European heart journal
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European heart journal · May 2012
ReviewThe human sympathetic nervous system: its relevance in hypertension and heart failure.
Evidence assembled in this review indicates that sympathetic nervous system dysfunction is crucial in the development of heart failure and essential hypertension. This takes the form of persistent and adverse activation of sympathetic outflows to the heart and kidneys in both conditions. An important goal for clinical scientists is translation of the knowledge of pathophysiology, such as this, into better treatment for patients. ⋯ Despite the general importance of the sympathetic nervous system in blood pressure regulation, and the specific demonstration that the blood pressure elevation in essential hypertension is commonly initiated and sustained by sympathetic nervous activation, drugs antagonizing this system are currently underutilized in the care of patients with hypertension. Use of beta-adrenergic blocking drugs is waning, given the propensity of this drug class to have adverse metabolic effects, including predisposition to diabetes development. The blood pressure lowering achieved with carotid baroreceptor stimulation and with the renal denervation device affirms the importance of the sympathetic nervous system in hypertension pathogenesis, and perhaps suggests a wider role for anti-adrenergic antihypertensives, such as the imidazoline drug class (moxonidine, rilmenidine) which act within the CNS to inhibit central sympathetic outflow, although the lack of large-scale outcome trials with this drug class remains a very material deficiency.
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European heart journal · May 2012
Review Meta Analysis Comparative StudyOff-pump vs. on-pump coronary artery bypass surgery: an updated meta-analysis and meta-regression of randomized trials.
The benefits of off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) continue to be debated, in part due to the fact that pooled effects fail to consider differences in trial and patient characteristics. We sought to analyse the contemporary evidence for OPCAB vs. conventional coronary artery bypass (CCAB), incorporating recent larger trials, and adjusting for differences in trials using a technique known as meta-regression. ⋯ Our meta-analysis incorporating recent trials suggests that there appears to be a beneficial effect of OPCAB on stroke. Moreover, our meta-regression does not support the hypothesis that differences in study populations are responsible for the observed outcomes, although pooled individual patient-data would be better suited to confirm these findings.