Enhanced features on the Philips EPIQ CVx ultrasound system provide a next level photorealistic 3D rendering, making it easy for users to interpret what they are seeing. The TrueVue feature enhances the sense of depth and space, producing images that appear natural and realistic to the human eye.  

Watch the video to check out how TrueVue can help improve views of LAA and MV morphology. 

The X5-1c transducer from Philips provides enhanced clinical information in transthoracic imaging over a standard phased array transducer. When combined with nSIGHT Plus image formation on the EPIQ CVx cardiology ultrasound system, the X5-1c transducer enables image quality rarely seen from a transthoracic transducer. 

Watch the video to learn about the benefits which may include decreased exam time due to faster access to echo windows, increased confidence in quantification results and more. 

Interview with Campbell Rogers, M.D., chief medical officer of HeartFlow which has developed a CT image-based fractional flow reserve (FFR-CT) algorithm. The technology was recently included as a recommendation for front line chest pain evaluations in the 2021 ACC/AHA chest pain evaluation guidelines.

The new guidelines gave high levels of evidence for the use of computed tomography and FFR-CT cardiac imaging as front line imaging modalities for chest pain evaluation.

Related Chest Pain Imaging Content:

First International Chest Pain Diagnosis Guidelines Released

VIDEO: Why the ASNC Did Not Endorse the 2021 Chest Pain Guidelines — Interview with ASNC President Dennis Calnon, M.D.

American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) President Dennis Calnon, M.D., MASNC, FASE, FSCCT, director of cardiac imaging for McConnell Heart Hospital at Riverside Methodist Hospital, and director of nuclear imaging for Ohio Health Heart and Vascular Physicians in Columbus, explains why the society did not endorse the first-ever U.S. or international guideline for the evaluation and diagnosis of patients with acute or stable chest pain.

Nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) has been a gold-standard for evaluation of coronary disease in patients for years, and it is included in the new guidelines. However, computed tomography angiography (CTA) has seen immense growth over the past decade and gained a prominent position in the guidelines as a front line imaging modality. This is due to nearly all hospital emergency rooms now having access to CT systems capable of performing immediate cardiac exams. CT has been seen mainly as an anatomical imaging test, but it also can be used for myocardial perfusion imaging using iodine contrast. While CT has had limits with its ability to image through heavily calcified vessels or stents, that is changing with new CT technologies now coming into service.

One new CT technology that is prominently included I the new chest pain guidelines is CT fractional flow reserve (FFR-CT) imaging.  This uses a computational fluid dynamics algorithm to analyze a patient's CTA. It sends back a report and an interactive 3D reconstruction of all the coronary vessels that shows a color coded drop in FFR ratios, which is a measure of blood flow. Past a certain threshold, the reduced flow needs to be treated with revascularization. Lower level blockages can be treated with drug therapies. FFR-CT is widely expected in the coming years to become a gate keeper for invasive diagnostic angiograms. The hope is it will eliminate the need for the majority of cath lab angiogram exams and only send patients to the lab that need a stent or angioplasty. 

However, the ASNC had major issues with FFR-CT being included in the chest pain guidelines. Its board members argued there is need for more evidence and there should have been more information contraindications for its use, which was included on other imaging modalities in the guidelines. They also argued access to the technology has been very limited. Calnon explains more detail in the video on why this was a sticking point and caused the ASNC to not endorse the guidelines.

Read more in the article — First International Chest Pain Diagnosis Guidelines Released

Siddharth Singh, M.D., director of the COVID-19 heart program, staff cardiologist and echocardiographer, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, explains what has been learned in the first year of the hospital's long-COVID clinic. Cedar-Sinai was one of the first hospitals in the U.S. to create a cardiac long-COVID clinic. As of January 2022, the clinic has been more than 120 long-COVID patients with cardiac specific complains. 

