Experts from Penn's School of Medicine to present at ACC Annual Scientific Session

Doctors announce findings in new drug therapy, gender disaparities

Penn experts will present research findings that could come to define new standards of cardiovascular diagnostics and care at this weekend’s conference of the American College of Cardiology, the foremost professional society representing heart specialists throughout the world. These experts will gather beginning this weekend in Chicago to present and discuss the latest advances in cardiovascular medicine, science and education.

To arrange interviews with any of these presenters or other Penn physicians who will be in attendance, please call 215-200-2313, or email . All research results are embargoed until the time they are presented during the conference.

The Effect of Darapladib on Plasma Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2 Activity and Cardiovascular Biomarkers in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease or Risk Equivalent

Emile R. Mohler, MD, Director of Vascular Medicine and Associate Professor of Medicine
10 a.m., Sunday, March 30

Dr. Mohler will present results of a trial that may herald a new class of medications to prevent heart attack and stroke. Researchers at Penn and several other sites around the world studied the safety and efficacy of the drug darapladib (manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline) on Lp-PLA, an enzyme associated with inflammatory activity and increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

The drug was tested among patients already taking a cholesterol-lowering statin drug. After 12 weeks on a daily regimen of 160 mg of darapladib, blood tests revealed a decrease in two important circulating biomarkers, suggesting a possible reduction in systemic inflammatory burden.

While the drug doesn’t necessarily act to shrink plaque, Mohler says the research suggests that darapladib may reduce plaque inflammation and therefore lower rates of clot formation and heart attacks among patients with coronary heart disease.

These findings will be published in an upcoming issue of JACC, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Under-Referral of Women for Atrial Fibrillation Ablation: Can This Be Explained by Gender Differences in Outcome?

Andrea M. Russo, MD, Electrophysiology Laboratory Director and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine
10 a.m., Sunday, March 30

Dr. Russo and her colleagues from the division of cardiovascular medicine at Penn will present research on disparities in treatment of women suffering atrial fibrillation, one of the most common abnormal heart rhythms.

Although women represent more than half of patients with this serious rhythm problem, they are less likely to be referred for atrial fibrillation ablation – a therapy that uses radiofrequency energy to cauterize the heart tissue around each pulmonary vein to keep abnormal electrical signals from reaching the rest of the heart and triggering the faulty rhythm – than men.