Cardiology
Expert discussions on heart failure, arrhythmias, interventional procedures, and cardiovascular risk management.
Recent Discussions
For atrial fibrillation patients with high risk of CVA who cannot tolerate full dose AC due to bleeding, do you consider low dose/extended dosing anticoagulation even if they do not meet age/GFR criteria for a dose reduction, if Watchman is not readily available as an option?
Most drugs, including anticoagulants, have a dose-response. Therefore, one could argue that even though DOACs were not studied at low doses, except in defined sub-groups such as the very elderly, using such a dose in other situations may have some benefit. The problem is that without data, we simply...
How soon after an acute upper GI bleed do you restart therapeutic anticoagulation in a patient with atrial fibrillation and a high thromboembolic risk (CHA₂DS₂-VASc ≥4)?
In real-world inpatient practice: ~72 hours after endoscopic control for high-stroke-risk AF with stable hemoglobin and no rebleeding. Extending hold to 5–7 days if the lesion is high risk or the bleed was severe.
Do you pursue stress testing before discharge for a patient admitted with chest pain who has negative serial high-sensitivity troponins and a low HEART score?
I usually do not since the HEART score (0-3) has such a low incidence of cardiac events in 6 weeks, and in the study, those patients were discharged. That being said, I would ensure the patient has a follow-up within a week to set up any testing that you feel is necessary to work up the chest pain.
Has the FAME 3 trial showing similar 5-year mortality between FFR-guided PCI and CABG changed your default revascularization recommendation in a patient with three-vessel coronary artery disease who is eligible for both procedures?
FAME 3 continues to show a lasting effect of CABG in terms of less MI and revascularization.The decision about revascularization in a patient with multi-vessel disease rests on three pillars. Complexity of the patient's coronary artery disease, their presentation, and patient preference. Patient fac...
In a patient with decompensated heart failure requiring urgent non-cardiac surgery, how much volume optimization do you pursue preoperatively, and at what point does the risk of further surgical delay outweigh the benefit of continued diuresis?
This is an interesting question and a challenging situation for a patient. I think that the ideal scenario would be for the patient to be euvolemic clinically prior to surgery. I am very aggressive with intravenous diuretics. I think that a discussion with the patient, with the surgeon, and with ane...
Do you prefer a loading dose of 300mg or 600mg plavix for patients presenting with NSTEMI or unstable angina about to undergo LHC?
Interesting question! As a rule of thumb, 600mg loads faster than 300mg. Therefore, it is more important when you anticipate your ballooning/stenting happening sooner rather than later (within minutes/hours). Per guidelines, Plavix is preferred over prasugrel/brilinta for stable angina (which was no...
Is it worth getting a calcium score on a patient who is already on statin therapy?
Plaque, usually TCFA (thin-capped fibroatheroma), benefits immensely from statin Rx. TCFAs are vulnerable plaques that are highly prone to rupture. The pleiotropic effects of statin Rx allow for plaque stabilization and reduce the vulnerability of the plaque to rupture. Calcification of plaque is a ...
How do you determine personalized blood pressure targets after ischemic stroke?
This is an excellent question and really takes careful consideration of individual patient characteristics. This also requires detailed discussions with your Neuro-Interventional Radiology Team so that you can best understand what happened during thrombectomy and how successful reperfusion therapy w...
How do you approach the use of anticholinergic medications that are prescribed for patients for non-cardiac issues, given evidence that increased anticholinergic burden may elevate the risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest?
Diminishing vagal tone should always be approached with caution because of the potential for adverse cardiovascular outcomes. These include sudden death as well as the potential for ischemic events caused by increasing oxygen demand. However, we need to be careful not to extrapolate these concerns t...
What is the best approach for single vessel mid-LAD CTO in patient with preserved EF and no anginal symptoms?
Unless there are symptoms or severe ischemia refractory to optimal medical therapy, a PCI is generally not considered indicated in this setting. The presence of collaterals, additional disease, regional viability and technical complexity would enter into the decision as well. Lloyd W Klein MDUCSF