"Depending on what study you read, a percentage of patients with acute COVID infection will go on to develop long-lasting sequelae, but typically the percentage falls over time," explained Siddharth Singh, M.D., director of the COVID heart program, staff cardiologist and echocardiographer, Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

He said studies show between 10-25 percent of COVID patients will experience at least one disabling long-COVID symptom six months after their acute infection.

Cedars-Sinai long-COVID has seen over 500 patients since late 2020. Of these, 120 were referred for cardiac evaluations. The most common presentations in those patients include:
   • Shortness of breath
   • Exertional intolerance
   • Chest pain
   • Heart palpitations  
   • Sensations of light-headedness and dizziness
   • Insomnia
   • Brain fog 
   • Constipation
   • Diarrhea
   • Numbness or tingling in the extremities
   • Longer lasting issues with smell and taste

Singh also said many patients experience anxiety and depression due to the continued symptoms, and are concerned the issues they have from COVID may be permanent. Both Baggish and Trivax also reported seeing these issues in many of their patients.

In a smaller subset of patients these clinics have found lingering pericarditis or myocarditis. Most of these patients reported developing chest pain within two week or so after their acute infection. Singh said abnormalities can be imaged using echo and MRI.

"They do typically have abnormalities on imaging. But reassuringly, of all the patients who came to our clinic with these issues, we did not see any decline in left ventricular ejection fraction or systolic function," Singh stressed.

Patients with lingering pericarditis or myocarditis issues are treated with anti-inflammatories. Singh reinforced that the number of patients treated for this have been very low.

Singh said the arrhythmias he has seen include atrial fibrillation (AF) and supraventricular tachycardia. He noted ventricular tachycardia is very rare in these patients. In discussions with his electrophysiology (EP) colleagues, Singh believes the issues with post-COVID arrhythmias often comes down to the substrate of the patient's heart. He said the more cardiovascular disease, cardiomyopathy, scarring, or previous AF a patient has, the more predisposed they are to developing an arrhythmia after a COVID infection. 

Watch more of the interview with Singh in the VIDEO: Examination of Cardiac COVID Long-Haulers
 

Related Long-COVID Content:

What We Know About Cardiac Long-COVID Two Years Into the Pandemic 

VIDEO: Long-term Cardiac Impacts of COVID-19 Two Years Into The Pandemic — Interview with Aaron Baggish, M.D.

VIDEO: Long-COVID Presentations in Cardiology at Beaumont Hospital — Interview with Justin Trivax, M.D.

VIDEO: Examination of Cardiac COVID Long-Haulers — Interview with Siddharth Singh, M.D.

Find more COVID news and video

Orlando Simonetti, Ph.D., professor, cardiovascular medicine, worked with Siemens to help develop a new, lower-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the Magnetom Free.Max. It can scan patients that previously may have been contraindicated because of implantable medical devices. The first system installed in the U.S. is at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. It has a much lower magnetic field and a larger patient opening, removing barriers to MRI imaging for many patients.

Simonetti and his colleagues developed new techniques to boost the signal-to-noise ratio in MRI machines, which allowed the creation of a machine with a lower magnetic field strength that still enables high quality images.

The system gained FDA clearance in July 2021 and was featured by Siemens at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2021 meeting.

The interview and footage was provided by The Ohio University State University Wexner Medical Center.

Read more in the article New FDA-approved MRI Expands Access to Life-saving Imaging.

Jean Jeudy, M.D., professor of radiology and vice chair of informatics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, presented a late-breaking study at the 2021 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting on COVID-19 linked myocarditis in college athletes. 

A small but significant percentage of college athletes with COVID-19 develop myocarditis, a potentially dangerous inflammation of the heart muscle, that can only be seen on cardiac MRI, according to the study Jeudy presented. Myocarditis, which typically occurs as a result of a bacterial or viral infection, can affect the heart’s rhythm and ability to pump and often leaves behind lasting damage in the form of scarring to the heart muscle. It has been linked to as many as 20% of sudden deaths in young athletes. The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns over an increased incidence of the condition in student-athletes.

