9 Comments

Thanks for this. Wondering what relationship/benefit you think this may have in post-COVID hyper inflammatory conditions?

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Jun 9Liked by Eric Topol

Excellent, thank you for this post Dr. Topol!

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Wouldn’t a change in Lifestyle be more effective? Specially, switching to a Whole-Food Plant-based diet, regular exercise, no smoking, minimal alcohol? Per the research of Ornish, Esselstyn, Barnard, et al. Or, at least a “true” mediteranean-diet?

Also, wouldn’t a high-dose statin, plus possibly PCSK9 inhibitors be effective in turning soft-plaque into hard-plaque, which is stable?

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Yes, recommendations for lifestyle modifications and use of high-intensity statins, PCSK9 blockers is what we do now. There's more in detection of risk and treatment to offer and build on.

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There is some work being done to test other anti-inflammatory agents in cardiovascular disease. Check out www.cardiolrx.com, which has 2 Phase II trials nearing completion (in recurrent pericarditis and acute myocarditis).

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Excellent synopsis of the data. I couldn't agree with you more regarding the role of inflammation and CVD! I have developed a non-invasive technology that measures endothelial dysfunction and feel that it could be valuable in serially monitoring the effects of anti-inflammatory treatments for CVD whether that be medication or lifestyle changes. What are your thoughts? The company website is: www.cordex.systems. Please feel free to email me through the site. Thank you.

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“ At 2 year follow-up the primary outcome (death, target vessel heart attack or revascularization) occurred in 3.4% of the medical therapy group compared with 0.4% in. the interaction group, a significant 46% reduction (P=0.003).” I don’t understand where the 46% value came from.

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In the paper" At 2 years, the primary outcome occurred in

three (0·4%) patients in the preventive percutaneous

coronary intervention group and in 27 (3·4%) patients in

the optimal medical therapy group (absolute difference

–3·0 percentage points [95% CI –4·4 to –1·8]; p=0·0003;

table 2 and figure 2). I can't post the Table here but it's right in there

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From 27 to 3 is an 89% reduction (not 46%).

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