Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP Dr. Brian McDonough is joined by Dr. Mark Zucker, Director of the Cardiothoracic Transplantation Program at RWJBH/Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, and his HCM patient and founder of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association, Lisa Salberg, to discuss her inspiring story and the importance of early diagnosis. 

Focus on Heart Health

Living with Heart Disease: How a Patient Gave Her Diagnosis Meaning

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: Bob Mitchell Quite suddenly, Bob Mitchell became very sick. He would endure three near-fatal episodes of ventricular tachycardia due to a heart muscle comprised of 54% scar tissue, as well as heart surgeries, two harrowing months of waiting on the transplant list for a new heart on life-supporting IV drips (during which time a malignant tumor was detected in his kidney), partial nephrectomy surgery to remove the cancer, another month of waiting, a 12-hour heart and kidney transplant surgery, and 100 days on life support in four different hospitals. Host Dr. Maurice Pickard talks with novelist Bob Mitchell, author of Time for a Heart-to-Heart: Reflections on Life in the Face of Death about his inspiring story of the triumph of hope in the face of the direst of circumstances.

Time for a Heart-to-Heart: Reflections of Life on the Transplant List

Host: John J. Russell, MD Guest: Thomas Doyle, MD About 40,000 babies are born with Congenital Heart Disease each year, making it one of the most common birth defects and causes of infant death in the US. CHD is usually present at birth but shows very few outward signs and, in most cases has no known cause or origin. New and evolving surgical techniques, along with the dawn of pediatric heart transplant, are transforming the field of pediatric cardiology and offer new options for CHD patients. Host Dr. John Russell talks with Dr. Thomas Doyle about how continued research, improved surgical treatments and, emerging technology have altered the course of treatment for CHD, resulting in approximately 69% of children with CHD now living to age 18. Dr. Thomas Doyle is the Ann and Monroe Carell Jr. Family Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Doyle was a 2016 Project Heart CHD research grant recipient. 

Heart of the Matter: Emerging Treatment Options for Congenital Heart Disease

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO Guest: Robert Carey, MD, FAHA Under the 2017 Hypertension Guidelines, 46 percent of U.S. adults have high blood pressure which is up from 32 percent under the old benchmark. This interview covers the key information physicians need to know from the new guidelines in order to improve blood pressure control rates. Host Dr. Jennifer Caudle talks with Dr. Robert Carey, vice chair of the 2017 hypertension guidelines about the new recommendations and their impact on clinical practice. The American Medical Association's M.A.P. framework and blood pressure improvement program is dedicated to helping health care providers improve blood pressure control in their adult patient populations, and a new AMA resource can help you succeed in Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) while you manage and treat high blood pressure. This resource outlines the different measures that relate to hypertension management in each MIPS performance category, potential MIPS score results, and related AMA resources that can help you improve the health of your patients with hypertension while checking all your MIPS boxes along the way. Please click here to access the New AMA resource pairs BP quality improvement with MIPS The ...

What to Know About the Latest Recommended Guidelines for High Blood Pressure in Adults

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO Guest: Paul Whelton, MB, MD, MSc, FAHA Under the 2017 Hypertension Guidelines, 46 percent of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, which is up from 32 percent under the old benchmark. This interview covers the key information physicians need to know from the new guidelines in order to improve blood pressure control rates. Host Dr. Jennifer Caudle chats with Dr. Paul Whelton, chair of the 2017 blood pressure guidelines writing committee, about how the new guidelines will affect patients. The American Medical Association's M.A.P. framework and blood pressure improvement program is dedicated to helping health care providers improve blood pressure control in their adult patient populations, and a new AMA resource can help you succeed in Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) while you manage and treat high blood pressure. This resource outlines the different measures that relate to hypertension management in each MIPS performance category, potential MIPS score results, and related AMA resources that can help you improve the health of your patients with hypertension while checking all your MIPS boxes along the way. Please click here to access the New AMA resource pairs BP quality improvement with MIPS The views, information, or ...

How the Latest Hypertension Guidelines Will Change Your Practice

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO Guest: Karol Watson, MD, PhD Under the 2017 Hypertension Guidelines, 46 percent of U.S. adults have high blood pressure which is up from 32 percent under the old benchmark. This interview covers the key information physicians need to know from the new guidelines in order to improve blood pressure control rates. Host Dr. Jennifer Caudle is joined by Dr. Karol Watson, an attending cardiologist and a Professor of Medicine/Cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Watson is a principal investigator for several large National Institutes of Health research studies, including the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. She reacts to the new guidelines and reflects on what these changes could mean to patients. The American Medical Association's M.A.P. framework and blood pressure improvement program is dedicated to helping health care providers improve blood pressure control in their adult patient populations, and a new AMA resource can help you succeed in Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) while you manage and treat high blood pressure. This resource outlines the different measures that relate to hypertension management in each MIPS performance category, potential MIPS score results, and related AMA resources that can help you improve the health of ...

How Hypertension Guidelines Changes Are Impacting Our Patients

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Guest: Denise Devine What if there was a way to monitor vital signs in real time? Denise Devine, Co-Founder of RTM Vital Signs, LLC, is working on just that. She is joined by Dr. Matt Birnholz at the Villanova Health Summit to discuss this innovative technology in development, which opens up the possibility of collecting continuous health data from patients to enhance point-of-care treatments. 

