Reporting from:
American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session 2005, March 6-9, Orlando, Florida
Scientific Editors:
Michael Petch, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge
Man Fai Shiu, Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry
James Tcheng, Duke University, Durham
Harvey White, Green Lane Hospital, Auckland
Producers: Derek Thorne & Peter Goodwin
Correspondents: Derek Thorne & Peter Goodwin
In this edition:
Adnan Kastrati has found that a study comparing the two main drug eluting stents in terms of late lumen loss suggests sirolimus has the upper hand over paclitaxel among diabetic patients. Marie-Claude Morice’s study has also found sirolimus stents to be slightly superior in terms of neointimal growth rates among non-diabetic patients.
Nikolaus Marx‘s investigation shows that the oral anti-diabetic drug, pioglitazone, can be used to reduce the formation of new tissue inside a stent in non-diabetics, and could reduce restenosis rates.
John Cleland and Kenneth Ellenbogen review findings that cardiac resynchronisation – or atrial-biventricular pacing – extends life in patients with severe heart failure and cardiac dysynchrony.
Germano Di Sciascio and Lloyd Klein discuss how doubling the usual clopidogrel dose may be best in coronary intervention.
Zhenming Chen & Rory Collins found that adding clopidogrel to the usual care of patients with acute myocardial infarction is of clear benefit according to the findings of the 46,000 patient COMMIT Study. However, the use of metoprolol in the same acute MI patients is not endorsed for all patients.
Adnan Kastrati, Deutsches Herzzentrum, Munich
Marie-Claude Morice, Institut Jacques Cartier, Paris
COMMENT: John Hirshfeld, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Nikolaus Marx, University Hospital, Ulm
COMMENT: Lloyd Klein, Rush Medical College, Chicago
Patrick Serruys, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Andrew Sumner, Penn State Hershey Medical Center
John Cleland, University of Hull
COMMENT: Kenneth Ellenbogen, Medical College of Virginia
Arthur Feldman, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia
Stuart Connolly, McMaster University, Ontario
COMMENT: Jeffrey Goldberger, Northwestern University, Chicago
Germano Di Sciascio, University Campus Biomdica Di Roma
COMMENT: Lloyd Klein, Rush Medical College, Chicago
John LaRosa, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn
Mandeep Singh, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
Peter Sever, Imperial College, London
Luc Van Gaal, University of Antwerp
COMMENT: Julius Gardin, St John Hospital, Detroit
Harvey White, Green Lane Hospital, Auckland
Kenneth Mahaffey, Duke University Medical Center, Durham
David Holmes, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
Raimund Erbel, Universitätsklinikum, Essen
William Wijns, Cardiovascular Center, Aalst
Zhenming Chen & Rory Collins, Oxford University
Harvey White, Green Lane Hospital, Auckland
Harvey White, Green Lane Hospital, Aukland