Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 10.09.2014

Mintu Turakhia, MD MAS, FHRS FACC FAHA Assistant Professor of Medicine and (by courtesy) of Health Research & Policy Stanford University School of Medicine Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology Core Investigator, Center for Innovation to Implementation VA Palo Alto Healthcare SystemMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mintu Turakhia, MD MAS, FHRS FACC FAHA Assistant Professor of Medicine and (by courtesy) of Health Research & Policy Stanford University School of Medicine Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology Core Investigator, Center for Innovation to Implementation VA Palo Alto Healthcare System Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study Dr. Turakhia: We found that the reported success rate of a study correlated with the number of times the study was cited in the literature, even after adjustment for a wide range of factors.
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA / 13.08.2014

Dr. Juhani Airaksinen, MD, PhD Heart Center, Turku University Hospital Turku, FinlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Juhani Airaksinen, MD, PhD Heart Center, Turku University Hospital Turku, Finland Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Airaksinen:  The main result of our study is that the risk of thromboembolic complications in general was low (0.7%). However the risk rose to a 3.7-fold level when the delay to cardioversion exceeded 12 hours. The time-dependent increase in the risk of thromboembolic complications was more pronounced in female patients. In addition, as expected, old age, heart failure and diabetes were the other significant predictors of postcardioversion thromboembolic complications.
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, McGill / 27.03.2014

Louise Pilote, MD, MPH, PhD Department of Medicine, McGill University Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill UniversityMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Louise Pilote, MD, MPH, PhD Department of Medicine, McGill University Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Pilote: Our study found that in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing dialysis, warfarin use, compared to no-warfarin use, did not reduce the risk for stroke (adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.78 to 1.67) but it was associated with a 44% higher risk for bleeding event (adjusted HR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.85). However, warfarin use in non-dialysis patients with AF was associated with a 13% lower risk for stroke (adjusted HR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.85 to 0.90) and only a 19% higher risk for bleeding event (adjusted HR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.16 to 1.22).
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Mineral Metabolism, Stroke / 14.10.2013

Abhishek Sharma, M.B.B.S. Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Abhishek Sharma, M.B.B.S. Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.   MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer:  Evidence from RCT's and observational studies suggests a significantly increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) requiring hospitalization, but no increase in risk of stroke or cardiovascular mortality with the use of bisphosphonate.
Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 12.09.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Evgeny Pokushalov, MD, PhD State Research Institute of Circulation Pathology, Rechkunovskaya 15, 630055 Novosibirsk 55, Russia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Pokushalov: The main finding of this study is that after the failure of the first catheter ablation procedure for PAF, a redo ablation was more effective at eradicating recurrent AF than treatment with AAD. In this randomized controlled clinical trial, we observed that: 1. The AF progression rate was considerably higher in patients randomized to AAD (79%) use compared with patients treated with a second ablation procedure (25%). 2. The AF burden significantly increased on AAD during followup compared with patients of reablation group (18.8±11.4% versus 5.6±9.5%, respectively). 3. There was a much greater rate of progression to persistent AF if AAD was used rather than redo ablation (23% versus 4%, respectively). These findings support the need for consideration of a timely intervention in patients with PAF who have responded inadequately to an initial PVI.