Interview with Andrew D. Krahn, M.D., FHRS, head of the division of cardiology at St. Paul’s Hospital, and professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is also vice president of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS). He moderated the late-breaking sessions at 2020 HRS virtual meeting and explains the highlights of the new technologies and data presented. 

Technologies include a nasal spray to stop supraventricular tachycardia, pulsed field ablation technology that may offer improvement over current technology, subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD) technology performing as well as traditional transvenous lead ICDs, contact force sensing ablation improves outcomes, use of smart watches to help atrial fibrillation patients adhere to oral anticoagulation therapy, and the first pacemaker to interface with the patient's smart phone.

Watch another interview with Krahn in the VIDEO: Insights Into How HRS Organized its Virtual Meeting.

Find a complete list of the Heart Rhythm 2020 meeting late-breaking studies with links to articles on each.

Find more news and video from the Heart Rhythm Society.
 

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.

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

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Ehtisham Mahmud, M.D., FSCAI, president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) and chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at UC San Diego Medical Center, explains the SCAI precaution guidelines for treating patients in the cath lab under the COVID-19 pandemic.

He explains the how cardiology departments in the U.S. are operating to treat acute patients during novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) containment efforts. 

The guidelines are outlined in the document "Considerations for Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Procedures During the COVID‐19 Pandemic" can be accessed online in the SCAI journal Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.[1]

Other Impact of COVID-19 on Cardiology Content:

How to Manage AMI Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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

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

VIDEO: Multiple Cardiovascular Presentations of COVID-19 in New York — Interview with Justin Fried, M.D.

Image Gallery Showing Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

ACC COVID-19 Clinical Guidance For the Cardiovascular Care Team

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

Rapid Drop in Heart Attacks and Stroke at Hospitals Concerns ACC 

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

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

The Cardiac Implications of Novel Coronavirus

VIDEO: What Cardiologists Need to Know about COVID-19 — Interview with Thomas Maddox, M.D.

Reference:

1. Molly Szerlip  Saif Anwaruddin  Herbert D. Aronow, et al. Considerations for Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Procedures During the COVID‐19 Pandemic Perspectives from the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Emerging Leader Mentorship (SCAI ELM) Members and Graduates. Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions. First published:25 March 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/ccd.28887.

Ehtisham Mahmud, M.D., FSCAI, president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) and chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at UC San Diego Medical Center, explains the new American College of Cardiology (ACC) and SCAI precaution guidelines for treating transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) patients in the cath lab during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He explains recommendations for how structural heart programs can continue to treat acutely ill patients during novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) containment efforts. The key message in the guidelines is to defer patients who can wait until containemnt efforts loosen in the coming months, while acute patients who are very sick should be treated.

The guidelines are outlined in the document "Triage Considerations for Patients Referred for Structural Heart Disease Intervention During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) Pandemic: An ACC /SCAI Consensus Statement." can be accessed online in the SCAI journal Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.[1]

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

First Large-scale U.S. Study on Hydroxychloroquine COVID-19 Prophylaxis Begins in Detroit

New York City Physicians Note Multiple Cardiovascular Presentations of COVID-19

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

ACC COVID-19 recommendations for the cardiovascular care team

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The Cardiac Implications of Novel Coronavirus

Reference:

1. Pinak B. Shah, Frederick G.P. Welt, Ehtisham Mahmud, et al. Triage Considerations for Patients Referred for Structural Heart Disease Intervention During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) Pandemic: An ACC /SCAI Consensus Statement. Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions. First published:06 April 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/ccd.28910.

Basel Ramlawi, M.D., chairman of The Heart and Vascular Center at Valley Health System in Virginia, director of the Advanced Valve and Aortic Center, and co-principal investigator for an American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2020 Scientific Session late-breaking trial that looks at the clinical implications of TAVR in patients who have bicuspid aortic valve leaflets offers an overview of the data from ACC.20.

Patients with bicuspid, or two-leaflet, aortic valves who undergo transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures had a high rate of success and low risk of death or disabling stroke at 30 days, according to new data presented at the ACC 2020. The session was part of the virtual, online late-breaking presentations, since the live meeting was cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19. 

TAVR has become increasingly popular in recent years as a less-invasive alternative to open-heart valve replacement surgery. However, few studies have examined its safety in patients with a bicuspid valve, a genetic variation of the aortic valve in some patients, rather than the typic three-leaflet valve. The condition affecting roughly 2-5 percent of people in which two of the three flaps in the aortic valve are fused together.

