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Posts Tagged ‘Texas Heart Institute’

Survivals Comparison of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) / Coronary Angioplasty

Larry H. Bernstein, MD, Writer
And
Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN, Curator

 

This is a summary of several studies, mostly reviewing one decade of work at Texas Heart Institute, Houston, TX.

Seminal treatments of the evolving methods, leading to a recent review of options for

  • Survival comparison of CABD vs PCI
  • Mitral valve repair or mitral valve replacement for the treatment of ischemic mitral regurgitation. This might further consolidate a series of articles in these chapters.

SOURCES

1. Bypass, Angioplasty Similar in Survival 10 Years After Heart Procedures, Survival Rates Differ Little. K Doheny. WebMD Health News   Oct. 15, 2007
3. Will Stent Revascularization Replace Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting? JM Wilson Tex Heart Inst J. 2012; 39(6): 856–859
4. Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery versus Coronary Stenting. Risk-Adjusted Survival Rates in 5,619 Patients. RP Villlareal,V-V Lee, MA Elayda, JM Wilson.  Tex Heart Inst J. 2002; 29(1): 3–9.
5. Should all ischemic mitral regurgitation be repaired? When should we replace?  DJ LaPar, IL Kron. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2011 March; 26(2): 113–117
6. Hybrid Cath Lab Combines Nonsurgical, Surgical Treatments

Bypass, Angioplasty Similar in Survival 10 Years After Heart Procedures

The survival rates 10 years after coronary artery bypass surgery and angioplasty are similar, according to a new analysis of nearly 10,000 heart patients. Five years after the procedures, 90.7% of the bypass patients and 89.7% of the angioplasty patients were still alive, says  Mark A. Hlatky, MD, senior author of the analysis and a professor of health research and policy and professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto.

Hlatky and colleagues stress that their analysis only applies to a select group of heart patients: those for whom either procedure would be considered a reasonable choice. For patients who are eligible for either heart intervention, “either is feasible,” Hlatky tells WebMD. The report is released early online and will be published in the Nov. 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

CABG vs. Angioplasty

The researchers evaluated the results of 23 clinical trials in which 5,019 patients (average age 61 years; 73% men) were randomly assigned to get angioplasty with or without stents (PCI), and 4,944 were assigned to get coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) In angioplasty, interventional cardiologists push a balloon-like device into the coronary arteries and inflate the balloon to widen the vessel. An expandable wire mesh tube called a stent may be inserted to keep the vessel open. Some stents are coated with drugs meant to help prevent the artery from clogging up. In 2005, about 645,000 angioplasty procedures were done in the U.S. In bypass surgery, cardiac surgeons harvest a segment of a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body and use it to bypass the clogged artery or arteries, rerouting the blood to improve blood flow to the heart. About 261,000 bypass procedures were done in the U.S. in 2005.

Findings

Besides similar survival rates overall, the researchers found no significant survival differences between the two procedures for patients with diabetes, although earlier research had seemed to favor bypass surgery. Similar numbers of patients suffered heart attacks within five years of the procedures. While 11.9 of those who got angioplasty had a heart attack within five years, 10.9% of those who got bypass did. Repeat procedures were more common in angioplasty patients. While 46.1% of angioplasty patients who didn’t get a stent needed repeat procedures, 40.1% of those who got a stent did. But just 9.8% of surgery patients needed another procedure.  The study didn’t include information on drug-coated stents.

Second Opinions

The new analysis is “very complete,” says Kim A. Eagle, MD, director of the Cardiovascular Center and Albion Walter Hewlett Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The study shows, he says, that if either procedure is considered appropriate for an individual patient, the decision can rest on patient attitudes and preferences. Patients preferences might be based on lower need to repeat in favor of surgery, or on avoidance of surgery in favor of angioplasty. But it is important to note, acoording to Curtis Hunter at Santa-Monica-UCLA, that the studies cover the least sick with heart disease, so the two procedures are shown to be equal in a very small subset of the patients.

Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery versus Coronary Stenting – Risk-Adjusted Survival Rates in 5,619 Patients  THIJ. 2002

We used the Texas Heart Institute Cardiovascular Research Database to retrospectively identify patients who had undergone their 1st revascularization procedure with coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG; n=2,826) or coronary stenting (n=2,793) between January 1995 and December 1999. Patients were classified into 8 anatomic groups according to the number of diseased vessels and presence or absence of proximal left anterior descending coronary artery disease. Mortality rates were adjusted with proportional hazards methods to correct for baseline differences in severity of disease and comorbidity.
We found that in-hospital mortality was significantly greater in patients undergoing CABG than in those undergoing stenting (3.6% vs 0.75%; adjusted OR 8.4; P <0.0001). At a mean 2.5-year follow-up, risk-adjusted survival was equivalent (CABG 91%, stenting 95%; adjusted OR 1.26; P = 0.06). When subgroups matched for severity of disease were compared, no differences in risk-adjusted survival were seen. A survival advantage of stenting was noted in 3 categories of patients: those >65 years of age (OR 1.33, P = 0.049), those with non-insulin-requiring diabetes (OR 2.06, P = 0.002), and those with any noncoronary vascular disease (OR 1.59, P = 0.009).
In this nonrandomized observational study, CABG had a higher periprocedural mortality rate than did percutaneous stenting. At 2.5 years, however, the survival advantage of stenting was no longer evident. These data suggest that there is no intermediate-term survival advantage of CABG over stenting in patients who have multivessel disease with lesions that can be treated percutaneously. (Tex Heart Inst J 2002;29:3–9)

Fig. 1 Adjusted and unadjusted survival rates in all patients treated with CABG or PCI-stenting
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC101260/table/t3-2/?report=previmg

survival rates  of CABG or PCI-stenting

TABLE III. Multivariate Correlates of Intermediate-Term (2.5-Year) Mortality
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC101260/table/t3-2/?report=previmg

Fig. 2 Adjusted odds ratios comparing the results of CABG and PCI-stenting in the 8 anatomic subgroups.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC101260/bin/2FF2.jpg

Adjusted odds ratios comparing the results of CABG and PCI-stenting in the 8 anatomic subgroups

TABLE IV. Intermediate-Term (2.5-Year) Survival According to Treatment in Each of the 8 Anatomic Groups
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC101260/bin/2TT4.jpg

Intermediate-Term (2.5-Year) Survival According to Treatment in Each of the 8 Anatomic Groups

Fig. 3 Adjusted odds ratios comparing the results of CABG and PCI-stenting in the various prespecified subsets.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC101260/bin/2FF3.gif

Adjusted odds ratios comparing the results of CABG and PCI-stenting in the various prespecified subsets.

Will Drug-Eluting Stents Replace Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery?

Abstract

Introduction
The growth of the PCI industry and the consequent decline in the number of patients referred for CABG has produced much speculation about the future role of each type of intervention. Because the new drug-eluting stents allow PCI to be performed with lower rates of early restenosis than do bare-metal stents or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) alone, 2–8 some have predicted that surgical revascularization will soon be obsolete.

CABG vs Pharmaco-Therapy

Randomized clinical trials performed during the 1970s and early 1980s clearly established the advantages of CABG over medical therapy in patients with triple-vessel CAD, left main coronary artery stenosis, double-vessel CAD with proximal left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery stenosis, or left ventricular dysfunction. Problems arose subsequently because of the limitations built into the trial so that the results were biased in favor of medical therapy.  These were:
  • stringent exclusion criteria that eliminated a large percentage of potential participants
  • left main CAD and an ejection fraction of less than 0.40, eliminated patients for whom CABG would have been beneficial
  • the high rate of crossover from the medical to the surgical groups

The numerous technical and technological advances made since these trials were completed limit the degree to which their results resemble those of the CAD treatments used today. The maximal medical therapy used during the trials did not routinely include lipid-lowering agents, β-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, clopidogrel, or some of the other drugs currently used for CAD. Nor did the CABG groups benefit from advances that were subsequently made in preoperative imaging, perfusion and myocardial protection, anesthesia, and perioperative and intensive care practices. CABG did not then include the use of left internal mammary artery (LIMA) grafts, much less other arterial conduits. Finally, PCIs, including balloon angioplasty and stenting, were not included in these trials.

