Wearable health devices, a possible new anticoagulant, new guidance on sports and energy drinks, and changes in stenting practice are likely to garner headlines in the new year, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) predicts. From MedPage Today
Wearable health devices, a possible new anticoagulant, new guidance on sports and energy drinks, and changes in stenting practice are likely to garner headlines in the new year, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) predicted.
The society's leaders voted wearable health monitoring devices "most likely to make news" in 2015, predicting increasing use and incorporation into office visits.
The Apple Watch was announced in the fall as an addition to already popular Fitbit, Garmin, and other devices that can track physical activity and, in some cases, pulse rate.
Early 2015 should also bring the FDA's decision on whether to approve edoxaban (Savaysa) as the fourth new oral anticoagulant (NOAC), the ACC noted.
An advisory panel to the agency had recommended approval for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation in October.
The first FDA decision on a PCSK9 inhibitor could also come as early as summer 2015. A Biologics License Application for evolocumab was filed with the agency in August, and one for alirocumab is close behind.
The dramatic cholesterol-lowering seen with this class put PCSK9 on cardiology society"hot in 2014" lists with positive phase III data, although there have been some rumblings indicating the race to market could hold some hurdles.
Another trend will be increasing use of complete revascularization with multiple-artery stenting following positive results in the CvLPRIT trial announced in August. Guideline panels will consider how to incorporate that evidence against current recommendations to initially treat only the blockage associated with the heart attack, the ACC said.
The new year should also bring new guidelines on some controversial topics, the ACC noted.
"A long-awaited update to the recommendations for sports participation for young athletes with heart issues is expected as early as the first half of 2015," it said in a release.
The update to the Bethesda Conference report will addresses disqualification of athletes with heart conditions from participation in competitive sports as well as diagnostic testing strategies.
Reining in energy drinks is also likely to make the news, as several states have considered bills targeting sales and marketing to children.
The ACC called state-level legislation likely given growing abuse of energy drinks by kids and school-age athletes.
"Emergency rooms have reported an increase in visits from young people complaining of irregular and increased heart rates, acute anxiety, and sleep deprivation," the ACC said. "Currently available research is inadequate to assess the long-term damage energy drinks may cause, but many in the medical community believe that the increased number of children who visit their offices and emergency rooms after consuming energy drinks merits changes in public policy aimed at reducing consumption by minors."
Daring to go "where no guideline has gone before," a group of researchers fast forwarded to predictions for cardiac arrest in the 24th century.
Their retrospective analysis of 526 episodes of the three more recent "Star Trek" TV series turned up 96 cardiac arrest cases and a mortality rate (90%), as is the case today.
But the causes were more frequently trauma -- such as injury from energy weapons or poisoning -- than heart attacks or cardiac arrhythmia, as is most common in the 21st century, David Horburger, MD, of the Medical University of Vienna, and colleagues reported in the December issue of Resuscitation.
"This invites the conclusion that people in the future will be living much more healthily and will have better preventative medicine than we do now," Horburger said in a release, noting the show's history of predicting technology like the fax machine and cell phones.
This article is published under agreement with MedPage Today.