Science News

Scientific Sessions 2018

November 10–12

Chicago, Illinois

Science News has insights and clinical implications to the late-breaking clinical trials, guidelines, and other noteworthy science presented at Scientific Sessions 2018.

Click on a trial name below to see results, videos, presentation slides and more. (Please note, late-breaking materials will not be released until after time of presentation.)

Guidelines Released at #AHA18

2018 Guideline on the Management of Blood Cholesterol

2018 Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Bradycardia and Cardiac Conduction Delay

2018 HHS Physical Activity Guidelines


Presidential Session

Streamed Live for the first time on Facebook! — Ivor J Benjamin, MD, president of AHA, presents annual address, recognizes this year's distinguished scientists, and takes part in the Catalyst for Change: the Equity Equation Panel discussion to talk about disparity gaps in healthcare coverage.

New Approaches to Cardiovascular Risk Assessment

Donna Arnett, PhD, interviews Don Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM about new developments in the science of cardiovascular risk assessment informing the 2018 Guideline on the Management of Blood Cholesterol.


LBS.01 -  Answers to Critical Questions in Cardiovascular Prevention

VITAL – The VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) was designed to test the role of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

REDUCE-IT –Evaluation of the effects of icosapent ethyl on cardiovascular outcomes:  Results of REDUCE-IT.

EwTOPIA75 – This trial was designed to show the effect of ezetimibe on cardiovascular event reduction in older people aged 75 years or over.

ODYSSEY OUTCOMES Economics – This trial was designed to evaluate whether alirocumab reduces cardiovascular events in patients with a previous ACS and atherogenic lipoprotein levels that exceed specified thresholds despite high-intensity or maximum tolerated statin therapy.

LBS.02 - Novel Approaches to CV Prevention

DECLARE-TIMI 58 – This is a large scale cardiovascular outcomes study of the SGLT-2 inhibitor Dapagliflozin in patients with type 2 DM and with or at high risk for CV disease.

CIRT – The Cardiovascular Inflammation Reduction Trial (CIRT) tested whether low-dose methotrexate would reduce cardiovascular event rates among patients with atherosclerosis and either diabetes or metabolic syndrome.

AKCEA – This is an antisense trial to reduce Lp(a) levels

Yoga-CaRe – This trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of yoga based cardiac rehabilitation program in comparison to control group on cardiovascular events and quality of life.

LBS.03 - Harnessing Technology and Improving Systems for Global Health

BRIDGE CV Prevention – This trial was designed to test a multifaceted intervention aimed to improve the implementation of guideline-recommended therapies for the management of high cardiovascular risk patients.

BRIDGE Stroke – This trial was designed to evaluate the effect of a quality improvement intervention to increase the adherence to evidence-based therapies for acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack patients.

AF-ALERT – This trial was designed to evaluate an alert-based computerized decision support (CDS) strategy to increase anticoagulation prescription in hospitalized AF patients at high-risk for stroke.

IMPACT-AF – This trial was designed to determine if the use of an online evidence-based clinical decision support system would be an effective and cost-efficient means of improving AF patient care and outcomes in the primary care setting.

mWellcare – A cluster randomised controlled trial of mHealth based clinical decision support system for integrated management of chronic conditions.

LBS.04 - Preserving Brain & Heart in Acute Care Cardiology

PRINCESS – This trial was designed to determine the effect of trans-nasal evaporative intra-arrest cooling on survival with good neurologic outcome in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients.

Neuroprotect – This trial is testing early goal-directed hemodynamic optimization in post-cardiac arrest patients.

T-TIME – T-TIME was designed to evaluate the feasibility, safety, efficacy and related mechanisms of low-dose intra-coronary fibrinolysis with alteplase as an adjunctive treatment to acute stenting in patients with a large heart attack.

EARLY – This trial's purpose is to compare the clinical outcome in NSTEACS of an early and a delayed invasive strategy in patients without P2Y12 ADP antagonist pretreatment.

Door to Unload Pilot – This trial was designed to test the safety and feasibility of first mechanically unloading the left ventricle and delaying coronary reperfusion in acute myocardial infarction as an approach to limit infarcts size.

LBS.05 - Hot News in HF

PIONEER-HF – Angiotensin Receptor-Neprilysin Inhibition in Patients Hospitalized With Acute Decompensated Heart Failure

TRED-HF – This trial was designed to test the safety and feasibility of heart failure therapy withdrawal in patients with recovered DCM

COMMANDER-HF Update – COMMANDER HF was a prospective randomized multi-center study that examined the use of rivaroxaban in patients with heart failure.

EMPA-HEART – This is the first study to evaluate and provide critical insights on the effects of an SGLT2 inhibitor on cardiac structure, function and biomarkers in people with type 2 diabetes and CVD.

Cardiac Remodeling Following Ligation of Arteriovenous Fistula in Stable Renal Transplant Recipients – This trial was designed to evaluate the effects of AV fistula ligation on cardiac structure and function following successful renal transplantation.

LBS.06 - Late Breaking Science in Coronary Revascularization

REGROUP – REGROUP evaluated the association between use of endoscopic vein harvest in CABG and late clinical outcomes.

FREEDOM Follow-On – Long-Term Survival Following Multivessel Revascularization in Patients With Diabetes.

TiCAB – The TiCAB trial is the largest study on the value of intensified antiplatelet therapy in patients undergoing CABG.

ISAR-TEST 4 – 10-year clinical outcomes after randomization to treatment by new- versus early-generation limus-eluting stents with different polymer coatings.

Intramyocardial Injection of Mesenchymal Precursor Cells in Left Ventricular Assist Device Recipients: Impact on Myocardial Recovery and Morbidity – A phase 2 trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single, high-dose (150 million) intramyocardial injection of MPCs in patients undergoing LVAD implantation.