Coronary Heart Disease — Impact of Enhanced External Counterpulsation on Vascular Hemodynamics and Status
Citation(s)
Braith RW, Conti CR, Nichols WW, Choi CY, Khuddus MA, Beck DT, Casey DP Enhanced external counterpulsation improves peripheral artery flow-mediated dilation in patients with chronic angina: a randomized sham-controlled study. Circulation. 2010 Oct 19;122(16):1612-20. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.923482. Epub 2010 Oct 4.
Manchanda A, Soran O Enhanced external counterpulsation and future directions: step beyond medical management for patients with angina and heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2007 Oct 16;50(16):1523-31. Epub 2007 Oct 1. Review. Erratum in: J Am Coll Cardiol. 2007 Dec 18;50(25):2441.
Nichols WW, Estrada JC, Braith RW, Owens K, Conti CR Enhanced external counterpulsation treatment improves arterial wall properties and wave reflection characteristics in patients with refractory angina. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006 Sep 19;48(6):1208-14. Epub 2006 Aug 28.
Interventional studies are often prospective and are specifically tailored to evaluate direct impacts of treatment or preventive measures on disease.
Observational studies are often retrospective and are used to assess potential causation in exposure-outcome relationships and therefore influence preventive methods.
Expanded access is a means by which manufacturers make investigational new drugs available, under certain circumstances, to treat a patient(s) with a serious disease or condition who cannot participate in a controlled clinical trial.
Clinical trials are conducted in a series of steps, called phases - each phase is designed to answer a separate research question.
Phase 1: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase 2: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase 3: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase 4: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.