CABG vs PTCA

Randomized trials comparing PTCA with CABG revealed dramatically higher re-intervention rates in the PTCA groups and better angina relief in the CABG groups, although there were no significant differences in death or myocardial infarction rates. The Duke database study. 9 showed better survival rates with PTCA than with CABG in patients with single-vessel CAD, whereas CABG produced better survival than did PTCA in patients with severe, triple-vessel CAD.
These results are not necessarily representative of the results obtainable today with PTCA and CABG, for several reasons.
1.  stents were not used in the PTCA patients in these trials
2.  operative mortality rates for the CABG groups were higher than the rates currently found in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) database
3.  the inclusion/exclusion criteria of these studies eliminated a high percentage of those patients who might have benefited more from CABG than from PTCA

CABG vs Stents

The introduction of coronary artery stenting resulted in better outcomes than those produced by balloon angioplasty or by other adjuncts, including rotational atherectomy, brachytherapy, and laser angioplasty.  Since then, stent designs and delivery techniques have advanced considerably. The use of coronary stents has greatly decreased the necessity of emergent CABG for technical failure of PCI and for dissection or rupture of coronary arteries during PCI. Another major advance in the application of PCI is the use of the antiplatelet agent clopidogrel in addition to aspirin after PCI, as well as the use of glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitors during the procedure. These adjuncts have significantly reduced the incidence of acute and subacute thrombosis after PTCA with stenting.
Randomized trials comparing PTCA plus stenting with PTCA alone have shown that stenting significantly reduces rates of restenosis and re-intervention, as well as the frequency of emergent CABG.  On the other hand, randomized trials of stenting versus surgery have produced less conclusive results regarding the mid-term survival and freedom from adverse events.  For example, the Stent or Surgery (SOS) trial reported a greater need for repeat revascularization in the stent group (21%) than in the CABG group (6%) and a survival advantage in the CABG group (hazard ratio, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.29–6.53; P = 0.01) during the 3-year follow-up period. Additionally, angina and the use of anti-angina medications were less common in the CABG group at 1-year follow-up.
The ARTS and ERACI trials also reported an increased need for revascularization in the stent groups but did not show a survival advantage in the CABG groups. This was due in part to a higher operative mortality rate in the CABG group than reported in the STS database. Like the PCI versus CABG trials mentioned previously, these randomized trials involved a select group of patients with relatively low expected mortality rates and relatively high expected technical success with PCI.
Observational data in retrospective analyses of large patient databases comparing CABG with PCI plus stenting does indicate that, because of the greater invasiveness of surgical revascularization, CABG produces greater operative mortality than does PCI. However, in patients with multivessel CAD, the risk-adjusted survival rates at 2.5 years of follow-up are no better for PCI than for CABG, and 3 recent risk-adjusted observational studies showed that the CABG patients had a significant survival advantage at 3- to 8-year follow-up.   The CABG patients had significantly more preoperative risk factors than did the PCI patients in each study, so that unadjusted, the CABG groups in each study included significantly more patients with triple-vessel disease and fewer patients with double-vessel disease than did the PCI groups. Again, we have a moving target with recent advances in both surgery and PCI technology.

