Research Round-up- BWH Bulletin - For and about the People of Brigham and Women's Hospital
Research Round-up- BWH Bulletin - For and about the People of Brigham and Women's Hospital
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July 6, 2001
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In This Issue:
Beyond Bread and Butter
Fighting Heart Disease, BWH Style
Come Enjoy the Festivities
Research Round-up
BWH’s New Stroke Team
Let the Renovations Begin
Staff Survey Ice Cream Social
In a study published in the June 21 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at BWH found that patients with worsening cardiac chest pain and small heart attacks have better outcomes if they are treated aggressively by undergoing early cardiac catheterization and angioplasty.
Christopher Cannon, MD
The study’s lead author, Christopher Cannon, MD, found that patients treated with the early catheterization strategy along with the platelet blocker drug tirofiban, significantly reduced their risk of death or heart attack from 9.5 percent to 7.3 percent when compared to patients receiving medical treatment while awaiting stress test results. Dr. Cannon estimates that approximately 75 to 80 percent of patients would actually benefit from the aggressive strategy compared with a more conservative strategy using a stress test first and cardiac catheterization only if the stress test was positive.
Paul Ridker, MD, MPH
Paul Ridker, MD, MPH, continues to expand his groundbreaking research on the arterial inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP). Dr. Ridker has previously shown that CRP is a very potent independent predictor of heart attack risk in otherwise healthy men and women. In the June 28 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Ridker reports that the popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may reduce the risk of heart attacks in people with low cholesterol but with elevated C-reactive protein levels. Considering one-half of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels, the study findings may help physicians better identify patients for preventive drug therapy.
JoAnn Manson, MD, DrPH
Citing no clear evidence that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) helps prevent coronary heart disease and may even increase risk, BWH’s JoAnn Manson, MD, DrPH recommends that physicians should not prescribe HRT to prevent heart disease. Her findings appear in the July 5 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Manson writes that current research raises serious questions about whether HRT truly prevents heart disease in postmenopausal women. She points out, however, that there are important established benefits of postmenopausal HRT, including helping to alleviate hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause and preventing bone fractures due to osteoporosis. “With all the conflicting information surrounding HRT, decision-making for both physicians and patients has become extremely complex. We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that menopause does not always need to be treated pharmacologically,” said Dr. Manson. Not smoking, exercising, and eating a healthy diet are simple lifestyle changes that Dr. Manson recommends for women to help prevent heart disease, osteoporosis, and other medical problems.