For the new study, clinicians at schools in the highly competitive Big Ten athletic conference collaborated to collect data on the frequency of myocarditis in student-athletes recovering from COVID-19 infection. Conference officials had required all athletes who had COVID-19 to get a series of cardiac tests before returning to play, providing a unique opportunity for researchers to collect data on the athletes’ cardiac status.

Jeudy serves as the cardiac MRI core leader for the Big Ten Cardiac Registry. This registry oversaw the collection of all the data from the individual schools of the Big Ten conference. He reviewed the results of 1,597 cardiac MRI exams collected at the 13 participating schools. 

Thirty-seven of the athletes, or 2.3%, were diagnosed with COVID-19 myocarditis, a percentage on par with the incidence of myocarditis in the general population. However, an alarmingly high proportion of the myocarditis cases were found in athletes with no clinical symptoms. Twenty of the patients with COVID-19 myocarditis (54%) had neither cardiac symptoms nor cardiac testing abnormalities. Only cardiac MRI identified the problem.

Read more details in the article COVID-19 Linked to Heart Inflammation in College Athletes.

Related COVID-19 Imaging and Myocarditis Content:

Overview of Myocarditis Cases Caused by the COVID-19 Vaccine

COVID-19 Linked to Heart Inflammation in College Athletes — RSNA 2021 late-breaker

VIDEO: Cardiac MRI Assessment of Non-ischemic Myocardial Inflammation Caused by COVID-19 Vaccinations — Interview with Kate Hanneman, M.D.

Cardiac MRI of Myocarditis After COVID-19 Vaccination in Adolescents

Large International Study Reveals Spectrum of COVID-19 Brain Complications - RSNA 2021 late-breaker

COVID-19 During Pregnancy Doesn’t Harm Baby’s Brain

VIDEO: Large Radiology Study Reveals Spectrum of COVID-19 Brain Complications — Interview with Scott Faro, M.D.

FDA Adds Myocarditis Warning to COVID mRNA Vaccine Clinician Fact Sheets

Small Number of Patients Have Myocarditis-like Illness After COVID-19 Vaccination

Kate Hanneman, M.D., MPH FRCPC, director of cardiac imaging research JDMI, and the medical imaging site director at Toronto General Hospital, Women’s College Hospital, was an author on a recent overview of cardiac MRI assessments of non-ischemic myocardial inflammation caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. She presented this study and other related data at the 2021 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting. 

The rare side effect from the COVID vaccine is seen mainly in young men between ages 12-29. It appears to resolve on its own after a couple days, but longer term monitoring is needed to show if there is any lasting cardiac damage. A small number of single cases with follow up MRI imaging so far have not shown long term damage. 

Hanneman noted the incidence of vaccine-related myocarditis is very rare and people have a much high probability of getting much more serious COVID-viral myocarditis is they are not vaccinated. She said so the risk-vs-benefit analysis currently shows it is better to get vaccinated to prevent or lessen the effects of COVID. 

Related COVID-19 Imaging Content:

Overview of Myocarditis Cases Caused by the COVID-19 Vaccine

COVID-19 Linked to Heart Inflammation in College Athletes — RSNA 2021 late-breaker

Cardiac MRI of Myocarditis After COVID-19 Vaccination in Adolescents

Large International Study Reveals Spectrum of COVID-19 Brain Complications - RSNA 2021 late-breaker

COVID-19 During Pregnancy Doesn’t Harm Baby’s Brain

VIDEO: Large Radiology Study Reveals Spectrum of COVID-19 Brain Complications — Interview with Scott Faro, M.D.