Disadvantages of Stenting

The Achilles’ heel of PCI is restenosis and the need for repeat revascularization. Stents have decreased the rate of acute and subacute  periprocedural thrombosis. The newer, drug-eluting stents (DESs) have improved in-stent restenosis rates, especially in the carefully selected patient populations studied in the early DES trials. In the RAVEL trial, the early reports of zero in-stent restenosis compared favorably with the 27% in-stent restenosis rates in the bare-metal stent control group at 6-month follow-up. However, the RAVEL trial excluded patients with lesions longer than 18 mm, ostial targets, calcified or thrombosed targets, or target arteries less than 2.5 mm in diameter.
The media frenzy that followed the release of these findings created a public demand for these new “miracle” stents that apparently did not re-occlude. Stories of CAD patients refusing conventional PCI and CABG —instead, adding their names to the list of patients waiting for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of DESs—appeared to change the practice patterns of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons overnight.  And then there were the calls for class-action lawsuits and recall of various DES models. After the FDA approved the Cordis Cypher™ DES (Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company; Miami Lakes, Fla), a few reports of subacute thrombosis and hypersensitivity reactions prompted the FDA to release a public health notification on 29 October 2003.
The SIRIUS trial had slightly less strict exclusion criteria than did the RAVEL trial, admitting patients with target lesions 2.5 to 3.5 mm in diameter and 15 to 30 mm long, as well as patients with diabetes mellitus (who constituted 26% of the total group).  The SIRIUS trial also differed from the RAVEL trial in that the reported end-point was in-segment restenosis, rather than in-stent restenosis. The results showed a significant advantage of DESs over bare-metal stents for preventing in-segment restenosis (9.2% vs 32.3%) and target failures (10.5% vs 19.5%), but major adverse cardiac events were more frequent in the DES group than in the bare-metal stent group (3.7% vs 1.0%). Interestingly, the 6-month restenosis rates of the bare-metal stents in the RAVEL and SIRIUS control groups were much higher than the 19% 12-month restenosis rate associated with bare-metal stents in an earlier study comparing bare-metal stents with PTCA. In fact, the restenosis rates in the RAVEL and SIRIUS control groups more closely resembled the 40% restenosis rate reported for the PTCA control group in the earlier study.
The practical advantages of DESs over bare-metal stents are evident; nonetheless, we still do not have sufficient mid-term or long-term clinical data to argue that PTCA with DESs is preferable to CABG in “real-world” patients who require revascularization. Although DESs will likely provide better outcomes than bare-metal stents for many patients for whom stenting is indicated, a general extrapolation of existing data to justify the use of DESs in patients for whom CABG is currently indicated is unknown, perhaps undeterminable because the lesion and patient characteristics that lead to the failure of PCI are multifactorial, and the size of the population with lesions having unfavorable characteristics , such as,
  • longer
  • total occlusion
  • branch
  • small-diameter
  • calcified
  • multiple
  • left main
  • ostial, and
  • diffuse lesions
are being treated with PCI more often, as well as diabetics, multiple lesions, and patients with multiple comorbidities.

Advantages of CABG

Over the last 4 decades, surgical coronary artery revascularization techniques and technology have advanced significantly. As a result, despite an increasingly older and sicker patient population, CABG outcomes continue to improve. Observed operative mortality rates have decreased because advances in preoperative evaluation, including more precise coronary artery and myocardial imaging and diagnostic techniques, have allowed more appropriate patient selection and surgical planning. In addition, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative monitoring and therapeutic interventions have made CABG safer, even for critically ill and high-risk patients. Improvements in cardiopulmonary perfusion and careful myocardial protection, as well as the use of off-pump and on-pump beating- heart techniques in selected patients, have also decreased perioperative morbidity and mortality rates.

LIMA-to-LAD Long-Term Patency

The long-term benefits of CABG with regard to survival and quality of life are dependent on prolonged graft patency. The LIMA-to-LAD bypass, which is now performed in more than 90% of CABG procedures, shows excellent patency in 10- to 20-year angiographic follow-up studies, setting the gold standard with which other revascularization strategies should be compared. Tatoulis et al. reported that LIMA-to-LAD grafts had a 97.1% patency rate in patients who underwent angiography for cardiac symptoms. Those authors also found high patency rates at 5-year (98%), 10-year (95%), and 15-year (88%) follow-up. However, there are not yet long-term data on bare-metal stents or DESs, and by the time 10- or 20-year data are available, DESs probably will have been replaced by a newer, more advanced technology.
Because of the reported success of the LIMA-to-LAD bypass, other types of arterial conduits are also being used much more frequently. Conduit selection has become an area of great interest to cardiac surgeons, and conduit studies are expanding our understanding of the mechanisms of graft failure and ways to improve bypass graft patency. For example, studies have shown that patients who undergo CABG with both LIMA and right internal mammary artery (RIMA) conduits have better results than those who undergo CABG with one IMA and one or more saphenous vein grafts.

