American heart journal
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American heart journal · Nov 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyRationale and design of a double-blind, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of early administration of intravenous β-blockers in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction before primary percutaneous coronary intervention: EARLY β-blocker administration before primary PCI in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction trial.
β-Blockers have a class 1a recommendation in the treatment of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMIs), as they are associated with a reduced mortality, recurrent myocardial infarction, life-threatening arrhythmias, and with prevention of unfavorable left ventricular remodeling. Whether early administration before primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of intravenous β-blockers reduces the infarct size in the current era is unknown. ⋯ The EARLY-BAMI trial is a multinational, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial that will investigate the impact of intravenous metoprolol administration before primary PCI for STEMI on myocardial infarct size as measured with MRI at 30 days.
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American heart journal · Nov 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialSevoflurane in acute myocardial infarction: a pilot randomized study.
Experimental evidence suggests that the inhalational anesthetic sevoflurane has a cardioprotective effect. Our objective was to determine if sedation with sevoflurane will reduce infarct size in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) who are treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). ⋯ Sevoflurane administration during primary PCI did not reduce infarct size. There was a trend toward a reduction in infarct size among patients with anterior MI. Sevoflurane administration was associated with improvement in ST-segment resolution.
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American heart journal · Nov 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialThe palliative care in heart failure trial: rationale and design.
The progressive nature of heart failure (HF) coupled with high mortality and poor quality of life mandates greater attention to palliative care as a routine component of advanced HF management. Limited evidence exists from randomized, controlled trials supporting the use of interdisciplinary palliative care in HF. ⋯ PAL-HF is a randomized, controlled clinical trial that will help evaluate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of palliative care in advanced HF using a patient-centered outcome as well as clinical and economic end points.
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American heart journal · Nov 2014
The association of myocardial infarction process of care measures and in-hospital mortality: a report from the NCDR®.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) publicly reports "core process of care measures" along with 30-day mortality rates for patients with acute myocardial infarction; the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association has a similar but expanded set of performance measures. ⋯ Although process performance was associated with hospital mortality, the association was low for STEMI and nonsignificant for NSTEMI hospitals, thus supporting the need to measure complementary metrics of acute myocardial infarction quality of care.
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American heart journal · Nov 2014
Outcomes in patients with heart failure with preserved, borderline, and reduced ejection fraction in the Medicare population.
Studies on outcomes among patients with heart failure (HF) with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF), borderline left ventricular ejection fraction (HFbEF), and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF) remain limited. We sought to characterize mortality and readmission in patients with HF in the contemporary era. ⋯ Among patients hospitalized with HF, patients with HFpEF and HFbEF had slightly lower mortality and higher all-cause readmission risk than patients with HFrEF, although the mortality differences did not persist after risk adjustment. Irrespective of EF, these patients experience substantial mortality and readmission highlighting the need for new therapeutic strategies.