Effect of Escitalopram on All-Cause Mortality and Hospitalization in Patients With Heart Failure and Depression: The MOOD-HF Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Depression is frequent in patients with heart failure and is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Long-term efficacy and safety of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in these patients are unknown.

Objective: To determine whether 24 months of treatment with escitalopram improves mortality, morbidity, and mood in patients with chronic systolic heart failure and depression.

[Predictive value of congress abstracts for later publication: Analysis of the the congresses 2006-2010 of the German Cardiac Society].

Aims: The present study investigates whether scientific abstracts, which were accepted for presentation at the annual meeting of the German Cardiac Society (DGK) will be published more frequently and with higher ranking than rejected abstracts. Additionally, we analyzed whether the current peer review process of the congress abstracts is able to identify research of high quality.

Methods: All abstracts submitted for the DGK meetings between 2006 and 2010 were anonymized and graded by 5-9 reviewers.

Publication performance of women compared to men in German cardiology.

Background: Abstract presentations at scientific congresses are a preparation for publication in peer reviewed journals. The present study aimed to investigate the prediction of abstract acceptance of peer reviewed publications focusing on the difference between male and female first authors.

Methods: We evaluated 8411 abstracts submitted to the German Cardiac Society by 2090 females and 6321 male scientists.

Predictors of 1-year mortality in patients with contemporary guideline-adherent therapy after acute myocardial infarction: results from the OMEGA study.

Background: Predictors of long-term mortality after discharge after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are well characterized. However, these established risk factors are based on data almost exclusively derived from older studies without consistent use of revascularization therapy and adjunctive therapy with statins, platelet inhibitors, beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors/ARBs. We therefore sought to investigate predictors of 1-year mortality in survivors of AMI treated with contemporary guideline-adherent therapy.

Usefulness of heart rate to predict one-year mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation and acute myocardial infarction (from the OMEGA trial).

In the setting of acute myocardial infarction and sinus rhythm, the heart rate (HR) has been demonstrated to correlate closely with mortality. In patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction and atrial fibrillation (AF) on admission, however, the prognostic relevance of the HR has not yet been systematically addressed. A post hoc subgroup analysis of the data from the OMEGA trial was conducted to analyze whether the admission HR determines the 1-year mortality in patients presenting with AF in the setting of acute myocardial infarction.

Oxygen Kinetics and Heart Rate Response during Early Recovery from Exercise in Patients with Heart Failure.

Background. The purpose of this study was to assess the post-exercise O(2) uptake and heart rate response in patients with heart failure (HF) in comparison to healthy individuals. Methods and Results.

OMEGA, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to test the effect of highly purified omega-3 fatty acids on top of modern guideline-adjusted therapy after myocardial infarction.

Background: There is no randomized, double-blind trial testing the prognostic effect of highly purified omega-3 fatty acids in addition to current guideline-adjusted treatment of acute myocardial infarction.

Methods And Results: OMEGA is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter trial testing the effects of omega-3-acid ethyl esters-90 (1 g/d for 1 year) on the rate of sudden cardiac death in survivors of acute myocardial infarction, if given in addition to current guideline-adjusted treatment. Secondary end points were total mortality and nonfatal clinical events.

[Methods for organisational health services research].

On 1 July 2009, the German Network for Health Services Research [Deutsches Netzwerk Versorgungsforschung e. V. (DNVF e.

In-hospital outcomes after elective and non-elective percutaneous coronary interventions in hospitals with and without on-site cardiac surgery backup.

Background: Guidelines recommend on-site surgery backup (SB) when elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is performed. The evidence for this recommendation is however weak.

Objectives: The objective of the present study was to compare clinical outcomes in patients undergoing PCI in hospitals with SB or without surgery backup (non-SB).

Clopidogrel in addition to aspirin reduces in-hospital major cardiac and cerebrovascular events in unselected patients with acute ST segment elevation myocardial.

We sought to assess the effect of clopidogrel on in-hospital events in unselected patients with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). In a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients enrolled in the Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACOS) registry with acute STEMI we compared outcomes of either adjunctive therapy with aspirin alone or aspirin plus clopidogrel within 24 hours after admission.A total of 7,559 patients were included in this analysis, of whom 3,541 were treated with aspirin alone, and 4,018 with dual antiplatelet therapy.

Mahaim fibre coexisting with anomalous origin of the left main coronary artery from the right aortic sinus and an interarterial course.

We present the case of a 45-year-old female with a normal heart, who exhibited an episode of a broad QRS tachycardia that was initially suggested to be sustained ventricular tachycardia. Coronary angiography showed the left main stem originating from the right aortic sinus with an interarterial course between aorta and right ventricular outflow tract. Electrophysiological study revealed the presence of a right atriofascicular accessory pathway with decremental antegrade conduction (Mahaim bundle), which was successfully ablated.

Clopidogrel in addition to aspirin reduces one-year major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events in unselected patients with non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction.

Objectives: We sought to assess the effect of clopidogrel on one-year ischemic events in unselected patients with NSTEMI.

Methods: We analysed data of consecutive patients with acute NSTEMI treated with aspirin or aspirin plus clopidogrel, who were prospectively enrolled in the ACOS registry.

Results: A total of 4290 patients were included, 2171 were treated with aspirin and 2119 with aspirin plus clopidogrel.

Volume-outcome relation for contemporary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in daily clinical practice: is it limited to high-risk patients? Results from the Registry of Percutaneous Coronary Interventions of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Leitende Kardiologische Krankenhausarzte (ALKK).

Objective: The formerly observed volume-outcome relation for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) has recently been questioned.

Design: We analysed data of the PCI registry of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Leitende Kardiologische Krankenhausärzte.

Patients: In 2003 a total of 27 965 patients at 67 hospitals were included.

