Doubts about ventricular reconstruction
Valentin Fuster
p383 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.78
Table of contents
June 2009 Vol 6 No 6
Editorial
Research Highlights
Prevention: Prophylactic statin therapy in the management of cardiovascular disease | PDF (648 KB)
p385 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.61
Statins reduce risk of VTE | PDF (55 KB)
p386 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.66
Prevention: Polycap reduces CVD risk | PDF (90 KB)
p386 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.71
Antiplatelet therapy: Low-dose aspirin for CVD prevention | PDF (92 KB)
p387 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.69
Atrial fibrillation: Stroke risk reduced with clopidogrel plus aspirin in patients with AF | PDF (59 KB)
p387 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.72
Cardiomyopathy: LAMP2 cardiomyopathy insights | PDF (62 KB)
p388 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.67
Intervention: Growing new heart muscle cells | PDF (63 KB)
p388 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.68
Heart failure: Racial differences in HF among young adults | PDF (54 KB)
p389 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.62
Hypertension: Pulmonary hypertension and HF with preserved EF | PDF (54 KB)
p389 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.64
Rethinking revascularization | PDF (57 KB)
p389 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.65
Hypertension: RF ablation of renal nerves | PDF (118 KB)
p390 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.63
Strategies to reduce cardiovascular risk | PDF (53 KB)
p390 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.70
News and Views
Coronary artery disease: Platelet activity: an obstacle for successful PCI
Meinrad Gawaz & Tobias Geisler
p391 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.76
Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel is effective in limiting adverse coronary thromboischemic events in most patients undergoing coronary stenting. However, platelet reactivity to clopidogrel is variable and stent thrombosis can occur suddenly and unexpectedly in up to 3% of patients. Is responsiveness to clopidogrel an indicator of risk of post-treatment thromboischemic events?
Antiplatelet therapy: Clopidogrel plus PPIs—a dangerous combination?
José Luis Ferreiro & Dominick J. Angiolillo
p392 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.60
Proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) can alter the pharmacodynamic profile of clopidogrel and reduce its platelet-inhibitory effects. Ho and colleagues have reported that concurrent use of PPIs and clopidogrel leads to in an increase in adverse cardiovascular outcomes. In this article we discuss the clinical implications of the interaction between these two drugs.
A risk score for AF—burning the haystack to find the needle
Ron Pisters & Harry J. Crijns
p394 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.74
The novel risk score for new-onset atrial fibrillation proposed by Schnabel et al. is based on readily identifiable risk factors and provides an excellent 'first draft' to focus primary prevention and halt the pandemic spread of this arrhythmia and its potentially lethal consequences. The risk score does, however, require further validation and sophistication with novel imaging techniques before it can be applied in clinical practice.
Stroke: Improving characterization of childhood cerebral arteriopathies
Jose Biller
p395 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.73
There is notable variation in incidence, presentation, risk factors, and prognosis for strokes occurring in children. At present, there is no stroke classification system specifically tailored to the multiple risk factors and etiologies of pediatric stroke. The study by the International Pediatric Stroke Study investigators on predictors of cerebral arteriopathy in children with arterial ischemic stroke deserves special attention in planning secondary stroke prevention strategies in this population of patients.
Coronary artery disease: Complex coronary disease in the post-SYNTAX era
Giuseppe Tarantini
p397 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.75
Should patients with high-risk coronary artery disease be treated with CABG or receive drug-eluting stents? The SYNTAX trial aimed to define the optimal revascularization strategy for patients with previously untreated three-vessel and/or left main coronary artery disease.
Reviews
Obesity, inflammation, and atherosclerosis
Viviane Z. Rocha & Peter Libby
p399 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.55
In this timely Review, Drs Rocha and Libby discuss the commonalities in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and obesity, with a particular focus on inflammation—an important aspect of both diseases. The authors also examine the clinical implications of the mechanistic links between the two conditions.
Role for TNF in atherosclerosis? Lessons from autoimmune disease
Gayle E. McKellar, David W. McCarey, Naveed Sattar & Iain B. McInnes
p410 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.57
Pathways associated with inflammation are thought to account for increased vascular risk in patients with chronic inflammatory diseases. This Review summarizes key epidemiologic, physiologic and model data that implicate involvement of tumor necrosis factor, a pivotal cytokine in the inflammatory cascade, in atherosclerosis.
MicroRNAs and cardiac pathology
Michael V. G. Latronico & Gianluigi Condorelli
p418 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.56
The important functional roles of non-protein-coding RNA have come to light since the discovery of the enzymatic activity of RNA in the mid 1980s. This Review discusses what is currently known about the role of a class of non-protein-coding RNA called microRNAs in the heart. Since the first report on this topic was published in 2005, intense research has been conducted to elucidate how microRNAs are involved in cardiovascular physiology and pathology.
Case Study
Cardiac sympathetic activity in stress-induced (Takotsubo) cardiomyopathy
Abhiram Prasad, Malini Madhavan & Panithaya Chareonthaitawee
p430 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.51
Prasad and colleagues report on the novel technique of 11C hydroxyephedrine PET imaging for the measurement of myocardial sympathetic neuronal activity in a patient with stress (Takotsubo) cardiomyopathy.
Perspectives
Article series: Molecular Imaging
Opinion
Medical imaging: the radiation issue
Andrew J. Einstein
p436 | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.53
Increases in the doses of ionizing radiation to Western populations have largely been driven by growth in the use of medical imaging tests, such as invasive coronary angiography and cardiovascular CT. Here, Dr. Einstein discusses the association between radiation dose and cancer risk, which has been the source of some controversy, and highlights the clinical implications of radiation exposure from imaging tests.
