University Hospital of Bern

About: University Hospital of Bern is a healthcare organization based out in Bern, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Medicine & Population. The organization has 1401 authors who have published 1672 publications receiving 53692 citations.

Plasminogen-activator inhibitor type 1 and coronary artery disease.

Abstract: The development of coronary artery disease, and specifically myocardial infarction, involves hyperplasia of arterial smooth muscle, the development of fatty streaks, atheroma formation, plaque rupture, and ultimately thrombus formation and vessel occlusion.1 These changes are in part genetically determined, as demonstrated by the fact that the risk of myocardial infarction in persons who have a first-degree relative with myocardial infarction is seven times the risk in persons who do not.2,3 This finding is often used to argue that coronary artery disease has a genetic basis, but the extent to which a shared environment contributes to the risk must also . . .

Percutaneous Closure of Patent Foramen Ovale in Cryptogenic Embolism

Abstract: Background The options for secondary prevention of cryptogenic embolism in patients with pat ent foramen ovale are administration of antithrombotic medications or percutaneous closure of the patent foramen ovale. We investigated whether closure is superior to medical therapy. Methods We performed a multicenter, superiority trial in 29 centers in Europe, Canada, Brazil, and Australia in which the assessors of end points were unaware of the study-group assignments. Patients with a patent foramen ovale and is che mic stroke, transient is che mic attack (TIA), or a peripheral thromboembolic event were randomly as signed to undergo closure of the patent foramen ovale with the Amplatzer PFO Occluder or to receive medical therapy. The primary end point was a composite of death, nonfatal stroke, TIA, or peripheral embolism. Analysis was performed on data for the intention-to-treat population. Results The mean duration of follow-up was 4.1 years in the closure group and 4.0 years in the medical-therapy group. The primary end point occurred in 7 of the 204 patients (3.4%) in the closure group and in 11 of the 210 patients (5.2%) in the medicaltherapy group (hazard ratio for closure vs. medical therapy, 0.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.24 to 1.62; P = 0.34). Nonfatal stroke occurred in 1 patient (0.5%) in the closure group and 5 patients (2.4%) in the medical-therapy group (hazard ratio, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.02 to 1.72; P = 0.14), and TIA occurred in 5 patients (2.5%) and 7 patients (3.3%), respectively (hazard ratio, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.23 to 2.24; P = 0.56). Conclusions Closure of a patent foramen ovale for secondary prevention of cryptogenic embolism did not result in a significant reduction in the risk of recurrent embolic events or death as compared with medical therapy. (Funded by St. Jude Medical; ClinicalTrials .gov number, NCT00166257.)