Techniques to Improve Conduit Patency

To maximize the odds of long-term graft patency, surgeons carefully harvest the graft as a pedicled or skeletonized conduit using “no touch” techniques. Using careful anastomotic technique to avoid excessive turbulence at the anastomosis site will prolong graft patency, and the quality of the conduit is crucial. Long-term graft patency depends not only on the conduit chosen but also on the target artery and the degree of stenosis proximal to the anastomosis. Maintaining flow patterns in the native artery, including residual flow (that is, competitive flow) and outflow, is important to avoid stasis in the graft, turbulence at the anastomosis, and vasospasm, especially in arterial conduits. Studies have shown an inverse relationship between the degree of proximal stenosis and graft patency. Targeting the LAD produces the highest patency rates. The characteristics of the target artery also determine graft patency, including –
1. the diameter of the target artery,
2. the presence or absence of diffuse disease within the artery,
3. whether or not the artery requires endarterectomy
Surgeons can avoid atheroembolic events by handling the aorta carefully or not at all. They can also improve safety by
1. using aggressive myocardial protection techniques;
2. avoiding the induction of inflammatory mediators; and
3. carefully controlling
  • blood pressure,
  • body temperature, and
  • electrolyte and glucose levels.
Although there have been major innovations that have enabled surgeons to perform cardiac surgery (including CABG) less invasively, minimally invasive surgical procedures are useful only if they are at least as efficacious as conventional surgery. New technology is being developed to enhance the evolving field of minimally invasive coronary bypass surgery.

Hybrid Coronary Revascularization

As PCI technology improves and techniques of LIMA-to-LAD grafting become less invasive, hybrid coronary revascularization is becoming a distinct possibility. For example, a minimally invasive, off-pump, direct LIMA-to-LAD anastomosis can be combined with DES placement in a focal mid-right-coronary-artery lesion in a patient with complex proximal LAD lesions. Hybrid coronary revascularization procedures are currently being performed, with promising early results. A few centers now have hybrid operating rooms with cardiac surgical and coronary angiographic capabilities that make it possible to perform simultaneous hybrid coronary revascularizations.

Although coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remains the treatment of choice for certain types of coronary artery disease (CAD), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)—particularly coronary angioplasty with stenting—has become the most popular nonmedical treatment approach to CAD. Some have speculated that, with the advent of drug-eluting stents (DESs), PCI will replace CABG entirely. However, the complete disappearance of CABG is both unlikely and unwarranted, for several reasons. Published randomized trials of CABG, PCI, and medical approaches to CAD compared only highly selected subgroups of patients because of strict exclusion criteria that often favored the PCI cohorts. Therefore, their results do not constitute sufficient evidence for the superiority of PCI over CABG in all CAD patients requiring revascularization. As PCI indications broaden to include more complex lesions and more high-risk patients, outcomes will not remain as favorable. In addition, although PCI is less invasive than surgery, CABG offers more complete revascularization and better freedom from repeat revascularization. Furthermore, no long-term patency data on DESs yet exist, whereas excellent 10- and 20-year patency rates have been reported for the left internal mammary artery-to-left anterior descending artery graft used in most CABG procedures. While PCI has been changing, CABG has not been stagnant; recently, advances in many aspects of the CABG procedure have improved short- and long-term outcomes in CABG patients. Both CABG and PCI technologies will continue to advance, not necessarily exclusive of one another, but no data yet exist to suggest that DESs will render CABG obsolete any time soon. 

Will Stent Revascularization Replace Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting?

When we discuss revascularization outcomes, we are talking about 3 major endpoints: death, myocardial infarction, and symptom control. With respect to death, we know that revascularization benefits patients who have severe multivessel disease and left ventricular dysfunction or other physiologic indicators of high risk. 2-vessel disease with proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) stenosis has been accepted as an indication for revascularization, even though the supporting data come from a small subgroup in a single trial. There has been no success in proving that endovascular treatment has a positive impact on stable CAD, but it is relevant because we leave the native arteries relatively intact. Attempts to improve graft performance beyond the relatively spectacular performance of the pedicled internal mammary artery (IMA) graft to the LAD have been disappointing.