FDA Adds Myocarditis Warning to COVID mRNA Vaccine Clinician Fact Sheets

Small Number of Patients Have Myocarditis-like Illness After COVID-19 Vaccination

Dr. Simon Dixon, MBChB, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak, the Dorothy Susan Timmis Endowed Chair of Cardiology, and a professor of medicine at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, spoke at the 2021 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting about a study Beaumont performed to lower radiation dose in the cath lab by more than 50%.

Using a new angiographic collimation technology from ControlRad, it helped cut radiation dose to interventional cardiologists by 57%. The device collimates the area of interest where the physicians are working, and reduces the dose significantly to peripheral areas in the image. This reduces exposure to ionizing X-ray radiation scatter from the imaging system. It is one of two new radiation protection systems used at Beaumont.

The ControlRad device, approved for commercial cath lab use by the FDA in December 2020, is retrofitted to X-ray equipment in the catheterization lab. It creates a type of aperture that collimates the image area being viewed. By using a touch pad attached to the table side rail, the cardiologist controls the aperture to narrow or widen the field of view on the X-ray, which in turn reduces the amount of radiation used to produce the images. It works with gloves on.

For the study, cath lab workers wore radiation-detecting badges near their thyroid and inside their lead apron during procedures. Another badge was placed on a wall inside the lab. The study detected a 55% to 57% decrease in radiation exposure at the thyroid position of the main cardiologist, or lead operator, and a 49% decrease in radiation exposure to the cardiologist assisting, or operator 2. The badge on the wall detected a 38% decrease in radiation exposure, reflecting the dose savings to other cath lab staff further away from the imaging system.

Beaumont is also using the the Protego system, which places a barrier wall between the imaging equipment and the operator and staff in the cath lab. While it does not protect the patient from radiation during their procedure, it is designed to allow staff to work in the cath lab without wearing a heavy lead apron.

Find links to all the TCT 2021 late-breakers

Find more TCT news

One of the trends in cardiovascular information system (CVIS) and radiology PACS at the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2021 conference was the deeper integration of third-party image analysis software and artificial intelligence (AI) into these systems. This eliminates software sitting on top of the CVIS or PACS, separate logins or needing to us a different screen or manually transferring information from the third-party app in into the final report.

A good example of this was Siemens Healthineers, which demonstrated a deep integration with Epsilon Imaging’s echocardiography strain imaging analysis software. The integration eliminates the need for a separate login to the software, and automated quantification and images are carried over directly into the syngo echo report.

Strain can be used to assess cardiac function more precisely than regular cardiac ultrasound exams. It has grown in its use for cardio-oncology programs, assessing a baseline cardiac function and the. Performing serial exams over the course of a cancer patient’s chemotherapy. Strain has seen growing interest and has been a hot topic the past couple years at the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) meeting. Interest also has expanded greatly recently with reimbursement now available in the U.S.

Siemens said there also has been increased interest in strain this past year because it can show early indicators of cardiac issues in COVID-19 patients and can be used to help monitor COVID myocarditis patients.
 

Related Strain Echo and HIMSS Content:

VIDEO: An Overview of Echo Strain Imaging — Interview with Marielle Scherrer-Crosbie, M.D.

Global Longitudinal Strain Echo Offers Early Detection of Cardiotoxicity Heart Damage From Chemotherapy

Strain Imaging Improves Cardiac Surveillance of Certain Breast Cancer Patients

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Assessing Cardiotoxicity Due to Cancer Therapy

Advances in CVIS and Enterprise iImaging at HIMSS 21

VIDEO: Cardiology AI Aggregates Patient Data and Enables Interactive Risk Assessments

Photo Gallery of New Technologies at HIMSS 2021

VIDEO: Importance of Body Part Labeling in Enterprise Imaging — Interview with Alex Towbin, M.D., at HIMSS21

VIDEO: Coordinating Followup for Radiology Incidental Findings — Interview with David Danhauer, M.D., at HIMSS21

Federico Asch, M.D., FASE, director of cardiovascular core labs, cardiovascular imaging, MedStar Health Research Institute, Washington, D.C., was involved in a study that used artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate echocardiograms to identify COVID-19 patients who were at high risk for complications and mortality. The study also compared human vs. AI variability in reading the stories and found much less variability with the machine reviews. He presented the results from the WASE-COVID Study at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) 2021 meetings. 

