More high-risk surgical patients probably need beta blockers, say researchers from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. Upon reviewing the records of 72 patients who developed postoperative myocardial infarction (MI), they found that 70 (97%) could have been identified as being at increased risk for cardiac complications and 58 (81%) were ideal perioperative candidates for [...]
Heart failure (HF) is more common and at least as lethal as ischemic coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with severe chronic kidney disease, including those on long-term dialysis. HF also differs from CHD, and different therapy is needed. Preload reduction and blood pressure control aren’t enough: neurohormonal blockade with beta blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme [...]
In one of the few head-to-head comparisons of the three beta-blockers most commonly prescribed after acute myo-cardial infarction (AMI), atenolol (Tenormin generic, AstraZeneca) and acebutolol (Sectral, ESP Pharma) reduced mortality rates better than metoprolol succi-nate (Toprol generic, AstraZeneca), say researchers in Canada. Their findings, they say, challenge the concept of a class effect after an [...]