Fig. 1 Graph of graft patency shows deterioration rates over 10 years and the comparative superiority of using the internal mammary artery (IMA) instead of the saphenous vein (SVG).http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3528239/bin/25FF1.gif

graft patency of IMA vs SVG

Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty

When angioplasty was introduced, the hope was for a method of revascularization that would rival coronary artery bypass grafting. However, the results were mixed. Angioplasty worked well in patients with no major risk factors, such as diabetes mellitus, but failed miserably in diabetic patients. In fact, the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation (BARI)  taught us this: if revascularization is needed, regardless of physiologic markers of high risk, the use of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is potentially harmful in comparison with an IMA bypass for the LAD.

Stents and Short-Term Outcomes

The use of stents drastically reduced the probability of emergent surgery after attempted; however, the probability of new lesion formation or restenosis after intervention did not decrease.

Fig. 2 Diagrams  show the calculated success (after percutaneous revascularization) of A) percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), and B) bare-metal and C) drug-eluting stenting in patients with 3-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3528239/bin/25FF2.gif

At the same time, surgeons got better. Myocardial preservation techniques improved, and the use of the pedicled IMA graft changed the game. As a result, successful revascularization, meaning long-term success, became the domain of the surgeon. We at the Texas Heart Institute/St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital (THI/SLEH) examined our long-term outcomes after stenting or surgery, and we initially reported that stenting was just as beneficial as surgery. This was in accord with the results of several trials: whenever placing a stent was feasible, stent therapy and surgery had the same outcome.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3528239/bin/25TT1.jpg

success after PTCA vs bare-metal and drug-eluting stents

Stents and Long-Term Outcomes

Later, when we looked at longer-term follow-up data and the effects of multiple procedures, this picture began to change. Stented patients underwent more procedures. When the risk of one surgical procedure was compared with that of multiple endovascular procedures, the outcomes became more similar, especially in patients with bifurcation lesions or lesions with severe calcification. Drug-eluting stents, with their promise of no restenosis, substantially increased interventional cardiologists’ reach, but not their grasp. In patients with multivessel disease and high-risk lesions, DES placement was almost as risky as surgery and did not yield the same long-term benefit.

Nevertheless, we found locally that the introduction of the DES, with its lower risk of restenosis, was treated as a blessing to proceed with stenting (Table I). This did not follow the data, but cardiologists continued anyway, given the promise of less restenosis. Early risk was discounted, glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor use declined overnight, and the rate of endovascular procedural complications rose to meet that of surgery without the promise of an IMA graft in our future.

Table I. Independent Predictors of 30-Day Major Adverse Cardiac Events and 3-Year Survival after Drug-Eluting Stent Placement
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3528239/bin/25TT1.jpg

Comparing Stenting and Surgery

For decades, methods have been sought to quantify lesion complexity in order to compare the early and late risks associated with stenting versus surgery. Although no perfect system has been devised, the SYNTAX was an important step forward. The SYNTAX score is a simple, computer-based tool for evaluating the risk of complications or failure after PCI. And there are other tools for estimating the same complications after surgery. These estimates enable cardiologists to give patients objective advice regarding the revascularization method that has the best short- and long-term probability of success.
In the patient with non-life-threatening disease (that is, not left main or severe multivessel CAD with left ventricular dysfunction or severely impaired function), stent revascularization has become a reasonable, although not ideal, alternative to surgical revascularization. However, this is true only if stenting is confined to patients whose anatomy and physiology are suited to it—considerations that are well quantified in the SYNTAX score. Whenever questions arise as to the most appropriate therapy, the SYNTAX score should be weighed against clinical characteristics that affect surgical risk. This will guide discussions between the cardiologist, cardiovascular surgeon, patient, and treating physician.
I think that our THI risk is more useful than the other available scores. It uses simple clinical data and can be easily calibrated to the geographic location of its use. Other scores require data that might not be available at the time of clinical decision-making or at all—making such predictions hazardous, at best.

Conclusion

With regard to the chosen mode of revascularization, it is perhaps safe to say that the decision goes beyond the individual physician and must become collective. When a patient has multivessel disease, a reasoned approach must be taken, using these predictive tools and considering the patient’s wishes. Treatment decisions should include all interested parties: the patient, cardiologist, cardiovascular surgeon, and anesthesiologist. The time of ad hoc angioplasty for the patient with multivessel CAD has passed.

