Cardiac resynchronization therapy for patients in NYHA class 1-2? In the randomized REVERSE trial, such patients may or may not have benefited clinically, but end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes improved along with LVEF. Observers welcomed the findings cautiously. Heartwire
A meta-analysis of 6 trials involving celecoxib may provide a measure of comfort to clinicians prescribing the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor to patients at low risk for cardiovascular disease. Medscape Medical News
A study of pioglitazone vs glimepiride suggests that pioglitazone produces meaningful changes in the cardiovascular risk profile for patients with diabetes and coronary artery disease. Medscape Medical News
The weight loss drug rimonabant has failed to show any benefit on progression of atherosclerosis in an intravascular ultrasound study in patients with abdominal obesity and coronary artery disease. In addition, the drug resulted in higher rates of psychiatric and other side effects compared with placebo. Heartwire
The lead investigator says the drug, based on a metabolite of vitamin B6, likely has no future as a cardioprotective agent in bypass surgery but may yet prove to have other beneficial metabolic properties, provided its developer has deep enough pockets to continue to study it. Heartwire
Do the ACCOMPLISH results presented at ACC.08 tell us that a fixed-dose combination pill should be first-line therapy for hypertension? Medscape Cardiology
Have the results of ONTARGET presented at ACC.08 finally resolved the superiority/inferiority/equivalence of ACE inhibitors and ARBs? Medscape Cardiology
Eight weeks of stress management training or lifestyle modification resulted in systolic blood pressure reduction by more than 9 mm Hg in elderly patients with systolic hypertension. Medscape Medical News
