Cardiac Consult: A Cleveland Clinic Podcast for Healthcare Professionals

Steven Nissen, MD, Chairman of the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic discusses several highlights from the 2018 AHA meeting: a summary of the newly released 2018 Management of Blood Cholesterol Guidelines; the outcomes of the VITAL trial which studied vitamin D and Omega 3’s impact on primary prevention of CV or cancer events; REDUCE-IT, a trial looking at the use of EPAs in the prevention of heart disease; and last, the results of a phase II, placebo-controlled study directed at patients with high levels of Lp(a), treated with a new drug.

Dr. Steven Nissen discusses the challenges of treating patients with pericarditis with Dr. Allan Klein, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Pericardial Disease Center – including medication management, monitoring with inflammatory markers and advanced therapies.

Dr. Steven Nissen, Dr. Sagar Kalahasti, Director of the Marfan & Connective Tissue Clinic and Dr. Eric Roselli, Director of the Aorta Center discuss the clinical care of patients with aortic disease (aneurysm and dissection), addressing testing, genetic evaluation, monitoring, when to operate, types of surgeries available, surgical outcomes and a life-long approach to treatment.

Dr. Milind Desai describes the findings of a paper showing that a novel biomarker found through CTA: the perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI), measures coronary inflammation, and enhances cardiac risk/mortality prediction.

Dr. Luke Laffin, staff cardiologist in Preventive Cardiology and Clinical Specialist in Hypertension at Cleveland Clinic answers questions about hypertension management. He provides 5 main points clinicians need to know about fitting the hypertension guidelines into their daily practice and discusses tips for medication management, use of self-blood pressure monitoring and the role of lifestyle changes.

Dr. Steve Nissen, Chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic shares what you need to know from five impactful trials: ATTR, ARRIVE, ASCEND, AIMS and MITRA, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich.

Oussama Wazni, MD, Section Head, Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pacing and Bruce Lindsay MD, past Section Head and past president of Heart Rhythm Society discusses the challenges and findings from the CABANA trial and its implications on future clinical practice, when to offer ablation vs. medical management.

Dr. Steven Nissen is joined by interventional cardiologist Michael Lincoff, MD, Director of the Center for Clinical Research and Cleveland Clinic’s C5Research academic research organization, to share advice for physicians who want to get involved in research. They cover getting started, obtaining funding, following regulatory standards and making your research efforts a success.

Lars Svensson, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute, leads an informative and lively panel discussion about the opioid crisis with clinical experts in infectious disease, cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, bioethics and chemical dependency, as well as U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman.

Dr. Steven Nissen discusses the use of digital devices in clinical care and research as well as the benefits and caveats of managing devices with electrophysiologist Khaldoun Tarakji, MD, MPH, Director of the Heart & Vascular Institute’s Center for Digital Health Technologies.