metcardio.org
 Meta-analysis and Evidence-based Medicine Training in Cardiology
The metcardio.org website is dedicated to meta-analysis and evidence-based medicine training in cardiology. It is sponsored by the Meta-analysis and Evidence-based medicine Training in Cardiology (METCARDIO) Group, currently headquartered in Turin, Italy, and formerly known as the Center for Overview, Meta-analysis, and Evidence-based Medicine Training (COMET). The focus of the metcardio.org website is on clinical research methods and evidence-based cardiovascular medicine with a specific interest in interventional cardiology and peripheral cardiovascular interventions. Nonetheless, there is plenty of training and research opportunities for other evidence-based endeavors, eg in anesthesiology, critical care medicine, and psychiatry.







  1. Awards and grants
  2. Evidence-based medicine and clinical research methods
  3. Interventional cardiology
  4. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
  5. Other topics

  6. Awards and grants
    1. American College of Cardiology Young Investigator Award (2003 - Antonio Abbate, finalist)
    2. European Association of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Grant (2007 - Luca Testa, winner)
    3. European Society of Cardiology Young Investigator Award in Thrombosis (2006 - Luca Testa, finalist)
    4. Italian Society of Cardiology Young Investigator Award (2006 - Luca Testa, finalist)
    5. Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology Young Investigator Award (2003 - Antonio Abbate, winner)
    6. Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology Young Investigator Award (2005 - Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai, winner)
    7. Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology Young Investigator Award (2005 - Pierfrancesco Agostoni, finalist)
    8. Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology Young Investigator Award (2007 - Pierfrancesco Agostoni, winner)
    9. Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention Best of the Best Abstracts (2006 - Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai, finalist)
    10. Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Young Investigator Award (2004 - Antonio Abbate, finalist)
    11. Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Young Investigator Award (2007 - Pierfrancesco Agostoni, finalist)

  7. Evidence-based medicine and clinical research methods
    1. Agostoni P, Biondi-Zoccai GG. Blood pressure and death from coronary heart disease. N Engl J Med. 2000 Jun 1;342(22):1675.
    2. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A, Agostoni P, Valgimigli M, Sangiorgi GM. Drawbacks of nonrandomized trials in acute coronary syndromes. Am J Cardiol. 2006 Jan 1;97(1):151.
    3. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A, Agostoni P. Antioxidant vitamins and coronary disease. N Engl J Med. 2002 Apr 4;346(14):1092-3.
    4. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A, Biasucci LM. B-type natriuretic peptide and acute coronary syndromes. N Engl J Med. 2002 Feb 7;346(6):453-5.
    5. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A, Valgimigli M, Testa L, Agostoni P. From chaotic to coordinated clinical research: the case of acetylcysteine. Arch Intern Med. 2006 Aug 14-28;166(15):1668.
    6. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Abbate A, Airoldi F, Colombo A. Critical role of bare-metal stent controls in trials of drug-eluting stents. Eur Heart J. 2005 Aug;26(16):1686-7.
    7. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Abbate A, Testa L, Burzotta F. A simple hint to improve Robinson and Dickersin's highly sensitive PubMed search strategy for controlled clinical trials. Int J Epidemiol. 2005 Feb;34(1):224-5.
    8. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Abbate A. Parallel hierarchy of scientific studies in cardiovascular medicine. Ital Heart J. 2003 Nov;4(11):819-20.
    9. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Fusaro M, Inglese L. Potentials and pitfalls of clinical outcome research studies in cardiac surgery. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2006 May;29(5):855-6.
    10. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Lotrionte M, Abbate A, Testa L, Remigi E, Burzotta F, Valgimigli M, Romagnoli E, Crea F, Agostoni P. Compliance with QUOROM and quality of reporting of overlapping meta-analyses on the role of acetylcysteine in the prevention of contrast associated nephropathy: case study. BMJ. 2006 Jan 28;332(7535):202-9.
    11. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Testa L, Agostoni P. A practical algorithm for systematic reviews in cardiovascular medicine. Ital Heart J. 2004 Jun;5(6):486-7.
    12. Testa L, Trotta G, Abbate A, Agostoni P, Biondi-Zoccai GG. Low-dose aspirin for stroke prevention. Stroke. 2006 Jun;37(6):1356.
    13. Testa L, Trotta G, Abbate A, Agostoni P, Biondi-Zoccai GG. The hurdles of warfarin and the hurdles of clinical practice. Stroke. 2006 Dec;37(12):2867.

