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American College of Cardiology 2015 Annual Meeting: Simon Dack Lecture: “I Carry Your Heart” by Abraham Verghese, MD

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

VIEW VIDEOS

“I Carry Your Heart” by Abraham Verghese, MD

http://acc.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/992dfd2c57a141e1870463974b5a8c3b1d

Bob Harrington’s ACC: Poetry, PROMISE, and PEGASUS

Robert Harrington, MD, Stanford University

March 24, 2015

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/841816

Abraham Verghese: Hope for Hands-on Medicine in the EMR Era

John M. Mandrola, MD, Abraham Verghese, MD

April 06, 2015

Editor’s Note: At the opening session of the 2015 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions in March, theSimon Dack lecture ^[1] by Abraham Verghese, MD, was titled, “I Carry Your Heart,” after an ee cummings poem. In addressing cardiologists, the best-selling author and physician noted that the words of the poem define what “heart” means outside of a meeting like this. John M. Mandrola, MD, sat down with Dr Verghese to discuss hands-on medicine and training the next generation of clinicians.

Dr Abraham Verghese and Dr John Mandrola

Dr Mandrola: A few years ago, my wife suggested that I read Cutting for Stone. I was really moved by it. It got me excited again about being a doctor. About using my stethoscope—really using it. Listening. Similarly, in your Simon Dack lecture, you raised the notion of two hearts: The real heart is the spiritual heart, and then there is the companion heart, the ejection-fraction heart for which we have all kinds of data. Can you explain what you mean?

Dr Verghese: It strikes me that we have the somewhat paternalistic assumption that the heart we’re dealing with is the real one because we can see it and measure it, but who is to say? I think that they’re all metaphors. Even ejection fraction is a metaphor. It’s clear that the prevailing heart out there isn’t the one that you and I deal with. The prevailing heart is very much the way patients express their deepest feelings. It’s where they think their beliefs and their love reside. I always had the sense that we’re dealing with two hearts. To focus on one without paying attention to the other is to miss something.

Dr Mandrola: I was at a recent conference where a specialist in cardiac neurology was talking about the heart’s intrinsic nervous system. The heart can actually feel things through chemoreceptors—which is nifty. I have come to believe, especially in heart rhythm care, that we humans are all connected. Would you agree with that?

Dr Verghese: I would agree with that. We may get to a point where our knowledge will finally show us that it really is one heart, but certainly the way we approach it professionally is that there are two hearts. There’s a mechanical heart that we fool with, and then there’s the way the patients use the word “heart,” which we raise our eyebrows at. But maybe research will show that they’re really one and the same thing and that emotions deeply affect the heart in more ways than just rhythm. Maybe the heart truly is registering some of our deepest beliefs.

SOURCE

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/842296?src=wnl_edit_specol