Asch also offers insights about AI applications in echocardiography and how the technology will help improve imaging and reduce the variability in how measurements are made, which will decrease the current level of variability in how exams are performed by human operators. He also explains AI is now available to help guide novice ultrasound users to get optimal cardiac ultrasound images.

Find more content on artificial intelligence in cardiology

Find more cardiology related COVID-19 content

Find more news from ASE

Here are two quick clinical examples of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) lung imaging and cardiac imaging using a GE Vscan Air device. The examples show an abnormal lung image with B-lines. The second clip shows a healthy heart in a parasternal color Doppler image.

The GE Healthcare Vscan Air is a cutting-edge, wireless pocket-sized ultrasound that provides crystal clear image quality, whole-body scanning capabilities, and intuitive software. The pocket-sized ultrasound system was originally introduced in 2010, and as of early 2021, there are over 30,000 Vscan systems in use. The new Vscan Air features a wireless ultrasound probe.

Read more in the article GE Healthcare Unveils Vscan Air Wireless Handheld Ultrasound

Find more POCUS news and video

Keith Ellis, M.D., is the director of cardiovascular services and the director of the Chest Pain Center at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, and has been the director of nuclear cardiology for Diagnostic Cardiology of Houston. He explains how his department has implemented protocols and new technology to mitigate COVID-19 contamination risks and to prevent readmissions. New technologies include the use of telemedicine, CT angiography, and a contrast reduction system in the cath lab to prevent kidney injury that would result in a patient readmission. The hospital also is using techniques to help cut procedure times, including use of radial access in the cath lab and abbreviated nuclear scan protocols to shorten exam times.

He said there can be a lot of cardiovascular involvement in severe COVID patients, ranging from development of myocarditis, STEMI with and without clots, arrhythmias, venous thromboembolism (VTE), and the need for hemodynamic support, including ECMO. He said the most surprising management issue with the COVID patients has been the large amount of VTE, often resulting in deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (PE). Ellis said this often requires interventional strategies, including the use of Ekos ultrasonic catheter based thrombolysis to break up the clots.

Related Cardiac COVID-19 Content:

COVID-19 Positive STEMI Patients Have Higher Mortality 

VIDEO: ECMO Hemodynamic Support Effective in Sickest COVID-19 Patients — Interview with Ryan Barbaro, M.D.

The Cardiovascular Impact of COVID-19

VIDEO: Multiple Cardiovascular Presentations of COVID-19 in New York — Interview with Justin Fried, M.D., explaining a case that used VV-ECMO abnd VAV-ECMO

VIDEO: Impact of COVID-19 on the Interventional Cardiology Program at Henry Ford Hospital — Interview with William O'Neill, M.D.

Kawasaki-like Inflammatory Disease Affects Children With COVID-19 

VIDEO: Best Practices for Nuclear Cardiology During the COVID-19 Pandemic — Interview with Hicham Skali, M.D.

VIDEO: Cancelling Non-essential Cardiac Procedures During the COVID-19 Outbreak — Interview with Ehtisham Mahmud, M.D. 

VIDEO: 9 Cardiologists Share COVID-19 Takeaways From Across the U.S.  

VIDEO: Telemedicine in Cardiology and Medical Imaging During COVID-19 — Interview with Regina Druz, M.D.

VIDEO: COVID-19 Precautions for Cardiac Imaging — Interview with Stephen Bloom, M.D.,

Find more cardiology related COVID-19 content

Case is a 6-month-old infant boy admitted to hospital due to respiratory distress then worsened by a pericardial effusion and solitary kidney and renal failure. Diagnosed as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) due to COVID-19 exposure. Cardiac ultrasound case submitted to DAIC by Mohamed Shahwan, European Gaza Hospital. 

