Veterans who received initial diabetes treatment with metformin experienced lower rates of death and major cardiovascular events than those who received sulfonylurea, but it is not clear whether sulfonylurea raises risk or metformin is protective. Those are the findings of a large, retrospective cohort study published in the November issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

Cell therapy delivered either three or seven days after STEMI failed to improve heart function, according to a study presented Nov. 6 at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) scientific sessions in Los Angeles and simultaneously published online in the Journal of the America Medical Association.

Patients with left ventricular dysfunction fared just as well when treated with allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) as they did when treated with autologous MSC, with no significant immune response to the treatment, according to a study presented Nov. 6 at the American Heart Association scientific sessions in Los Angeles. The study was simultaneously published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

No significant differences existed between prasugrel vs. clopidogrel in the occurrence of the primary efficacy endpoint through 30 months, and there is no significant association between platelet reactivity and occurrence of ischemic outcomes, according to a platelet function substudy of TRILOGY ACS, presented Nov. 4 as a late breaker at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) scientific sessions in Los Angeles.

While the costs associated with CABG in diabetic patients with multivessel disease are initially higher by approximately $8,600 compared with PCI using drug-eluting stents (DES), five-year and lifetime calculations show CABG to be more cost effective in a substudy of the FREEDOM trial presented Nov. 4 as a late breaker at the 2012 American Heart Association’s (AHA) scientific sessions in Los Angeles.

For diabetic patients with multivessel disease, CABG was superior to PCI in that it significantly reduced rates of death and MI, but had a higher risk of stroke, based on the late-breaking FREEDOM trial. However, there are patient-oriented considerations, particularly with stroke risk, which may make the decision to favor CABG over PCI less clear-cut, Ajay J. Kirtane, MD, told Cardiovascular Business.

Patients who received platelet function monitoring and dose adjustments after stent implantation fared no better than those given standard care, according to a study published online Nov. 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings were simultaneously presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) scientific sessions in Los Angeles.