  8. Interventional cardiology
    1. Agostoni P, Biondi-Zoccai GG, de Benedictis ML, Rigattieri S, Turri M, Anselmi M, Vassanelli C, Zardini P, Louvard Y, Hamon M. Radial versus femoral approach for percutaneous coronary diagnostic and interventional procedures; Systematic overview and meta-analysis of randomized trials. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004 Jul 21;44(2):349-56.
    2. Agostoni P, Valgimigli M, Abbate A, Cosgrave J, Pilati M, Biondi-Zoccai GG. Is late luminal loss an accurate predictor of the clinical effectiveness of drug-eluting stents in the coronary arteries? Am J Cardiol. 2006 Mar 1;97(5):603-5.
    3. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Sangiorgi G, Dalla Paola L, Armano F, Nicolini S, Alek J, Fusaro M. Mastering the antegrade femoral artery access in patients with symptomatic lower limb ischemia: Learning curve, complications, and technical tips and tricks. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv. 2006 Dec;68(6):835-42.
    4. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Sangiorgi GM, Airoldi F, Cosgrave J, Chieffo A, Barbagallo R, Tamburino C, Vittori G, Falchetti E, Margheri M, Briguori C, Remigi E, Iakovou I, Colombo A; Real-world Eluting-stent Comparative Italian retrosPective Evaluation Study Investigators. Incidence, predictors, and outcomes of coronary dissections left untreated after drug-eluting stent implantation. Eur Heart J. 2006 Mar;27(5):540-6.
    5. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Sangiorgi GM, Colombo A. The drug-eluting stent dilemma: comparing the effectiveness of Cypher versus Taxus. J Cardiovasc Med (Hagerstown). 2006 Jan;7(1):2-4.
    6. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Sangiorgi GM, Iakovou I, Antoniucci D, Grube E, Tamburino C, Di Mario C, Reimers B, Michev I, Goktekin O, Airoldi F, Chieffo A, Cosgrave J, Tassanawiwat W, Colombo A; TRUE (Taxus in Real-Life Usage Evaluation) Study Investigators. Comparison of ticlopidine vs. clopidogrel in addition to aspirin after paclitaxel-eluting stent implantation: insights from the TRUE (Taxusin Real-life Usage Evaluation) Study. Int J Cardiol. 2006 Apr 14;108(3):406-7.
    7. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Chieffo A, Agostoni P, Colombo A. Applying intravascular ultrasound to optimize the placement of coronary drug-eluting stents. Minerva Cardioangiol. 2005 Jun;53(3):165-76.
    8. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Sangiorgi GM, Chieffo A, Vittori G, Falchetti E, Margheri M, Barbagallo R, Tamburino C, Remigi E, Briguori C, Iakovou I, Agostoni P, Tsagalou E, Melzi G, Michev I, Airoldi F, Montorfano M, Carlino M, Colombo A; RECIPE (Real-world Eluting-stent Comparative Italian retrosPective Evaluation) Study Investigators. Validation of predictors of intraprocedural stent thrombosis in the drug-eluting stent era. Am J Cardiol. 2005 Jun 15;95(12):1466-8.
    9. Burzotta F, Trani C, Romagnoli E, Belloni F, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Mazzari MA, De Vita M, Giannico F, Garramone B, Niccoli G, Rebuzzi AG, Mongiardo R, Schiavoni G, Crea F. A pilot study with a new, rapid-exchange, thrombus-aspirating device in patients with thrombus-containing lesions: the Diver C.E. study. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv. 2006 Jun;67(6):887-93.
    10. Burzotta F, Trani C, Romagnoli E, Mazzari MA, Rebuzzi AG, De Vita M, Garramone B, Giannico F, Niccoli G, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Schiavoni G, Mongiardo R, Crea F. Manual thrombus-aspiration improves myocardial reperfusion: the randomized evaluation of the effect of mechanical reduction of distal embolization by thrombus-aspiration in primary and rescue angioplasty (REMEDIA) trial. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005 Jul 19;46(2):371-6.