Related Content on MIS-C:

Kawasaki-like Inflammatory Disease Affects Children With COVID-19

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Case Study Describes One of the First U.S. Cases of MIS-C

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New Study Looks at Post-COVID-19 Emerging Disease in Children

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The Cardiovascular Impact of COVID-19

Enterprise viewers are designed to provide fast and easy access to a patient’s imaging history, and today’s modern healthcare systems require a clinical viewer capable of meeting the diverse needs of a large group of users. GE Healthcare’s Zero Footprint Viewer can quickly and easily display digital images, video clips and cine loops from any department and on many different devices.

It provides access to images and reports from anywhere, whether it’s on the hospital floor, in surgery, in clinic or at home, to allow clinicians to access and develop clinical insights that deliver patient results and drive operational efficiencies.

Learn more at https://www.gehealthcare.com/products/healthcare-it/enterprise-imaging/centricity-universal-viewer-zero-footprint

Advanced visualization company Medis recently purchased Advanced Medical Imaging Development S.r.l. (AMID), which developed software to automatically track and measure strain in echocardiograms. That technology is now being adapted for strain imaging in CT and MRI. Using this imaging data, the software also can noninvasively derive pressure gradient loops and curves, similar to using invasive pulmonary arterial (PA) hemodynamic pressure catheters. This information is useful in monitoring critically ill patients on hemodynamic support and to monitor worsening severity of heart failure. 

The technology was discussed at the 2020 Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) virtual meeting. Examples of this technology are presented in this video. 
 

Find more news and video from SCCT 2020

VIDEO: Photon Counting Detectors Will be the Next Major Advance in Computed Tomography
 

Todd Villines, M.D., FACC, FAHA, MSCCT, said photon counting CT detectors were a key new technology discussed at the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) 2020 virtual meeting. He said the technology will likely replace conventional CT detectors in the next decade.

These new detectors also can take a single scan and bin the various energies to reconstruct a range of mono-energtic scan renderings similar to dual-energy CT, but on a wider spectrum of kV levels. This spectral aspect of photon counting also allows material decomposition based on the chemical elements that make up various materials in the scan, including calcium and metals that make up stents, orthopedic implants and replacement heart valves. This enables easier, automated removal of metal blooming artifacts and the ability to clearly image inside calcified arteries.

Villines is the Julian Ruffin Beckwith Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Virginia, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cardiovascular CT (JCCT),  and SCCT past-president.

Other Key Trends and Technology at SCCT:

Top 9 Cardiovascular CT Studies in Past Year 

VIDEO: Increased Use of Cardiac CT During the COVID-19 Pandemic

VIDEO: Coronary Plaque Quantification Will Become Major Risk Assessment

VIDEO: Key Cardiac CT Papers Presented at SCCT 2020

VIDEO: Artificial Intelligence to Automate CT Calcium Scoring and Radiomics

Low-attenuation Coronary Plaque Burden May Become Next Big Cardiac Risk Assessment

Impact of Cardiac CT During COVID-19

Todd Villines, M.D., FACC, FAHA, MSCCT, explains how coronary plaque assessment will become a new risk assessment tool in cardiac CT. This was a key take away during the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) 2020 virtual meeting in July. He is the Julian Ruffin Beckwith Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Virginia; editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cardiovascular CT (JCCT), and SCCT past-president. 

While basic plaque assessments have been available for several years on CT vendor and third-party advanced visualization software, it lacked automation standardization for what various values meant and clinical evidence it was relevant. However, several speakers in SCCT sessions said that is now changing, with more specific analysis being tested clinically and automation using artificial intelligence. 

Several key opinion leaders in cardiac CT said this new information and automation will likely lead to a revision of the current CAD-RADS scoring system used by radiologists and cardiologists when assessing the coronary event risk of patients. They are calling for the new CAD-RADS 2.0 to include a detailed plaque assessment.  