A bicuspid valve is more likely to become stenosis. Valve replacement, either through TAVR or open-heart surgery, is the main treatment option available for people with severe aortic stenosis, which causes fatigue and other symptoms and raises the risk of other heart problems when left untreated. The new study is the first to prospectively examine TAVR’s safety for treating severe aortic stenosis in relatively young, healthy patients—in whom open-heart surgery would pose a low risk—who have a bicuspid valve. It also is one of the first studies involving such patients in which doctors used a newer self-expanding artificial valve.

“This clearly has clinical implications with patients with bicuspid valves who want TAVR," said Basel Ramlawi, M.D., cardiothoracic surgeon at Valley Health System in Virginia and the study’s co-principal investigator. "TAVR with a self-expanding prosthesis is a very viable and safe procedure in low-risk bicuspid patients and achieved excellent early results. Though additional follow-up is necessary to determine long-term outcomes, early results suggest this procedure can be performed successfully in low-risk individuals with a good outcome.” 

The study prospectively tracked 150 patients who underwent TAVR at 25 medical centers in the U.S. 

Read the aricle on the study

Find more ACC news and video

An interview with Ehtisham Mahmud, M.D., FSCAI, chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, executive director of medicine, Cardiovascular Institute, director of  interventional cardiology and cardiac cath lab at UC San Diego Medical Center, and president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI). He explains the how cardiology departments in the U.S. are now postponing cardiovascular procedures due to novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) containment efforts and new guidelines from Medicare calling for delay of all elective procedures in the country. 

Mahmud explains how patients are being prioritized, with acute myocardial infarction patients or others with acute, life-threatening conditions, or at high risk for a near term hospital admission, will still receive cardiac catheterizations, cardiovascular surgery or structural heart procedures for MitraClip and transcatheter aortic replacement (TAVR) under certain circumstances. All other procedures are being postponed until further notice based in the spread and infection rates of COVID-19. He said most hospitals, including his own, are moving to telehealth visits via phone or online to continue clinic work with patients, including those with chronic conditions such as heart failure.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced March 18, 2020, that all elective surgeries, and non-essential medical, surgical and dental procedures should be delayed during the coronavirus outbreak. This move is three-fold. 
   1. It is to help with containment efforts by reducing patient and family travel to hospitals, which are at the center of the COVID-19 outbreak. 
   2. Delaying procedures will help preserve and inventory of personal protective equipment (PPE), hospital beds and ventilators and other medical supplies. 
   3. With the start of social distancing and the shut down of all large gatherings, this has severely impacted blood drives and other blood donations, so the nation's blood banks have severely limited supplies.

“The reality is clear and the stakes are high — we need to preserve personal protective equipment for those on the front lines of this fight,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.

This will not only preserve equipment but also free up the healthcare workforce to care for the patients who are most in need. Additionally, as states and the nation as a whole work toward limiting the spread of COVID-19, healthcare providers should encourage patients to remain home, unless there is an emergency, to protect others while also limiting their exposure to the virus. 

Read Mahmud's SCAI President's letter The Evolving Pandemic of COVID-19 and Interventional Cardiology

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Additional COVID-19 Resources for Clinicians:

   ACC COVID-19 Hub page   

   Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center with inteavtive map of cases in U.S. and worldwide 

   World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 situation reports

   World Health Organization (WHO) coronavirus information page

   U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) COVID-19 information page

   Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 information page

   Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) for healthcare providers regarding COVID-19 related payments
 

DAIC/ITN Editor Dave Fornell takes a tour of some of the most innovative new medical imaging technologies displayed on the expo floor at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2019 meeting. 

Technology examples include a robotic arm to perform remote ultrasound exams, integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to speed or automate radiology workflow, holographic medical imaging display screens, a new glassless digital radiography (DR) X-ray detector, augmented reality for transesophageal echo (TEE) training, moving DR X-ray images, 3-D printed surgical implants created from a patient's CT imaging, DR X-ray tomosynthesis datasets, radiation dose management and analytics software, and new computed tomography (CT) technologies.

Find more videos and news from RSNA 2019

James Carr, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, and incoming 2020 President of the Society of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (SCMR), explains why MRI is an ideal cardiac imaging modality, at the 2019 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting.

Heart MRI offers advantages over computed tomography (CT) and echocardiography because of its excellent soft tissue delineation and its ability to offer information beyond anatomical imaging, such as perfusion, morphology and metabolism. MRI can be technically challenging and the exams requiring a long time, but recent advances have helped cur cardiac imaging times down significantly. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) also is making post-processing and quantification mush faster, brining it closer to the time it takes to scan and post-process CT imaging.

Northwestern is was one of the early adopters of cardiovascular MRI. Carr said heart MRI was not common in regular clinical use until the past decade at some luminary centers. In 2005, Carr was given the opportunity to develop a clinical cardiac MRI program at Northwestern.
 
