MVC does participate in some scientific research. For example, we have participated in several studies clarifying what the best clot dissolving drugs are to treat heart attacks and a study on the use of warfarin after a heart attack, as well as others. We participate in these studies because we think they are important for advancing our medical knowledge and because it keeps us on the cutting edge of practice. These projects are closely monitored by ethical review boards. By way of full disclosure we should state that the pharmaceutical and medical device industries often pay physicians to perform these studies. In the past we have donated this money to the local hospitals nursing education funds. At present we are participating in several trials:

The MASS COMM study administered by Harvard and devised by the Department of Public Health will help us know the best place to have an angioplasty or stenting. In the past angioplasty and stent procedures had a small but definite risk for a complication that would require emergency open heart surgery. However as technology has evolved, the risk for this complication has become vanishingly small. In states throughout the midwest and certain states in the northeast such as New Hampshire, angioplasty and stent placement is performed in community hospitals. The MASS COMM trial compares angioplasty/stent procedures in the community hospitals like SMC and LGH with the tertiary facilities like Lahey Clinic. Patients who choose to be part of this trial have a 2 to 1 chance of remaining in a local hospital to have their procedure versus being transferred the same day by ambulance to the Lahey Clinic to have the procedure performed by the same cardiologist. The only major difference between these types of facilities is that the tertiary facilities have the capability of performing emergency heart bypass surgery on the rare chance that would be necessary as a complication of the angioplasty procedure.

If you would like to read more about the MASS COMM trial, you can download a PDF file of pertinent portions of the consent form here.

The TOPCAT study sponsored by the NHLBI, clarifies the use of the drug, spironolactone, for the treatment of heart failure in those patients who have strong heart muscles.

The IMPROVE HF study is sponsored by Medtronic® and helps us make sure we are adhering to established guidelines with appropriate drugs or pacemaker/defibrillators in the treatment of all of our patients with heart failure. 

The CONNECT study also sponsored by Medtronic® is designed for patients who have defibrillators. It is a study to determine if home monitoring of the defibrillator offers a more rapid identification of rhythm abnormalities compared to the traditional every three month in office evaluation.