Evaluation of hospitals regarding outcomes and baseline risk -- an application to percutaneous coronary intervention.

Unlabelled: Monitoring of hospital performance is increasingly used in the process of improving the quality of health care. Various approaches to quality assessment and publication of the results are discussed. Therefore, a method acceptable for clinicians in the hospitals is urgently needed.

Highly purified omega-3 fatty acids for secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death after myocardial infarction-aims and methods of the OMEGA-study.

Introduction: During the last decades a large body of data has been accumulated indicating omega-3 fatty acids to exert beneficial effects on the prognosis of patients with cardiovascular disease. Especially, omega-3 fatty acids are regarded to be effective in reducing the risk of sudden cardiac death after acute myocardial infarction. However, treatment of acute myocardial infarction and secondary prevention considerably have been improved within the past years including early revascularization by PCI, the routine use of beta-blockers, statins and ACE-inhibitors as well as cardiac rehabilitation for improving life style measures.

Effect of clopidogrel on 1-year mortality in hospital survivors of acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in clinical practice.

Aims: We sought to assess the effect of clopidogrel on clinical events 1 year after discharge in survivors of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in clinical practice.

Methods And Results: We analysed data of consecutive survivors of acute STEMI and either concomitant therapy with aspirin or aspirin plus clopidogrel at discharge, who were prospectively enrolled in the Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACOS) registry between July 2000 and November 2002. A total of 5886 (3795 with and 2091 without clopidogrel) patients were included into this analysis.

Actual clinical practice of exercise testing in consecutive patients after non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction: results of the acute coronary syndromes registry.

Background: Exercise testing has been advocated for risk stratification and determination of therapeutic strategies after acute myocardial infarction. Frequency and therapeutic impact of exercise testing after non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) in actual clinical practice, however, is not known.

Methods And Results: From the German acute coronary syndrome (ACOS) registry patients with acute NSTEMI (n = 5281) were evaluated: 20.

Clinical benefit of enoxaparin in patients with high-risk acute coronary syndromes without ST elevations in clinical practice.

In randomized clinical trials, low-molecular-weight heparin enoxaparin has been shown to decrease ischemic complications in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACSs) without ST elevations who are treated conservatively. Enoxaparin has been shown to be equally effective as unfractionated heparin in high-risk patients with an early invasive approach. Little is known about the use and efficacy of enoxaparin in unselected patients with non-ST-elevation ACSs in clinical practice.

[Predictive value of an ischemia test in men and women with stable angina pectoris in clinical practice. Results of the heart catheter registry of the Working Society of Senior Hospital Cardiologists].

Background And Objective: Symptoms of coronary artery disease (CAD) and the accuracy of non-invasive tests differ between men and women. This study sought to evaluate the difference between the predictive value of a stress test in clinical practice for the diagnosis of significant coronary heart disease (CHD: stenosis > 50%) between women and men with stable angina.

Patients And Methods: 143,848 consecutive patients undergoing diagnostic coronary angiography at 99 hospitals during 2002 were included in the prospective cardiac catheter registry of the Working Party of Senior Hospital Cardiologists (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Leitende Kardiologische Krankenhausärzte [ALKK]).

Beneficial effects of abciximab in patients with primary percutaneous intervention for acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction in clinical practice.

Objectives: To assess the safety and effectiveness of abciximab in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in clinical practice.

Methods: Data were analysed of 2184 consecutive patients treated with primary PCI for acute STEMI and either concomitant abciximab or no glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (control group), who were prospectively enrolled in the Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACOS) registry between July 2000 and November 2002.

Results: Patients who were treated with abciximab were younger than the control group, and fewer of them had a history of stroke/transient ischaemic attack and systemic hypertension, but more of them had three-vessel coronary artery disease and cardiogenic shock.

[Which reasons may hinder Integrated Health Care from spreading as regular health care provision in cardiology?].

Integrated Health Care may possibly be a training field for efficient patient and case management between different providers involved. In the medium term, those instruments should be developed further so that they are no longer merely tools for cost containment, risk transfer to the providers side and competition for the good risks in health care. In the present state Integrated Health Care--as many other new regulations--means a displacement of money from health care to administration.

In-hospital time to treatment of patients with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction treated with primary angioplasty: determinants and outcome. Results from the registry of percutaneous coronary interventions in acute myocardial infarction of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Leitender Kardiologischer Krankenhausarzte.

Objective: To determine the predictors of time between presentation and primary angioplasty and the influence of this delay time on in-hospital mortality in clinical practice.

Design: Analysis of data from the registry of percutaneous coronary interventions in acute myocardial infarction of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Leitender Kardiologischer Krankenhausärzte (ALKK).

Patients: Data of 4815 patients registered at 80 hospitals between 1994 and 2000 were analysed.

Incications and complications of invasive diagnostic procedures and percutaneous coronary interventions in the year 2003. Results of the quality control registry of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Leitende Kardiologische Krankenhausarzte (ALKK).

Background: The ALKK registry contains about 20% of the invasive and interventional cardiological procedures performed in Germany.

Methods: In 2003 a total of 82,282 consecutive diagnostic invasive and 30,689 interventional procedures from 75 hospitals were centrally collected and analyzed.

Results: The main indication for an invasive diagnostic procedure was coronary artery disease in 92.

[Mortality of patients who are older than 75 years after ST elevation myocardial infarction in clinical practice].

Background: Patients who are older than 75 years are often excluded in clinical trials evaluating therapies for ST elevation myocardial infarction. Therefore there is a lack of prospective data for this steadily increasing number of elderly patients.

Patients And Methods: Between 07/2000 and 11/2002 a total of 16 823 patients with acute coronary syndromes in 154 hospitals were enrolled in the ACOS registry, with 8309 having a STEMI.