He said MRI scanners have improved, and now much faster than a decade ago. They are also more optimized for cardiac imaging. While heart MRI is well known in large hospital centers, Carr said it still needs to develop and expand to community hospitals and rural hospitals outside major population centers. 

Artificial intelligence is playing a significant role in cardiac MRI automation of speeding workflow and quantification. Carr said these technologies will become mainstream in the next few years. AI also will play an increasing role in risk prediction based on new image analysis algorithms in development.

For more information on cardiac MRI, visit SCMR's website www.heartmri.org.

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This is an example of an augmented reality (AR) training system for transesophageal echo (TEE) created by the simulation company CAE. Rather than just looking at an overhead screen, this system allows the user to use a HoloLens visor to see the impact their probe manipulation has on the imaging and better shows the orientation of the ultrasound probe, the 2-D ultrasound image slice and the relation to the anatomy. It was displayed at the 2019 Radiological Society Of North America (RSNA) meeting.

Read more about this technology.

Find more technology news and video from the RSNA meeting

Rob Beanlands, M.D., FASNC, 2019 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) president, shares a couple trends he sees in cardiac nuclear imaging. He is the Vered Chair and division head of cardiology and director of the National Cardiac PET Centre at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada.

He said overall trends he sees in nuclear cardiology include the use of better myocardial reserve quantification so it is clear whether revascularization would help patients. Beanlands also said there is increasing interest in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging because of its superior image quality and increasing access to PET radiotracers. New tracers on the horizon will also increase the image quality and flexibility of PET to accommodate exercise stress.

He spoke on artificial intelligence (AI) development for medical imaging in sessions at the 2019 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) annual meeting. 

Robert C. Hendel, M.D., explains some of the new cardiac radiotracers in the pipeline that were discussed in sessions at the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) 2019 meeting. Hendel is a professor of medicine and radiology and the Sidney W. And Marilyn S. Lassen Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine, Tulane University. He also serves as the chief of the section of cardiology and director of the Tulane University Heart and Vascular Institute. 

He outlined three new radiotracers that may impact cardiac imaging:

   • Flurpiridaz F-18 PET perfusion agent that offers high quality images and can be used with exercise stress;

   • MIBG imaging to help better assess heart failure classes and if patients may need an ICD;

   • New F-18 agents to image cardiac amyloidosis; and

   • Nuclear agents to enable annexin imaging, allowing direct vsualization of myocardial apoptotic cells.

Clyde Yancy, M.D., MSc, cardiology chief and vice dean for diversity and inclusion at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, was a keynote speaker at the 2019 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) annual meeting. He said the traditional biases of seeing a patient and automatically making clinical assumptions because they are a certain race or gender are obsolete. For example, he said not all black patients have hypertension. Yancy added that genetics, especially with racial intermarriage over the past several generations, no longer predisposes patients to what is typically assumed for certain ethnic or racial backgrounds.

Yancy also said new research is showing how diet plays a major role in patient health and disease progression for things previously thought to be based on genetics. This includes the people who live in "food deserts" in urban areas where there are no sources of fresh food and vegetables, so they consume large amounts of packaged and processed foods that contain high levels of salt, phosphates and preservatives. He said these chemicals and diet may be the root cause of hypertension and diabetes in black populations in low income areas, rather than genetics as previously thought.

Related Content: 

VIDEO: Reducing Hypertension Among African-Americans — Interview with Kim Allan Williams, Sr., M.D.

VIDEO: Use of Plant-Based Diet to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk — Interview with Kim Allan Williams, Sr., M.D.

VIDEO: New PLATINUM Diversity Data Shows Early DAPT Cessation OK in Minorities With New Generation Stent — Interview with Roxana Mehran, M.D., 

Ashish Pershad, M.D., chief of interventional cardiology, Banner University Medical Center, Phoenix, explains the trend of using closure devices to seal larger vascular access sites from the use of TAVR, EVAR, TMVR and hemodynamic support devices at the 2019 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting. He was one of the moderators on a session on this topic at TCT 2019.

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Jeffrey J. Popma, M.D., director of interventional cardiology clinical services at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, explains the results of the PROTECT II and the new PROTECT III Study at the 2019 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting. PROTECT III is the follow up to PROTECT II RCT and the largest-ever FDA study of hemodynamically supported, high-risk PCI patients. 

He discusses the PROTECT II and PROTECT III studies, and real-life patient data from the Impella IQ Database. 

Find more news and videos from TCT 2019

Ajay J. Kirtane, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories at NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Hospital, shares the findings of the late-breaking EVOLVE Short DAPT study presented as a late-breaking trial at the 2019 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting. It evaluated the safety of early dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) discontinuation in patients with high bleeding risk treated with the a Boston Scientific Synergy bioabsorbable polymer coated drug-eluting stent (DES).

