CardioExchange welcomes this guest post reprinted with permission from Dr. John M, a blog by private-practice electrophysiologist and CardioExchange member, Dr. John Mandrola. “No data are better than bad data…If you can’t see it, don’t call it,” Dr Feigenbaum often admonished us young fellows during the old Thursday Echo conference at IU. Calling more than is actually there seems to be increasingly prevalent in this era of sensational, but often misleading medical headlines. Take the case of AF, AF ablation, and Dementia as the most recent example. Atrial fibrillation remains one of… Continue Reading

Several days ago, I — a general internist — saw a 70 year old diabetic woman with coronary disease who was stented 3 years ago and has been asymptomatic since then. During our office visit, I noted that a nurse practitioner who does lipid management in her cardiologist’s practice had added fenofibrate to her statin just a week ago. The relevant note stated that: “on the basis of her Berkeley lipid panel, will add Tricor.” Her most recent fasting lipids, on 40 mg of atorvastatin daily, were as follows: Total cholesterol 119, LDL… Continue Reading