Clinical Cardiology Alert – April 1, 2015
April 1, 2015
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Angiotensin Receptor Blockade, Renal Function, and Outcomes in Chronic Heart Failure
Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAAS) blockade is an important component of guideline-recommended therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).
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Is it Time to Give Up on Systemic Cooling in ST Segment Elevation MI?
Systemic hypothermia as a means to protect against tissue damage is a strategy that has found its way into clinical practice guidelines in the post-cardiac arrest population, in which cooling has demonstrated a neuroprotective effect in multiple contemporary clinical trials.
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Are Atrial Premature Complexes Benign?
Atrial premature complexes (APCs) are commonly observed on routine ECGs and believed to be harbingers of atrial fibrillation, especially in patients with cardiovascular disease.
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SIMPLE Is Better – ICD Defibrillation Testing Does Not Improve Outcomes
Traditionally, the placement of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) concludes with induction of ventricular fibrillation (VF) to confirm that the new device is able to appropriately sense the arrhythmia and terminate it while there is still the opportunity to reposition the ventricular lead or add an additional lead if necessary.
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Cardiac Sarcoidosis: Rare or Underdiagnosed?
There is increasing evidence that sarcoidosis can be confined to the heart, but disagreements abound about the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac sarcoidosis (CS).
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Athlete’s Heart vs Brugada ECG
The normal variant ECG seen predominantly in highly trained athletes of domed ST segment elevation, and negative T waves in V1-V3 can be confused with some of the ECG patterns in Brugada syndrome patients.