Orlando, Fla.The addition of clopidogrel to aspirin did not lead to a significant reduction in vein graft intimal hyperplasia during the first year after CABG, according to the CASCADE trial presented Monday during the late-breaking clinical trials session at the 2009 American Heart Association conference.

Orlando, Fla.A single-center real-world population trial has demonstrated the safety and efficacy of PCI with radial access for coronary angiography, compared with femoral access. Researchers noted that experienced invasive cardiologists can easily and rapidly shift their practice towards radial access. The results were presented Saturday at the late-breaking clinical science session at the 2009 American Heart Association conference.

Orlando, Fla.The 30-day and one-year mortality rates are similar at hospitals with or without on-site cardiac surgery for STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI, based on results taken from the Mass-DAC registry presented Monday during the late-breaking clinical trials session at 2009 American Heart Association conference.

Orlando, Fla.Three out of six platelet function tests can identify heart patients whose platelet reactivity will increase heart risk, despite being pretreated with two anti-clotting drugs before PCI, according to a Sunday presentation during the late-breaking clinical session at the American Heart Association conference. The co-principal investigators told Cardiovascular Business News that their findings support more widespread use of platelet reactivity testing with these three tests.

Orlando, Fla.STEMI patients who received both aspirin and the new reversible oral antiplatelet drug ticagrelor (Brilinta; AstraZeneca) had few cardiac events and less mortality than patients on aspirin and the popular irreversible antiplatelet medication clopidogrel (Plavix; Bristol-Myers Squibb), based on the results of the PLATO STEMI trial, presented during Sundays late-breaking clinical trial session at the American Heart Association conference.

A meta-analysis of nearly 80,000 patients published in the Nov. 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology adds to a growing body of research seeking to evaluate and understand possible sex differences associated with antiplatelet therapies. This analysis found it to be effective in reducing cardiovascular events in both men and women with no statistically significant sex differences in terms of expected clinical benefit or increased harm.

David E. Gossman, MD, an interventional cardiologist, who until his termination in September performed cardiac catheterizations and other cardiac interventional procedures at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center and Lahey Clinic Hospital in Burlington, Mass., is accusing his former employer of terminating him due to his refusal to increase the use of Medtronic products.

Diabetes currently afflicts 171 million people globally, including 23.6 million Americansand these figures are expected to double by 2030. The adverse vascular consequences of diabetes are well documented, along with the increased incidence of atherosclerosis. Research suggests that the representation of coronary artery disease in patients with diabetes varies widely and the decision whether to perform PCI or CABG is not so clear cut.