News Archive

Mixed results from the CABANA trial have led to debate about whether catheter ablation is an effective treatment option that provides benefit to patients with atrial fibrillation.

Women are less likely than men to receive statins, and those who do receive statins are more likely to receive a prescription below recommended guidelines. DCRI fellow Michael Nanna, MD (pictured), examined patient data from the PALM (Patient and Provider Assessment of Lipid Management) Registry in an effort to ascertain reasons for these differences. He and his team found that women are offered statins at lower rates but refuse or discontinue statins at higher rates than men.

Evidence supports that implantable cardioverter defibrillators still provide life-saving benefits, but more research is needed to improve the selection of patients for this treatment. Although it is incorrect to discount the potential benefit of implantable cardioverter defibrillators, it is also critical to improve selection criteria for patients who would derive the most benefit, writes the DCRI’s Sana Al-Khatib, MD, in two recent pieces on the topic.

A study led by a DCRI faculty member provides additional clarification on which patients may benefit the most from additional lipid-lowering therapies, if their cholesterol levels remain elevated despite optimal statin therapy.

Recent findings suggest that elevations in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels may not confer additional risk in populations 75 or older.

New findings from the DCRI suggest that how military service members interpret their pain may be able to predict pain-related costs and total medical costs.

A metric typically used to determine doses of warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation, international normalized ratio (INR), was once thought to be a potential indicator of future risk levels for bleeding or thrombotic events. However, research published recently in JAMA Cardiology by the DCRI’s Sean Pokorney, MD, MBA, suggests that historical INR values may not be the most accurate predictor of future events.

Molecular diagnostic assays have transformed the field of infectious diseases, allowing for swift and sensitive detection of organisms previously challenging to diagnose, but it can be difficult to study how these new tests perform. Members of the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG), which is facilitated by the DCRI, recently conducted a study of several assays used to detect extragenital gonorrhea and Chlamydia trachomatis. They say their latest research will help to quell the transmission of these infections and could change the landscape for how diagnostic tests are studied.

Investigators were unsure how they would use genetic information to choose treatment choices, then often failed to follow through on their pre-stipulated plan to use this information.

Researchers examined clinical factors at the time of a patient’s enrollment in the IPF-PRO registry that might predict lung transplant or death.