As a measure of performance and quality, in-hospital mortality systematically favors hospitals with shorter overall length of stay (LOS) times, according to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. This finding may have important implications for quality improvement initiatives that use mortality as a performance measure. Elizabeth Drye and colleagues (including senior author Harlan Krumholz,…

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Although venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious problem for acutely ill patients in the hospital, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine failed to find any improvement in mortality associated with thromboprophylaxis. Ajay Kakkar and the LIFENOX investigators randomized 8307 acutely ill patients to receive enoxaparin or placebo for 10 days. All patients wore…

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Last week, CardioMEMS failed to get approval from an FDA advisory panel for treating heart failure based on uncertainty regarding the benefit;  the advisory panel also raised concerns about study bias. This intracardiac device measures pulmonary artery pressures that clinicians can use (in addition to other clinical signals, such as weight gain) to select therapies…

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In an updated safety communication, the FDA announced on Monday that it is adding new warnings  to the dronedarone (Multaq, Sanofi) label. On the basis of results from the PALLAS trial, which was discontinued early due to safety concerns, the drug label will now warn: Healthcare professionals should not prescribe Multaq to patients with AF who…

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Members of the FDA Circulatory System Devices Panel on Thursday recommended against approval of the implantable CardioMEMS HF Pressure Measurement System. Although panel members agreed that the device was safe by a 9-1 vote, they voted 7-3 that the device had not been shown to be effective and 6-4 that the benefits did not outweigh the…

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FDA reviewers have raised serious questions about the results of the CHAMPION trial of the implantable CardioMEMS HF Pressure Measurement System (HF System), which provides daily pulmonary artery pressure measurements for the purpose of guiding heart failure treatment. On December 8, the FDA’s Circulatory System Devices Panel is scheduled to review the PMA for the device. (Click here…

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Note to readers: An earlier version of this story stated that the FDA may be concerned about the conduct of the CHAMPION trial. This statement could be construed as an implication of ethical misconduct or negligence on the part of the trial sponsors or investigators. I apologize if I conveyed this impression in the earlier story….

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Although current guidelines recommend valve surgery for patients with infective endocarditis and heart failure (HF), a large prospective registry finds that many of these patients do not undergo surgery — and have much worse outcomes. In a paper published in JAMA, Todd Kiefer and colleagues report on 4166 patients with infective endocarditis enrolled in the International Collaboration on…

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Two small studies of cardiac stem cells for the treatment of heart failure have shown promise, but ABC News, CBS News, and other media outlets are throwing around words like “medical breakthrough” and “heart failure cure.” ABC News correspondent Richard Besser was so enthusiastic that anchor Diane Sawyer commented that she had never seen him “so excited.”…

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Jersey Chen answers questions about his recent study in JAMA documenting that heart failure hospitalization rates declined nearly 30% between 1998 and 2008.