as the more convetional use of an ACE inhibitor first followed by a beta blocker. That’s according to Ronnie Willenheimer from Malmö who answered questions from Audio Medica about the CIBIS study.
We asked Gabriel Steg from the Bichat Hospital in Paris to comment on Dr Willenheimer’s findings during the Stockholm Conference of the European Society of Cardiology.
Ronnie Willenheimer
Gabriel Steg:

The STEEPLE trial randomised more than 3500 elective angioplasty patients to unfractionated heparin or either of two dose levels of enoxaparin. Gilles Montalescot presented the findings in Stockholm and talked about them with Audio Medica.

Drug-eluting stents and their additional benefit to low-risk patients were investigated in a cost-effectiveness analysis presented to the Stockholm cardiology meeting by Matthias Pfisterer from Basel. Audio Medica talked with him.

Shamir Mehta of McMaster University told Audio Medica in Stockholm about the OASIS-5/MICHELANGELO results comparing the new anti-thrombotic therapy, fondaparinux, with enoxaparin among patients with acute coronary syndromes. For a comment on Shamir Mehta’s presentation at the ESC meeting, Audio Medica questioned Freek Verheugt of Nijmegen.
Shamir Mehta:
Freek Verheugt:
