The New England journal of medicine
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Aspirin and mortality from coronary bypass surgery.
There is no therapy known to reduce the risk of complications or death after coronary bypass surgery. Because platelet activation constitutes a pivotal mechanism for injury in patients with atherosclerosis, we assessed whether early treatment with aspirin could improve survival after coronary bypass surgery. ⋯ Early use of aspirin after coronary bypass surgery is safe and is associated with a reduced risk of death and ischemic complications involving the heart, brain, kidneys, and gastrointestinal tract.
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Editorial Comment
Aspirin with bypass surgery--from taboo to new standard of care.
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Retracted Publication
Nonsurgical reduction of the interventricular septum in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
In patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract, nonsurgical reduction of the septum is a treatment option when medical therapy has failed. We investigated the long-term effects of nonsurgical reduction of the septum on functional capacity and electrocardiographic and echocardiographic characteristics. ⋯ Nonsurgical septal reduction leads to sustained improvements in both subjective and objective measures of exercise capacity in association with a persistent reduction in resting and stress-induced left ventricular outflow tract gradients. It is also associated with a high incidence of procedure-related complete heart block, however, often requiring permanent pacing.