With the advancement of new DES technologies using thinner struts and new types of drug-carrier polymer techniques, the risk of late-stent thrombosis has been greatly reduced, meaning there is less need for long-term DAPT. For patients who are at high risk for bleeding, who have ulcers or other types of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, or those going into surgery, it would be beneficial to reduce the time period for DAPT, and several late-breaking trials examined this at TCT 2019.
 

Here are the other late-breaking DAPT studies:

• TWILIGHT: A Randomized Trial of Ticagrelor Monotherapy vs Ticagrelor Plus Aspirin Beginning at 3 Months in High-risk Patients Undergoing PCI. 
• Onyx ONE: A Randomized Trial of a Durable-Polymer Drug-Eluting Stent vs a Polymer-Free Drug-Coated Stent in Patients at High Risk of Bleeding Treated With 1-Month DAPT. 
• IDEAL-LM: A Randomized Trial of a Bioabsorbable Polymer DES With 4-Month DAPT vs a Durable Polymer DES With 12-Month DAPT in Patients With Left Main Coronary Artery Disease. 
• MODEL U-SES: A Single Arm Study of 3-Month DAPT in Patients at High Bleeding Risk Treated A Bioabsorbable Polymer-Based Sirolimus-Eluting Stent. 
• AUGUSTUS ACS: A 2 × 2 Factorial Randomized Trial of Apixaban vs Warfarin and Aspirin vs Placebo in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and an Acute Coronary Syndrome. 
• TWILIGHT: Thrombogenicity Substudy: Impact of Ticagrelor Alone vs Ticagrelor Plus Aspirin on Ex-Vivo Blood Thrombogenicity in High-Risk Patients Undergoing PCI. 

Find more news and videos from TCT 2019

Torsten Vahl, M.D., director of experimental and translational research, Structural Heart and Valve Center and at the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, explains the current state of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of TAVR in all surgical risk patient categories. Europe also cleared the use of the Sapien 3 device for low risk patients in November 2019.

He spoke on TAVR at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2019 meeting. In August 2019, the FDA cleared the use of TAVR in all surgical risk classes of patients using the Edwards Sapien 3 and Medtronic CoreValve devices. This means the heart team made up of a cardiac surgeon, interventional cardiologist and cardiac imaging specialist can determine if surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) or TAVR should be used. It is widely expected TAVR use will rapidly rise in the next five years to take over 50 to 70 percent of the aortic valve replacement procedural volume. It is expected surgical volumes will drop to about 20 percent of patients who do not qualify for TAVR because of anatomic issues or other variables that make SAVR a safer option.

Related Transcatheter Valve Content:

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Recent Advances in Transcatheter Valve Technology

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How to Perform Transcaval TAVR Access

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Advances in Heart Valve Technology in 2017

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VIDEO: Conscious Sedation for TAVR Procedures — Interview with Mario Goessl, M.D.

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Advances and Future Directions for Transcatheter Valves

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Chandan Devireddy, M.D., offers insights about what he saw as the top take aways from the 2019 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) annual meeting. He is cath lab director at Emory University Hospital Midtown, associate professor of medicine of interventional cardiology at Emory University, and chairperson for the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Communications Committee. 

Devireddy said his key take aways from TCT 2019 were:

   • The poor results of the Boston Scientific Acurate Neo self-explaining TAVR system compared to the current devices on the U.S. market;

   • Results of the Abbott Portico TAVR system;

   • Levant Trial shows no increased mortality due to use of a paclitaxel-coated balloon; and

   • CT study of TAVR valve leaflet thrombosis.

Find more TCT late-breaking news and video

A discussion with William O'Neill, M.D., director of the structural heart program, Henry Ford Hospital, and Michele Voeltz, M.D., fellowship program director, interventional cardiology, explaining their process for selecting various levels of hemodynamic support.

Henry Ford Hospital also helped spearhead the Detroit Cardiogenic Shock Initiative that morphed into the National Cardiogenic Shock Initiative using these same protocols. Watch an interview with O'Neill explaining the national initiative.

Additional articles and videos on Henry Ford Hospital 

(Editor's note - this video was originally published in September 2018 and was revised September 2019)

This is a quick video example of a cardiac computed tomography (CT) exam showing a Medtronic CoreValve transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) device implanted. The image was reconstructed using Canon Medical’s Global Illumination photo-realistic rendering advanced visualization post-processing software. Vendors who offer this realistic type of CT image rendering say it is not used for diagnostics. However, the technology can be helpful when explaining things to the patient and their family, educating physicians and staff, and for surgeons, since it offers a realistic view of the anatomy that is easier for most people to understand who are not familiar with cardiac anatomy as it appears in traditional CT multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) images. 

This example of software was demonstrated on the expo floor at the 2019 Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) meeting.