  9. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
    1. Agostoni P, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Gasparini GL, Anselmi M, Morando G, Turri M, Abbate A, McFadden EP, Vassanelli C, Zardini P, Colombo A, Serruys PW. Is bare-metal stenting superior to balloon angioplasty for small vessel coronary artery disease? Evidence from a meta-analysis of randomized trials. Eur Heart J. 2005 May;26(9):881-9.
    2. Agostoni P, Valgimigli M, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A, Garcia Garcia HM, Anselmi M, Turri M, McFadden EP, Vassanelli C, Serruys PW, Colombo A. Clinical effectiveness of bare-metal stenting compared with balloon angioplasty in total coronary occlusions: insights from a systematic overview of randomized trials in light of the drug-eluting stent era. Am Heart J. 2006 Mar;151(3):682-9.
    3. Andreotti F, Testa L, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Crea F. Aspirin plus warfarin compared to aspirin alone after acute coronary syndromes: an updated and comprehensive meta-analysis of 25,307 patients. Eur Heart J. 2006 Mar;27(5):519-26.
    4. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A, Agostoni P, Parisi Q, Turri M, Anselmi M, Vassanelli C, Zardini P, Biasucci LM. Stenting versus surgical bypass grafting for coronary artery disease: systematic overview and meta-analysis of randomized trials. Ital Heart J. 2003 Apr;4(4):271-80.
    5. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A, Agostoni P, Testa L, Burzotta F, Lotrionte M, Trani C, Biasucci LM. Long-term benefits of an early invasive management in acute coronary syndromes depend on intracoronary stenting and aggressive antiplatelet treatment: a metaregression. Am Heart J. 2005 Mar;149(3):504-11.
    6. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A, Parisi Q, Agostoni P, Burzotta F, Sandroni C, Zardini P, Biasucci LM. Is vasopressin superior to adrenaline or placebo in the management of cardiac arrest? A meta-analysis. Resuscitation. 2003 Nov;59(2):221-4.
    7. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Abbate A, Testa L, Burzotta F, Lotrionte M, Crea F, Biasucci LM, Vetrovec GW, Colombo A. Adjusted indirect comparison of intracoronary drug-eluting stents: evidence from a metaanalysis of randomized bare-metal-stent-controlled trials. Int J Cardiol. 2005 Apr 8;100(1):119-23.
    8. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Agostoni P, Testa L, Abbate A, Parisi Q, Burzotta F, Trani C, Mongiardo R, Vassanelli C, Biasucci LM. Increased mortality after coronary stenting in patients treated with clopidogrel without loading dose. Evidence from a meta-analysis. Minerva Cardioangiol. 2004 Jun;52(3):195-208.
    9. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Lotrionte M, Abbate A, Valgimigli M, Testa L, Burzotta F, Crea F, Agostoni P. Direct and indirect comparison meta-analysis demonstrates the superiority of sirolimus- versus paclitaxel-eluting stents across 5854 patients. Int J Cardiol. 2007 Jan 2;114(1):104-5.
    10. Biondi-Zoccai GG, Lotrionte M, Agostoni P, Abbate A, Fusaro M, Burzotta F, Testa L, Sheiban I, Sangiorgi G. A systematic review and meta-analysis on the hazards of discontinuing or not adhering to aspirin among 50,279 patients at risk for coronary artery disease. Eur Heart J. 2006 Nov;27(22):2667-74.
    11. Burzotta F, Trani C, Prati F, Hamon M, Mazzari MA, Mongiardo R, Sabatier R, Boccanelli A, Schiavoni G, Crea F. Comparison of outcomes (early and six- month) of direct stenting with conventional stenting (a meta-analysis of ten randomized trials). Am J Cardiol. 2003 Apr 1;91(7):790-6.
    12. Burzotta F, Paciaroni K, De Stefano V, Crea F, Maseri A, Leone G, Andreotti F. G20210A prothrombin gene polymorphism and coronary ischaemic syndromes: a phenotype-specific meta-analysis of 12 034 subjects. Heart. 2004 Jan;90(1):82-6. Burzotta F, Trani C, Prati F, Hamon M, Mazzari MA, Mongiardo R, Sabatier R,
    13. Hamon M, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Malagutti P, Agostoni P, Morello R, Valgimigli M, Hamon M. Diagnostic performance of multislice spiral computed tomography of coronary arteries as compared with conventional invasive coronary angiography: a meta-analysis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006 Nov 7;48(9):1896-910.
    14. Landoni G, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Tumlin JA, Bove T, De Luca M, Calabro MG, Ranucci M, Zangrillo A. Beneficial impact of fenoldopam in critically ill patients with or at risk for acute renal failure: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Am J Kidney Dis. 2007 Jan;49(1):56-68.
    15. Rodriguez-Granillo GA, Agostoni P, Garcia-Garcia HM, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Mc Fadden E, Amoroso G, de Jaegere P, Bruining N, de Feyter P, Serruys PW. Meta-analysis of the studies assessing temporal changes in coronary plaque volume using intravascular ultrasound. Am J Cardiol. 2007 Jan 1;99(1):5-10.
    16. Testa L, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Dello Russo A, Bellocci F, Andreotti F, Crea F. Rate-control vs. rhythm-control in patients with atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis. Eur Heart J. 2005 Oct;26(19):2000-6.

