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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban Doctoring General Cardiology General Medicine

Big Questions with Xarelto Study

The purpose of this post is to introduce my most recent column over at theHeart.org | Medscape Cardiology in which I address recent concerns about the drug rivaroxaban (Xarelto). — In 2014, Rivaroxaban (Xarelto) was the most prescribed new oral anticoagulant (NOAC). Millions of patients have atrial fibrillation, so it’s fair to call it a […]

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AF ablation Athletic heart Atrial fibrillation Doctoring General Medicine Health Care Reform Hospice/Palliative Care ICD/Pacemaker Reflection

Update: Social justice of AF care, NOAC monitoring, population health and two new podcasts

Hi All, Here is a short update of the past week. The first thing to say is the Atrial Fibrillation Care: Put the Catheter (and Rx Pad) Down post has gotten a lot of attention. It stayed on the most popular list all week. It has over a 130 comments, and I have received many […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban Healthy Living Knowledge

Getting the dabigatran (Pradaxa) story right… Correcting four common mistakes.

This purpose of this post is to clarify misstatements made in a recent New York Times article about the anticoagulant drug dabigatran (Pradaxa). The piece had three major inaccuracies, plus one thought-error from a cardiology leader. I write these words because the most valuable tool in the treatment of AF is knowledge. Getting it right […]

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General Medicine Health Care Reform

Blaming Obamacare is the wrong diagnosis

The Wall Street Journal began the week by publishing a provocative essay in which a young man suggested Obamacare kept his mother from getting appropriate medicine for her cancer. The writer crafted a poignant story about his mother, who sounds like a good person with a bad disease. Mainstream media buzzes with these types of stories. […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban Doctoring

New post up at Medscape Cardiology: Are novel anticoagulants better than warfarin?

For the prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation, the novel anticoagulant drugs dabigatran (Pradaxa, Boehringer Ingelheim), rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Bayer Pharma/Janssen Pharmaceuticals), apixaban (Eliquis, Pfizer/Bristol-Myers Squibb), and edoxaban (Lixiana, Daiichi-Sankyo) have been sold as both superior and more convenient than warfarin. But is this true? More than 60,000 patients have been enrolled in randomized controlled clinical […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban Doctoring Knowledge Social Media/Writing/Blogging

Are doctors being duped through medical education? Could social media help?

I made a discovery this week about the novel anticoagulant medications, dabigatran (Pradaxa), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), apixaban (Eliquis) and edoxaban (Lixiana). I was looking into the often-asked question of how these new drugs compare to the old standard, warfarin. The discovery felt like a Eureka moment. I ran it by my stats guy–my son–and a couple […]

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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation Cardiac Stem Cells General Cardiology General Medicine

Notes from ACC — Day 2

Those of you who run or ride know what the second day back after a break feels like. The first day is awesome. The body is fresh and snappy; there is an adrenaline rush at the start. It’s easy to overcook it on Day 1. Then there is me at the ACC on day 2. […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban

Is it safe to take aspirin and warfarin together?

The ultimate goal in medicine: protect the patient from stroke. Even a heart doctor has to admit the dominance of the human brain. Always think about preventing stroke. It’s one of the worst outcomes that can happen to a person. Life as a ‘normal’ human requires a healthy brain. A stroke irreversibly kills off part […]

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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban

New post up at theHeart.org: What were the best stories of 2012 in heart rhythm care?

As most of you know, I also write a column (Trials and Fibrillations) over at the online Cardiology news site, theHeart.org. My most recent article highlights what I thought were the top news stories in electrophysiology in 2012. There were many. Gosh were there ever. I broke a major rule of writing online articles: It […]

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Atrial fibrillation Cycling Stuff Cyclocross Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban Doctoring inflammation Reflection Social Media/Writing/Blogging

Top Ten Posts of 2012

You may find this hard to believe but I really don’t look at my site’s stats much. In fact, just today I discovered that WordPress has a feature that ranks posts by views. I’m not going to give you my Top Ten just by ranking. Rather, I’ll mix in some of my favorites and those […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban

Apixaban (Eliquis) gets FDA approval

Yesterday afternoon, the FDA finally approved apixaban (Eliquis) for the prevention of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. I use the words ‘finally approved’ because the markedly positive ARISTOTLE trial was published 15 months ago in the New England Journal of Medicine. The long delay was mysterious. On paper, apixaban looks to be the […]