CardioExchange Archive

Several Cardiology Fellows who are attending this week’s AHA meeting are blogging together on CardioExchange. The Fellows include Susan Cheng, Madhavi Reddy, John Ryan, and Amit Shah. Check back often to learn about the biggest buzz in Chicago this week — whether it’s a poster, a presentation, or the word in the hallways. You can read the preceding post here.

How do you get the most out of the always-interesting technology exhibits at AHA? I am told that in times past, there were countless gifts. With today’s regulations, pharmaceutical companies are restricted from handing out significant presents. However, I always find it entertaining to see cardiologists who earn six-figure salaries lining up for free cups of coffee and jump drives.

I did not expect to see a Nintendo station in the technology hall. I was even more surprised to learn that the Wii system was endorsed by American Heart Association. I since have learned that early on, the endorsement spawned some controversy. Having some downtime and an interest in videogames, I chose to check out the display. I used the skateboarding simulator which not only made me work up a sweat, but also counted the calories that I was losing while skateboarding around the AHA hall (in simulated format, of course). In reality, attending the AHA is not for the unfit. The conference center here in Chicago is so vast that many sessions appear to be separated by several city blocks.  One can get plenty of exercise before even entering the Nintendo station.

On our blog, Susan did an excellent job describing the findings of the heart failure studies that were presented yesterday and the discussions generated. Because we have common interests in heart failure, we both found these sessions insightful and inspiring. But does it not seem odd at times that the results of the late-breaking clinical trials have been released to the press several hours before the discussants present it to their peers? When Dr. Keith Aaronson was describing his group’s excellent study of the HeartWare HVAD, I already knew the results from an email I received earlier in the day. It is like knowing when you watched The Sixth Sense for the first time (spoiler alert) that Bruce Willis was already dead.

The RAFT study continues to suggest that CRT is applicable to more and more of our patients. This has created a lot of buzz among the attendees of the session, as it is clearly a relevant finding to general cardiologists, heart failure docs, and EPs.

But let’s pose another question to our readers — after going to these sessions, how soon do you change your practice? Obviously, some of this is governed by guidelines and coverage. But are you happy to alter your practice based on the presentations you see at AHA, or do you wait for the report to be formally published? In 2009, this was an area of controversy when some findings presented at the ESC for CURRENT OASIS 7  were discrepant with those in the published study. But this, by and large, is the exception.

So when are you going to start placing BiV-ICD in NYHA Class 2 patients? When are you going to open up the prescription pad and write down eplerenone? While you muse about that, I am off to play some more games on my AHA-endorsed Wii.