News Archive

While heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, relatively few of these patients receive a referral to palliative care, focusing on quality of life and value-based treatment

DCRI researchers found that heart failure patients are much more likely to take a guideline-recommended medication if they are started on the drug while still in the hospital.

Hospitals that perform the highest volume of transcatheter-aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures have significantly lower mortality rates than centers that do fewer of the minimally invasive surgeries, according to an analysis by a collaboration that included the DCRI. The finding, published April 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine, comes as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is reconsidering the procedure’s coverage parameters, which established a center’s volume as a key criterion for reimbursement.

While most Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have committed to continue participating in the recently overhauled flagship Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), physician-led ACOS are leaving at a higher rate than in 2017, new research from the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and Leavitt Partners shows. Highlights of this research were published this month in Health Affairs. The DCRI’s Donald Taylor, PhD, is one of the study’s authors.

When comparing ischemic endpoints, no significant difference was found between patients who received ticagrelor and patients who received clopidogrel.

New research shows that although racial disparities have diminished in recent years, gender disparities are still common.

Less than 10 percent of the treatment recommendations U.S. doctors rely on to manage care for heart patients are based on evidence gained from multiple large, randomized clinical trials — the gold standard for obtaining scientific data. In fact, the proportion of well-supported recommendations for heart care has actually declined compared to 10 years ago, when an earlier analysis found a similar dearth of rigorous studies supporting treatment guidelines. The latest study, led by the DCRI, appears online March 15 in JAMA.

Catheter ablation, a common cardiovascular procedure, appears no more effective than drug therapies in preventing strokes, deaths, and other complications in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, patients who get the procedure experience much greater symptom relief and long-term improvements in the quality of life, including  fewer recurrences of the condition and fewer hospitalizations, than those who get only drugs. The findings are from two new studies published in the March 15 issue of JAMA.

Research conducted by the Pediatric Trials Network (PTN) has led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to update the prescribing information, or drug label, of acyclovir to include dosing for infants with Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV). The DCRI has acted as the coordinating center for the PTN since 2010 when it received its original funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Researchers hope to develop a test that could detect early changes in blood flow to the heart.