Vascular health and risk management
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Although porcine aortic valves or pericardial tissue mounted on a stent have made implantation techniques easier, these valves sacrifice orifice area and increase stress at the attachment of the stent, which causes primary tissue failure. Optimizing hemodynamics to prevent patient-prosthetic mismatch and improve durability, stentless bioprostheses use was revived in the early 1990s. The purpose of this review is to provide a current overview of stentless valves in the aortic position. ⋯ There was no level I or IIa evidence of more effective orifice area, mean pressure gradient, LV mass regression, surgical risk, durability, and late outcomes in stentless bioprostheses. There is no general recommendation to prefer stentless bioprostheses in all patients. For new-generation pericardial stentless valves, follow-up over 15 years is necessary to compare the excellent results of stented valves such as the Carpentier-Edwards Perimount and Hancock II valves.
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Vasc Health Risk Manag · Jan 2011
ReviewIndications for and utilization of angiotensin receptor II blockers in patients at high cardiovascular risk.
The worldwide burden of cardiovascular disease is growing. In addition to lifestyle changes, pharmacologic agents that can modify cardiovascular disease processes have the potential to reduce cardiovascular events. Antihypertensive agents are widely used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events partly beyond that of blood pressure-lowering. ⋯ Although in one analysis a possible link between ARBs and increased risks of cancer has surfaced, several meta-analyses, using the most comprehensive data available, have found no link between any ARB, or the class as a whole, and cancer. Most recently, the US Food and Drug Administration completed a review of the potential risk of cancer and concluded that treatment with an ARB medication does not increase the risk of developing cancer. This review discusses the clinical evidence supporting the different indications for each of the ARBs and the outstanding safety of this drug class.
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Vasc Health Risk Manag · Jan 2011
ReviewTherapeutic potential of rivaroxaban in the prevention of venous thromboembolism following hip and knee replacement surgery: a review of clinical trial data.
Rivaroxaban (Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany) is a highly selective direct inhibitor of factor Xa. It has completed Phase III clinical trials evaluating its efficacy and safety against enoxaparin in the prophylaxis against venous thromboembolism (VTE) in orthopedic patients following primary total hip and total knee arthroplasty. Rivaroxaban has been extensively studied worldwide in 12,729 patients in the Regulation of Coagulation in Major Orthopedic Surgery Reducing the Risk of DVT and PE (RECORD) program. ⋯ Safety of the drug was found to be excellent, with no demonstrable cardiovascular or hepatic effects and no statistically significant increase in major bleeding. A pooled analysis of data collected on the patients from the four RECORD trials revealed rivaroxaban to be the first antithrombotic agent to demonstrate superiority over another antithrombotic (enoxaparin) in reducing symptomatic VTE and all-cause mortality. While there was a significant difference in the composite safety endpoint of major and clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding in the pooled analysis with the use of rivaroxaban compared with enoxaparin, there was no significant difference in major bleeding or in any other bleeding.
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Multiple conditions result in development of pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is the subclassification of pulmonary hypertension, in which known or unknown underlying conditions lead to similar intrinsic alterations in the pulmonary vasculature. PAH is a progressive condition characterized by restricted blood flow through the pulmonary circulation leading to poor survival in the absence of effective therapy. ⋯ Because of the risks and inconveniences associated with administration, prostacyclins are typically reserved for patients with more advanced disease or progression despite oral therapy. Inhaled administration may be a safer and easier route for prostacyclin administration. Treprostinil is a prostacyclin analog that has been demonstrated to be effective when administered by continuous subcutaneous or intravenous infusion, and more recently by nebulization.
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Vasc Health Risk Manag · Oct 2010
ReviewTicagrelor: an investigational oral antiplatelet treatment for reduction of major adverse cardiac events in patients with acute coronary syndrome.
Acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are the leading cause of mortality and one of the main reasons for hospital admissions in the developed nations. Due to high rates of mortality and reinfarction, ACS represent a major public health concern. Platelets play a central role in atherothrombosis, the main pathologic substrate in ACS. ⋯ Faster and greater platelet inhibition than clopidogrel, quick recovery of platelet function, and high efficacy regardless of clopidogrel response status, are the obvious advantages of ticagrelor as compared with thienopyridines. The prospective, randomized Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes trial has established the clinical utility, enhanced efficacy, and similar safety of ticagrelor as compared with clopidogrel in a wide range of patients with ACS managed with contemporary antithrombotic therapies and invasive strategies when indicated. Dyspnea, ventricular pauses ≥3 seconds, and elevation of serum creatinine and uric acid are the most common known adverse effects associated with ticagrelor, and require further comprehensive assessment.