Hot Topics with Our KOLS!
This month the faculty of Medscape’s Going Back to the Heart of Cardiology join us to share insights on various current cardiology topics that range from best device in their clinical arsenal to the most critical new (or on the horizon) cardiology-related advance. All of these responses represent a critical step forward in cardiac patient care. Read and enjoy! In our last issue, I spoke with Dr. Alanna Morris, Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine. We discussed her Circulation article, Guidance for Timely and Appropriate Referral of Patients With Advanced Heart Failure: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, major takeaways from Guidance for Timely and Appropriate Referral of Patients With Advanced Heart Failure: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, research on outcomes differences based on race/ethnicity and gender related to heart transplantation and LVAD implantation, the conundrum of the financial burden on patients living with heart failure, and her approach to informing patients on long-term survival after heart transplantation. If you missed it, click here!
Also check out this issue’s Pulse, with articles from the Journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation, European Heart Journal, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Cardiology News, and New England Journal of Medicine.
Housekeeping: CME 2023—Add this to your calendar now and sign up for updates:
Going Back to the Heart of Cardiology Conference (4th Annual)
Saturday-Monday December 8-10, 2023; Anaheim, California
To register, click here!
- Sessions 1-6: Cardiopulmonary Failure; Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis; and Cardiometabolic Disease; Electrical Failure; Valvular Disease: Special Topics in Cardiology
Thank you to our thought leaders for their time and expertise as faculty and in this interview. Don’t forget to register here for Medscape’s 2023 Going Back to the Heart of Cardiology conference for the best 2023 CME opportunity available! Please contact me at colleen@cmhadvisors.com with any comments and/or suggestions! –Colleen Hutchins
Hot Topics with Our KOLS!
Biggest, or one of the biggest, honors of my career to date:
Dr. Breathett: The biggest honor is when I knew that my first R01 would be funded because this meant that my dream of providing more equitable cardiovascular care was coming true. Receiving a perfect score on the revision was icing on the cake.
Dr. Yong: the chance to mentor junior trainees as one of the first female interventionalists with 3 kids in the country. Women out there considering IC- Just do it!!!
Dr. Rhee: My patients, especially when they safely get through their cancer therapies (e.g. bone marrow transplant)
Dr. Gaggin: My kids, but you are asking for career… my mentors and mentees!
Best device/tool in my clinical arsenal:
Dr. Breathett: Having a multidisciplinary team ready to improve care for our patients with heart failure.
Dr. Yong: The Heart Team!
Dr. Rhee: “Seeing something once is better than hearing about it a hundred times.” Need to see how patients look first. But I would love to try ChatGPT =)
Dr. Gaggin: my NP, RN, cardiac pharmacist, medical assistant and admin assistant!
Dr. Morris: The HF Guidelines.
Most challenging issue my counterparts and I face today:
Dr. Breathett: Addressing/correcting systemic inequities (bias, social determinants of health, and racism)
Dr. Yong: The ethics of transcatheter procedures for increasingly older, comorbid patients – it’s becoming less “can we,” but rather “should we?”
Dr. Rhee: Keeping up with new medications, research data/journal articles, and innovative tools.
Dr. Gaggin: Information overload, task overload, being stretched too thin in patient care, too many Epic inbox tasks.
My mentor:
Dr. Yong: Paul Heidenreich has been my amazing research mentor for years, but there are so many others who’ve invested in me over decades of my journey (I can’t list them all here!). And of course, the ultimate peer mentor – my husband Freddy Abnousi, an interventionalist who runs HealthTech at Meta.
Hanna Gaggin: Jim Januzzi, Ahmed Tawakol, Collin Stultz, Rick Ruberg, Sanjiv Shah, Greg Lewis.
Dr. Morris: So many people have helped me get to where I am. My mother has always been and continues to be my biggest supporter, and she is the most incredible person I know. From an academic perspective, other mentors include Javed Butler, Arshed Quyyumi, Michelle Albert, Eldrin Lewis, Leslee Shaw, Tammie Quest…so many others!
Best recent medical journal article:
Dr. Breathett: Top 3 of 2022:
- https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.122.009301
- https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.059046
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2799226
Where I go for continuing education:
Dr. Breathett: Reading journals and attending AHA, ACC, HFSA, ISHLT.
Dr. Rhee: AHA, ACC, ASCO, ASH, you name it!
Dr. Gaggin: ACC, Medscape e-mails, UptoDate, PubMed,
Most critical new (or on the horizon) cardiology-related advance:
Dr. Breathett: 1) renewed focus on cardiovascular disparities and 2) gene editing for amyloidosis sounds promising potentially for amyloidosis and many other diseases.
Dr. Morris: ARNI and SGLT2 inhibitors.
Dr. Yong: Everything structural heart!
The Pulse
Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions: Vascular Access in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention of Chronic Total Occlusions: A State-of-the-Art Review
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/CIRCINTERVENTIONS.122.012568
JAMA Cardiology Brief Report: Tracking Treatment Response in Cardiac Light-Chain Amyloidosis With Native T1 Mapping
Cardiology News: Invasive test may cut health care costs related to angina without obstructive CAD
JACC Original Investigation: Short-Term Outcomes of Tricuspid Edge-to-Edge Repair in Clinical Practice
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109723055857
NEJM Original Article: Cardiovascular Safety of Testosterone-Replacement Therapy
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2215025
Medical Intelligence Quiz: Fast Facts Friday: