Circulation. 2005;112:2219
(Circulation. 2005;112:2219.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.
Issue Highlights
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EFFECT OF CUTS IN MEDICARE REIMBURSEMENT ON PROCESS AND OUTCOME OF CARE FOR ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION PATIENTS, by Volpp et al.
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The Medicare Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) was a major policy
reform that reduced hospital payment nationally by about $116
billion. There have been significant concerns that revenue reductions
of this magnitude would have adverse effects on quality of care.
This study uses National Registry of Myocardial Infarction data
on detailed process-of-care measures for patients admitted to
hospitals with acute myocardial infarction and determines whether
patients treated at hospitals that were more affected by the
BBA experienced greater deficits in care than did patients at
hospitals less affected. See p
2268.
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HEADACHES AND THE TREATMENT OF BLOOD PRESSURE: RESULTS FROM A META-ANALYSIS OF 94 RANDOMIZED PLACEBO-CONTROLLED TRIALS WITH 24 000 PARTICIPANTS, by Law et al.
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Whether or not hypertension causes the symptom of headache remains
controversial. Although observational data are conflicting,
several single-drug treatment trials suggest a lower prevalence
of headache among patients taking antihypertensive agents. To
assess whether blood pressure lowering prevents headache, in
this issue of
Circulation, Law et al present their results of
a meta-analysis of 94 randomized, placebo-controlled trials
of 4 different classes of blood pressure–lowering drugs,
encompassing data on 17 641 patients. Headache was fairly common
among study participants. The results of this carefully conducted
study provide important evidence to indicate that blood pressure
lowering prevents headache. See p
2301.
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HIGH-RESOLUTION SPIRAL COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY IN PATIENTS REFERRED FOR DIAGNOSTIC CONVENTIONAL CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY, by Mollet et al.
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The evolution of multidetector computed tomographic (CT) technology
for noninvasive angiography is proceeding rapidly. Current-generation
scanners have improved spatial and temporal resolution as compared
with previous iterations, allowing more complete visualization
of the coronary tree and fewer nonevaluable segments. In this
issue of
Circulation, Mollet and colleagues report on the performance
characteristics of 64-slice CT imaging in a heterogeneous group
of patients undergoing coronary angiography, with excellent
results and few segments that were not analyzable. In an accompanying
editorial (p 2222), Christian puts the results of this study
and CT angiography in general into the context of the developmental
trajectory of other noninvasive imaging modalities and reviews
the biases that may affect the results of such studies. The
data from this and subsequent studies are likely to significantly
influence the paradigms of noninvasive evaluation of suspected
coronary disease in the future. See p
2318.
Visit http://www.circ.ahajournals.org:
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Clinician Update
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Therapy of Stable Angina Pectoris: The Uncomplicated Patient.
See p
e255.
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Images in Cardiovascular Medicine
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Traumatic Pseudoaneurysm of the Descending Thoracic Aorta. See
p
e260.
Heart on the Heart. See p e262.
Giant Pulmonary Aneurysm Associated With Pulmonary Valve Agenesia. See p e263.
Correspondence See p e265.
Related Articles:
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Headaches and the Treatment of Blood Pressure: Results From a Meta-Analysis of 94 Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trials With 24 000 Participants
- Malcolm Law, Joan K. Morris, Rachel Jordan, and Nicholas Wald
Circulation 2005 112: 2301-2306.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
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Therapy of Stable Angina Pectoris: The Uncomplicated Patient
- Jonathan Abrams and Udho Thadani
Circulation 2005 112: e255-e259.
[Extract]
[Full Text]
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Traumatic Pseudoaneurysm of the Descending Thoracic Aorta
- Ping Chai and Raad Mohiaddin
Circulation 2005 112: e260-e261.
[Extract]
[Full Text]
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Heart on the Heart
- Keon-Woong Moon, Ki-Dong Yoo, Ki-Bae Seung, and Chul-Min Kim
Circulation 2005 112: e262.
[Extract]
[Full Text]
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Giant Pulmonary Aneurysm Associated With Pulmonary Valve Agenesia
- Zsolt Kõszegi, Nóra Homoródi, Annamária Bódi, Miklós Vaszily, Gusztáv Vajda, József Kollár, and István Édes
Circulation 2005 112: e263-e264.
[Extract]
[Full Text]
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Letter Regarding Article by Kühl et al, "High Prevalence of Viral Genomes and Multiple Viral Infections in the Myocardium of Adults With ‘Idiopathic’ Left Ventricular Dysfunction" • Response
- Umesh C. Sharma, Saraswati Pokharel, Jos G. Maessen, Uwe Kühl, Matthias Pauschinger, Michel Noutsias, Bettina Seeberg, Dirk Lassner, Wolfgang Poller, Heinz-Peter Schultheiss, Thomas Bock, and Reinhard Kandolf
Circulation 2005 112: e265.
[Extract]
[Full Text]
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High-Resolution Spiral Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography in Patients Referred for Diagnostic Conventional Coronary Angiography
- Nico R. Mollet, Filippo Cademartiri, Carlos A.G. van Mieghem, Giuseppe Runza, Eugène P. McFadden, Timo Baks, Patrick W. Serruys, Gabriel P. Krestin, and Pim J. de Feyter
Circulation 2005 112: 2318-2323.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
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Effect of Cuts in Medicare Reimbursement on Process and Outcome of Care for Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients
- Kevin G. Volpp, R. Tamara Konetzka, Jingsan Zhu, Lori Parsons, Eric Peterson for the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction Investigators
Circulation 2005 112: 2268-2275.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
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EFFECT OF CUTS IN...
HEADACHES AND THE TREATMENT...