Medical Academic Clinical and CPD Content

Reducing heart failure with hypertension treatment

Worldwide the prevalence of heart failure is rising. Prognosis is poor with symptomatic heart failure with yearly mortality rate of 6-7% in stable heart failure and 25% or more in patients admitted to hospital with acute heart failure.

Angina: warn patients to listen to their heart

More South Africans die of CVD than of all the cancers combined. A common symptom of CAD is angina, yet many people don’t even know what that is.

Simplifying hypertension guidelines

The International Society of Hypertension (ISH) is currently writing new global hypertension guidelines to be published during the first half of 2020. The Southern African Hypertension Society will soon comment on the impact of lowered blood pressure threshold recommended by some international societies.

Anticoagulation in non-valvular AF

Atrial fibrillation is the most common persistent cardiac arrhythmia that a practitioner of medicine will encounter in clinical practice and it significantly impacts on health and healthcare.

CVD risk factors in PD patients

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative condition after Alzheimer’s disease. The incidence of PD rises rapidly with age and affects more than 1.7% of the population over 65 years of age.

Down the ABC pathway

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common arrhythmia diagnosed in clinical practise. However, some patients experience no symptoms. Left untreated, the condition could have important implications.

Fast facts about Takotsubo

Takotsubo syndrome was first described in early 1990s in Japan as a transient cardiomyopathy after a stressful event in the absence of coronary artery disease.

Inflammation, immunity and infection in atherothrombosis

This is a new review topic addressing the overall concept of atherosclerosis and where we are at this moment in time in terms of pathogenetic concepts with an emphasis on inflammation and immunity.

Updated atrial fibrillation guidelines

There is now a focused Update of the 2014 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology/Heart Rhythm Society (AHA/ACC/HRS) Guideline for the Management of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF).

Preventing cardiovascular disease: where to start

Cardiovascular disease affects 33% of adults in the world and as such is the largest epidemic ever known to mankind, according to Prof Neil Poulter, co-director of the International Centre for Circulatory Health.

AFib Better Care

The Mayo Clinic hosted its annual Arrhythmias and the Heart: A Cardiovascular Update in Hawaii (United States) at the end of January. Several sessions focused on reviewing current guidelines on atrial fibrillation (AFib) and stroke prevention.

Future trends in cardiology

The future of cardiology looks bright, and cardiologists need to be aware of an increased focus on fractional flow reserve-computed tomography (FFRCT) and shockwave intravascular lithotripsy (IVL).

7 key recommendations for management after PFO closure

The first position paper on the management of patients with patent foramen ovale (PFO) and left circulation embolism explores the available trial evidence and define the principles needed to guide decision-making.

As time goes by

The treatment of hypertension using drugs and the achieved benefits of such treatment is founded on a solid body of evidence representing a very large number of well-conducted randomised clinical trials.

Dapagliflozin DECLARE: Latest SGLT2 CV outcomes trial

MEDICAL CHRONICLE DECEMBER 2018 CPD 3 of 3: Recently the DECLARE trial was published evaluating in a randomised, double-blind, multinational, placebo- controlled trial, the effect of Dapagliflozin on safety and efficacy for macrovascular and microvascular outcomes.