TCTMD’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories for November 2022

This month, nearly all of the most-read stories hailed from the American Heart Association 2022 Scientific Sessions, held in Chicago, IL. From CT imaging in stable chest pain to extended ISCHEMIA follow-up in stable CAD, empagliflozin (Jardiance; Boehringer Ingelheim/Eli Lilly) in chronic kidney disease, and more, the results ran the gamut of cardiology research and practice. Additional news that made it into our top 10 were a study linking macular degeneration to vascular disease and a direct comparison of the heart risks with the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines.

1. AHA 2022 PRECISE CT-Based Strategy Allows Clinicians to ‘Do Less’ for Stable Chest Pain

The pathway, based on the PROMISE Minimal Risk Score, resulted in a 71% lower risk of hard clinical events at 1 year.

2. Age-Related Macular Degeneration Linked to Severe Vascular Disease

Vascular disease limits blood flow to the retina and can lead to one subtype of AMD, researchers say.

3. AHA 2022 ISCHEMIA-EXTEND: So Far, Deaths Match for Invasive and Conservative Arms in Stable CAD

Muddying the waters, cardiovascular deaths were reduced in one arm, whereas noncardiovascular deaths were lower in the other.

4. COVID-19 Heart Risks Higher With Moderna vs Pfizer/BioNTech Shot, Direct Comparison Shows

However, like prior reports, the Canadian data reassure that myocarditis and pericarditis are rare with the mRNA vaccines.

5. AHA 2022 EMPA-KIDNEY: Empagliflozin a ‘Win’ for Patients With CKD

For patients with kidney disease, “the point is: get them on the gliflozin that they can be on,” Janani Rangaswami says.

6. AHA 2022 Common ‘Heart’ Supplements Can’t Beat Statins: SPORT

Compared with a statin, OTC supplements for cholesterol-lowering are a waste of money and may cause harm, say experts.

7. AHA 2022 TRANSFORM-HF: Torsemide No Better Than Furosemide for Hospitalized HF

The head-to-head battle of loop diuretics indicates that correct dosing rather than drug choice should be the focus for clinicians.

8. AHA 2022 Long-Awaited BEST-CLI Results Favor Surgery Over Endovascular Therapy in CLTI

The highly selected, mostly white, male population has some physicians questioning the generalizability of the results.

9. AHA 2022 Early ECMO No Better Than Watch-and-Wait Approach in Cardiogenic Shock

The trial of patients with rapidly deteriorating or severe shock suggests ECMO can be held until hemodynamic status worsens.

10. AHA 2022 IRONMAN Misses but Lends Support to IV Iron Repletion in HF

Like AFFIRM-AHF before it, this latest RCT faced COVID-19 challenges, but all signs point to hard benefits of IV iron in HF.

Find all the big news from AHA 2022 on our conference page, and check out TCTMD Managing Editor Shelley Wood’s latest Heart Sounds podcast for all of the meeting’s top takeaways.