Toward Instantaneous Care: Real-Time Monitoring of Vital Signs

Host: Barnett Mennen, MD Guest: Grace Wang, MD, FACS Unclogging patient arteries is a key step to preventing stroke in patients with arterial disease. Whether it be preventing the operative stage, or surgery itself, advances in treatment at Penn Medicine are seeking to lessen the effects of arterial disease. Host Dr. Barry Mennen welcomes Dr. Grace Wang, vascular surgeon and Director of the Vascular Laboratory at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wang highlights the importance of early detection in arterial disease, as well as the symptoms and risk factors of the disease. She will also discuss the current and upcoming surgical intervention options at Penn Medicine. 

Unclog the Arteries: Treatment Options for Arterial Disease

Host: Alan S. Brown, MD, FNLA Live from the Clinical Lipid Update of the National Lipid Association in Amelia Island, FL, host Dr. Alan Brown welcomes Dr. Robert Kloner, Vice President of Translation at Huntington Medical Research Institutes and Professor of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division of Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Dr. Kloner discusses the cardiovascular risk factors associated with erectile dysfunction, safety and efficacy of erectile disfunction drugs, and benefits vs risks of supplementing with testosterone. 

Treating Erectile Dysfunction: Key Cardiovascular Considerations

Host: Alan S. Brown, MD, FNLA Live from the Clinical Lipid Update of the National Lipid Association in Amelia Island, FL, host Dr. Alan Brown welcomes Dr. Rhoda Cooper-DeHoff. Dr. Cooper-DeHoff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research and Division of Cardiovascular Medicine of the Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine at the University of Florida. She is also Associate Director of the Center for Pharmacogenomics at this institution. Dr. Cooper-DeHoff discusses the rise of pharmacometabolomics, genomic testing, and pharmacogenetic testing in lipidology, with particular emphasis on predictive mapping for statin responses. 

Pharmacometabolomics to Predict Statin Response: Ready for Prime Time?

Host: Alan S. Brown, MD, FNLA Live from the Clinical Lipid Update of the National Lipid Association in Amelia Island, FL, host Dr. Alan Brown welcomes Dave Dixon, PharmD, Clinical Pharmacist and Associate Professor of Pharmacology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy. Dr. Dixon is also a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist, Clinical Lipid Specialist, and Fellow of the National Lipid Association. He serves as a Regional Representative for the Southeast Chapter of NLA and on the Journal of Clinical Lipidology Editorial Board. Dr. Dixon discusses guidelines for treating hypertriglyceridemia, effective therapies for reducing triglyceride levels, and emerging lipid-lowering therapies in development. 

Triglyceride-Lowering Therapies: Addressing Gaps in the Guidelines

Host: Alan S. Brown, MD, FNLA Live from the Clinical Lipid Update of the National Lipid Association in Amelia Island, FL, host Dr. Alan Brown welcomes Dr. Eugenia Gianos. Dr. Gianos is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and co-clinical director of the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at the NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Gianos discusses the effectiveness, potential side effects, and patient outcomes with PCSK9 antibodies for management of dyslipidemia.

PCSK9 Antibodies for Dyslipidemia: Efficacy, Safety, and Non-Lipid Effects

[Read the Article] The FDA recently approved a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors. These new medications could substantially reduce heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths, however they are very expensive. A new study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of this therapy and how increased use might affect the U.S. healthcare system. Researchers from the University of California San Francisco used a simulation model that included all U.S. adults 35 and older and evaluated outcomes such as expected numbers of deaths due to cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and strokes, and balanced this with the cost and potential benefits of these drugs. With an estimated 9 million people eligible for this therapy and a price of $14,000 per patient per year, researchers estimated that total prescription drugs expenditures could increase by 40 percent. In order to be cost-effective, the PCSK9 inhibitor costs would have to come down to about $4,000 a year. [Watch more videos of The JAMA Report]

New Medication for High Cholesterol Not Cost-Effective

[Read the Article] Patients who might benefit from a heart valve replacement but are too ill for open heart surgery can sometimes undergo a less invasive procedure known as transcatheter aortic valve implantation or "TAVI". About 10% of patients undergoing TAVI can experience small strokes and related brain injury as a complication. A new study found that the use of a cerebral protection device, which captures debris dislodged from blood vessels during the TAVI procedure, reduced the number and volume of brain lesions seen on MRI. Researchers from the University of Leipzig Heart Center, Germany studied 100 patients with an average age of 80 who underwent TAVI. Half of the patients received the cerebral protection device and the other half did not. Patients underwent brain MRIs before the implantation and again at 2 and at 7 days after the procedure. The results found that using the filter device helped to decrease the number of brain lesions seen in the brain by about half. [Watch more videos of The JAMA Report]

Device Reduces Risk of Brain Injury After Heart Valve Replacement

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO Guest: Francis Marchlinski, MD Host Dr. Jennifer Caudle welcomes Dr. Francis E. Marchlinski, Richard T. and Angela Clark President's Distinguished Professor and Director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Marchlinski will review the epidemiology of PVCs, the kinds of problems that PVCs can cause, and how these problems manifest as symptoms in patients. He will also review the effectiveness of catheter ablation as a current treatment option for ventricular tachycardia (VT), a potenially serious complication of PVC's.

PVC Ablation Procedures for Ventricular Tachycardia

In this special series, ReachMD examines the reasons behind the dropping rates of death from heart disease: more effective medications, smarter technologies, more efficient treatment guidelines and much more.

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Focus on Heart Health

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