HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Google Scholar Articles by Lunde, K. Articles by Aakhus, S. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lunde, K. Articles by Aakhus, S. Topic Collections Relevant Article

Cell therapy in acute myocardial infarction: measures of efficacy

Department of Cardiology, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

Correspondence to:
Dr K Lunde, Department of Cardiology, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, 0027 Oslo, Norway; ketil.lunde@rikshospitalet.no

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In clinical trials, the treatment effect of an intervention is usually measured as the impact on a prespecified end point. All-cause mortality is an ultimate end point and often regarded as the "gold standard" for cardiovascular trials. However, since major therapeutic breakthroughs like acute revascularisation with percutaneous coronary intervention, use of antithrombotic agents, β blockers, ACE inhibitors and statins have improved prognosis after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), large-scale studies are necessary to demonstrate improved survival by a new treatment. Another option is to use an intermediate end point like quality of life or functional capacity, which may be more closely linked to disease progression. From a patient perspective, improvement of such intermediate end points may be more important than the sole prolongation of life.¹

An alternative to an ultimate or intermediate end point is to use a surrogate end point. The FDA defines a surrogate end point as a laboratory . . . [Full text of this article]

Relevant Article

Restoration of left ventricular synchronous contraction after acute myocardial infarction by stem cell therapy: new insights into the therapeutic implication of stem cell therapy for acute myocardial infarction

S-A Chang, H-K Kim, H-Y Lee, S-Y Choi, B-K Koo, Y-J Kim, D-W Sohn, B-H Oh, Y-B Park, Y-S Choi, H-J Kang, and H-S Kim
Heart 2008 94: 995-1001. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]