December 17, 2020
The American Heart Association has released its annual top 10 list for leading cardiovascular-related research and “accomplishments” for 2020, offering the caveat that much of it took place in the shadow of COVID-19. The AHA has been compiling this list since 1996, a press release notes.
1)EXPLORER-HCM. Released at the virtual European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2020, this small trial in the setting of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (just 251 patients) showed that the first-in-class myosin inhibitor mavacamten (MyoKardia), on top of medical therapy, significantly improved hemodynamics, functional capacity, and symptoms when compared with patients who received placebo. “A new molecule has emerged with a promise of targeted medical therapy for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy for the first time since the original description of the disease almost 60 years ago,” said lead investigator Iacopo Olivotto, MD (Azienda Ospedaliera-Universitaria Careg
December 17, 2020
When the 5-year results from the controversial EXCEL trial were published earlier this year, it revived an old and divisive stent-versus-surgery debate but it also rekindled questions about how clinical trials are funded. In addition to concerns over trial endpoints and reporting, some physicians complained that EXCEL and other device trials like it can’t be trusted because of the role of the manufacturer in funding the research.
This story is part of
Envision Change
, an end-of-2020 series imagining a different future for cardiology, medicine, research, and health. SEE ALSO: Transforming Clinical Research, Remaking Medicine, Heroes to Human.
The pros and cons of commercial funding in clinical research are well documented, and endless ink has been spent examining the ties between investigators and sponsors and the impact on clinical trials. But what’s the alternative? In a year when so many other aspects of cardiology practice and research have been upe
Abbott announces fourteen new Texas Medical Board appointments Eli Kirshbaum | Dec 17, 2020
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Gov. Gregg Abbott announced new appointments to both the District One and District Two Review Committees of the Texas Medical Board on Thursday. These appointees are responsible for evaluating medical practices in their respective districts.
Each committee consists of three physicians who are doctors of medicine, one physician who is a doctor of osteopathic medicine, and three members of the public.
Antoinette “Toni” Jackson
Jackson is an Attorney and Principal for the Banks Law Firm, and a Member of the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers, Urban Land Institute, Texas Southern University Foundation, and Houston Habitat for Humanity
Gustav Gonget/Alamy
American women fare far worse in pregnancy-related deaths than women in comparable countries. Women in the United States are more than twice as likely to die of pregnancy than women in Canada, data from the Canadian government data and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows.
Heart disease and stroke cause the majority of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and decades of research has shown that these killers disproportionately affect Black women. Black women are 3 times as likely to die from pregnancy than white women, CDC data shows.
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DALLAS and WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2020 Options to treat heart valve disease are expanding, allowing patients to avoid surgery when possible, according to a new joint clinical practice guideline from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. The new 2020 ACC/AHA Guideline for the Management of Patients With Valvular Heart Disease published today in the AHA s flagship journal
Circulation and in the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
About half of all people ages 65 and older have some form of valvular heart disease. If left undiagnosed or untreated in a timely fashion, valvular heart disease can become more severe and can ultimately lead to heart failure and death. Valvular heart disease can affect one or more heart valves - the structures responsible for regulating blood flow to and from the heart. The heart has four chambers for circulating blood into the heart and out to the lungs and the body, and each chamber is separated b