  10. Other topics
    1. Abbate A, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Baldi A. Pathophysiologic role of myocardial apoptosis in post-infarction left ventricular remodeling. J Cell Physiol. 2002 Nov;193(2):145-53.
    2. Abbate A, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Bussani R, Dobrina A, Camilot D, Feroce F, Rossiello R, Baldi F, Silvestri F, Biasucci LM, Baldi A. Increased myocardial apoptosis in patients with unfavorable left ventricular remodeling and early symptomatic post-infarction heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003 Mar 5;41(5):753-60.
    3. Abbate A, Bonanno E, Mauriello A, Bussani R, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Liuzzo G, Leone AM, Silvestri F, Dobrina A, Baldi F, Pandolfi F, Biasucci LM, Baldi A, Spagnoli LG, Crea F. Widespread myocardial inflammation and infarct-related artery patency. Circulation. 2004 Jul 6;110(1):46-50.
    4. Abbate A, Bussani R, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Rossiello R, Silvestri F, Baldi F, Biasucci LM, Baldi A. Persistent infarct-related artery occlusion is associated with an increased myocardial apoptosis at postmortem examination in humans late after an acute myocardial infarction. Circulation. 2002 Aug 27;106(9):1051-4.
    5. Abbate A, Bussani R, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Santini D, Petrolini A, De Giorgio F, Vasaturo F, Scarpa S, Severino A, Liuzzo G, Leone AM, Baldi F, Sinagra G, Silvestri F, Vetrovec GW, Crea F, Biasucci LM, Baldi A. Infarct-related artery occlusion, tissue markers of ischaemia, and increased apoptosis in the peri-infarct viable myocardium. Eur Heart J. 2005 Oct;26(19):2039-45.
    6. Abbate A, Limana F, Capogrossi MC, Santini D, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Scarpa S, Germani A, Straino S, Severino A, Vasaturo F, Campioni M, Liuzzo G, Crea F, Vetrovec GW, Biasucci LM, Baldi A. Cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibition reduces apoptosis in acute myocardial infarction. Apoptosis. 2006 Jun;11(6):1061-3.
    7. Abbate A, Santini D, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Scarpa S, Vasaturo F, Liuzzo G, Bussani R, Silvestri F, Baldi F, Crea F, Biasucci LM, Baldi A. Cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression at the site of recent myocardial infarction: friend or foe? Heart. 2004 Apr;90(4):440-3.
    8. Galiuto L, Lotrionte M, Crea F, Anselmi A, Biondi-Zoccai GG, De Giorgio F, Baldi A, Baldi F, Possati G, Gaudino M, Vetrovec GW, Abbate A. Impaired coronary and myocardial flow in severe aortic stenosis is associated with increased apoptosis: a transthoracic Doppler and myocardial contrast echocardiography study. Heart. 2006 Feb;92(2):208-12.
    9. Lotrionte M, Galiuto L, Biondi-Zoccai GG, Abbate A. Pathophysiologic role of myocardial hypertrophy, microcirculatory dysfunction and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in aortic stenosis. G Ital Cardiol (Rome). 2006 Jul;7(7):437-44

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