American heart journal
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American heart journal · Feb 2009
Randomized Controlled TrialRationale and design of the Acute Study of Clinical Effectiveness of Nesiritide in Decompensated Heart Failure Trial (ASCEND-HF).
Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is a major public health burden with significant mortality and morbidity. Nesiritide is a recombinantly produced intravenous formulation of human B-type natriuretic peptide that promotes vasodilation and increases salt and water excretion, which results in reduced cardiac filling pressures. Prior studies have shown that dyspnea is improved in patients with ADHF 3 hours after nesiritide infusion with significant dose-related reductions in cardiac filling pressures and systemic vascular resistance without significant arrhythmias. However, the effect of nesiritide on dyspnea at 6 or 24 hours is unknown, and no clinical outcome trials have been done to provide a reliable estimate of the effect of nesiritide on morbidity and mortality. ⋯ The data from the ASCEND-HF trial will establish whether nesiritide safely improves acute dyspnea as well as morbidity and mortality at 30 days.
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American heart journal · Feb 2009
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyEfficacy and safety of the cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitor anacetrapib as monotherapy and coadministered with atorvastatin in dyslipidemic patients.
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are inversely associated with cardiovascular risk. Cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibition is one strategy for increasing HDL-C. This study evaluated the lipid-altering efficacy and safety of the cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitor anacetrapib as monotherapy or coadministered with atorvastatin in patients with dyslipidemia. ⋯ Anacetrapib, as monotherapy or coadministered with atorvastatin, produced significant reductions in LDL-C and increases in HDL-C; the net result of treatment with anacetrapib + atorvastatin was approximately 70% lowering of LDL-C and more than doubling of HDL-C. Anacetrapib was generally well tolerated with no discernable effect on blood pressure.
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American heart journal · Feb 2009
Acute coronary angiographic findings in survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Diagnosis of acute coronary artery disease in survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is difficult. The role of emergency coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in this setting is debated. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of coronary lesions on emergency angiography in survivors of OHCA. ⋯ A minority of OHCA patients has angiographic evidence of an acute coronary syndrome and one-third undergo PCI, but PCI is not an independent correlate of survival. The presence of ST elevation on admission was a strong independent correlate of acute myocardial infarction and may be used to triage OHCA patients to emergency angiography with a view to PCI.