April 6, 2015 — The opening session speakers at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2015 Scientific Sessions will examine the current state of cardiovascular care and why it is ripe for disruption and new technologies. Peter Fitzgerald, M.D., Ph.D., of Stanford University, and Christian Assad-Kottner, M.D., of the Fogarty Institute for Innovation and El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, California, will explore how increasing costs and variability in healthcare provide the potential to change how cardiovascular care is provided. SCAI 2015 will be held in San Diego May 6-9.
“Variability in care, health system consolidation and increasing financial pressures are driving an increasing need for standardization,” said Fitzgerald. “At the same time, innovative companies like Apple, Google and Samsung are entering healthcare. This convergence will drive greater change in how interventional cardiologists provide care, and it’s something we can all embrace.”
In his presentation, Fitzgerald will share examples of how emerging technologies will lead to better care. “Incredible point-of-care diagnostics are available today,” he said. “Soon we’ll be able to model the size and length of stent needed before we get to the cath lab. And we’ll be able to better assess the patient’s outcomes – that’s exciting because we can provide even better care, more efficiently and possibly for more patients.”
Interventional cardiologists will also need to understand and use new exponential technologies, which are types of technologies that rapidly evolve even as they fundamentally change medicine, according to Assad-Kottner. Examples include 3-D printing, robotics, genomics, sensors and artificial intelligence. Physicians are just beginning to understand and evaluate how these and other technologies can impact patient care.
“We have the ability to take our medical knowledge and use new technologies to creatively solve the problems we face today,” said Assad-Kottner.
Already, young physicians are beginning not only to embrace these changes but also to demand them, said Fitzgerald. As medical schools broaden their focus to include business, healthcare economics and information technology, young physicians are entering the field better prepared for the changes that are ahead.
“The students are demanding the change,” said Fitzgerald. “Our 30-year-olds are emerging from medical schools with so much more in their armamentarium. Still, there’s a lot of wisdom experienced interventional cardiologists can share to improve these new systems. We all need to get involved because it’s an exciting time for the field of interventional cardiology.”
For more information: www.scai.org
November 14, 2025 
