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The management of anticoagulation in patients requiring long-term warfarin therapy is often problematic when they need cardiac catheterization.
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In patients with elevated triglycerides, other atherogenic particles may be as important as LDL-cholesterol (C). These particles and LDL-C are measured as non-HDL-C, and are considered a secondary target of therapy.
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The relationship between physical activity and atrial fibrillation has been controversial. Lone atrial fibrillation is relatively common in young, competitive athletes, and it is uncertain whether routine physical activity is protective or harmful in elderly populations where atrial fibrillation is more common.
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The sudden cardiac death in heart failure trial (SCD-HeFT) was a study involving patients with ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and a left ventricular ejection fraction < 35% and class II or III heart failure that tested the value of ICD therapy for the primary prevention of sudden cardiac death.
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Some women with DVT may stop warfarin after six months; Vytorin and cancer; preventing recurrent stroke; and FDA news.
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Although anemia was predictive of adverse outcomes in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, red blood cell transfusion was also associated with an increased risk of death, severe disability or delayed infarction. These results call into question the practice of liberal transfusion thresholds in patients with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage.
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In spite of institutional education regarding appropriate use of prophylactic antibiotics, compliance was achieved only when hospital protocols that mandated specific antibiotic use were implemented.
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The optimal duration of oral anticoagulation therapy after an initial symptomatic deep venous thrombosis remains unknown. Siragusa et al assessed patients by ultrasonography for the presence of residual vein thrombosis (RVT) after three months of anticoagulation for a DVT. Those with RVT were randomized to 9 additional months of anticoagulation versus discontinuation. Among the 70% with RVT, prolonged anticoagulation showed only a non-significant trend for reducing recurrent DVT. For the 30% without RVT, all of whom stopped anticoagulation after three months, only one of 78 patients (1.3%) developed a recurrent DVT. For select patients, the lack of RVT after initial anticoagulation identifies patients in whom anticoagulation may be safely discontinued. The optimal duration of anticoagulation for higher risk patients, including those with RVT, remains undefined.