Related SCCT Key Trends and New Technology Content:

Low-attenuation Coronary Plaque Burden May Become Next Big Cardiac Risk Assessment

Top 9 Cardiovascular CT Studies in Past Year 

VIDEO: Increased Use of Cardiac CT During the COVID-19 Pandemic

VIDEO: Key Cardiac CT Papers Presented at SCCT 2020

VIDEO: Photon Counting Detectors Will be the Next Major Advance in Computed Tomography

VIDEO: Artificial Intelligence to Automate CT Calcium Scoring and Radiomics 

Impact of Cardiac CT During COVID-19
 

Richard Botto, CVT, RCSA, chief cardiovascular technologist, division of cardiology, cardiac cath lab, offers an overview of the interventional catheterization laboratories at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. 

Botto also explains the latest hybrid cath lab completed in 2018. The state-of-the-art Cath Lab Room 3, licensed as a hybrid operating room, is used by Tufts interventionalists and surgeons to perform some of the most advanced therapeutic procedures, including transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), MitraClip mitral valve leaflet repairs and acute mechanical circulatory support procedures. Two babies also were delivered in this room due to extremely high-risk pregnancies. Tufts is the only facility in Boston to have a fully-functional operating room geographically located within the cardiac catheterization laboratory. 
 

Additional Videos From Tufts Medical Center:

VIDEO: Tufts Uses a Hemodynamic Support Algorithm to Determine What Devices to Use

VIDEO: Overview of the Structural Heart Program at Tufts Medical Center

VIDEO: Tufts Medical Center Spearheads Innovation With its Preclinical Cath Lab

VIDEO: Developing a Heart Failure Care Team

VIDEO: Overview of the TAVR Program at Tufts Medical Center

Additional videos and articles on Tufts Medical Center Channel

Interview with Geoffrey Rose, M.D., president of Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute with Atrium Health, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a board member with the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE). He explains the impact of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) on the cardiovascular service line and cardiac imaging. He said the virus has led to use of computed tomography (CT) not only as the frontline cardiovascular imaging modality to evaluate chest pain, but also for COVID-19 pneumonia imaging.

Rose said cardiac ultrasound is still used, but requires full personal protective equipment (PPE) and often abbreviated exams because of the close proximity of the sonographer and patient when performing echocardiograms. This has given rise to using dedicated point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) systems to answer specific clinical questions quickly. Smart-phone based POCUS systems that use an app and a transducer plugged into the phone enable basic echo exams or evaluation of other parts of the anatomy quickly without the need to immediately sterilize an entire cart-based ultrasound system. These small systems also can be completely enclosed inside a transducer sheath and the phone and single transducer are much easier and faster to wipe down. He said the quality of the exams are not as good as fully enabled echocardiography systems, but it allows for quick assessments of ejection fractions and to triage if the patient needs more advanced imaging if the basic questions cannot be answered.

Since hospitals have shut down now for about two months, postponing normal checkups, and elective exams and procedures, Rose said doctors still need to visit with patients who have chronic conditions. Sanger and Atrium Heath modified its ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR) and is using video conferencing to perform virtual appointments now for the majority of these patients. He said telemedicine was not widely used before COVID-19 in his hospital system, but the pandemic will likely alter the care model for the future, with more telemedicine visits being used even after epidemic is over. He said use of POCUS and CT as frontline cardiac imaging modalities will also likely remain in place after the pandemic because of the efficiencies in care these technologies offer.

Related Coronavirus Content:

VIDEO: Imaging COVID-19 With Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Cardiac Imaging Best Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic

RSNA Publishes COVID-19 Best Practices for Radiology Departments

ASE Guidelines for the Protection of Echocardiography Providers During the COVID-19 Outbreak
 

New CT Scoring Criteria for Timely Diagnosis, Treatment of Coronavirus Disease

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