Should all ischemic mitral regurgitation be repaired? When should we replace?   Curr Opin Cardiol. 2011

Abstract

Purpose of review

Ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) is a major source of morbidity and mortality. Although mitral valve repair has become recently popularized for the treatment of IMR, select patients may derive benefits from replacement. The purpose of this review is to describe current surgical options for IMR and to discuss when mitral valve replacement (MVR) may be favored over mitral valve repair.

Recent findings

Current surgical options for the treatment of IMR include surgical revascularization alone, mitral valve repair, or MVR. Although surgical revascularization alone may benefit patients with mild–moderate IMR, most surgeons advocate the performance of revascularization in combination with either mitral valve repair or replacement. In the current era, mitral valve repair has proven to offer improved short-term and long-term survival, decreased valve-related morbidity, and improved left ventricular function compared with MVR. However, MVR should be considered for high-risk patients and those with specific underlying mechanisms of IMR.

Summary

In the absence of level one evidence, mitral valve repair offers an effective and durable surgical approach to the treatment of mitral insufficiency and remains the operation of choice for IMR. MVR, however, is preferred for select patients. Future randomized, prospective clinical trials are needed to directly compare these surgical techniques.

Introduction

Ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) describes insufficiency of the mitral valve in the setting of myocardial ischemia, resulting from coronary artery disease. Although IMR may present in the acute setting, usually as a papillary rupture (Carpentier type II), it is usually a consequence of chronic myocardial ischemia that typically presents weeks following a complete infarction. IMR describes mitral insufficiency in the absence of degenerative (structural) mitral valve disease. The underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms of IMR are often complex, resulting from several different structural changes involving left ventricular geometry, the mitral annulus, and the valvular/subvalvular apparatus. Although changes to any one component may result in detectable mitral valve insufficiency, moderate-to-severe IMR requiring surgical correction often involves the complex interplay of several co-existent anatomic changes. These underlying mechanisms result in clinically significant valve incompetence due to the combined effects of decreased ventricular function and restricted motion of the valve itself due to tethering.
IMR is a major source of patient morbidity and mortality. Although the frequency of IMR differs based upon imaging modality, estimates have suggested that nearly 20–30% of patients experience mitral insufficiency following myocardial infarction. Furthermore, its intimate association with heart failure and poor outcomes for suboptimal medical management further complicates the management of clinically significant IMR. Recent evidence suggests that moderate or severe mitral regurgitation may be associated with a three-fold increase in the adjusted risk of heart failure and a 1.6-fold increase in risk-adjusted mortality at 5-year follow-up. In addition, unfavorable patient profiles and co-existing comorbid disease, including renal failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and impaired left ventricular function, further complicate the clinical picture for those with IMR. Consequently, surgical correction of this condition is often required.
The purpose of this review is to analyze published results for the surgical correction of IMR and to provide current opinion regarding the selection of mitral valve procedure in the setting of myocardial ischemia. Herein, we review current surgical options for IMR and discuss when MVR may be favored over mitral valve repair.

Surgical options for ischemic mitral regurgitation: surgical revascularization alone

Surgical revascularization alone with CABG may be beneficial for some patients. Although CABG alone may be performed in cases of mild-to-moderate IMR, for the treatment of severe IMR, evidence supports performance of CABG with a mitral valve. In fact, a lack of evidence exists to support the performance of CABG alone for severe IMR. In one retrospective review of propensity-matched cohorts, Diodato et al. suggested that addition of a mitral valve procedure to patients undergoing CABG for moderately severe to severe IMR did not increase mortality or improve survival over the performance of CABG alone. This study, however, was limited by small sample sizes (51 CABG + mitral valve repair vs. 51 CABG alone) and 3-year follow-up. To the contrary, substantial evidence exists to support the performance of surgical revascularization alone in cases of mild-to-moderate IMR.
A study by Aklog et al. investigated the role of CABG alone in the correction of moderate IMR. In their series of 136 patients with moderate IMR, they demonstrated that performance of revascularization alone conferred improvement of mitral regurgitation in 51% of patients with complete resolution in an additional 9%. Despite these results, 40% of patients remained with 3–4+ mitral regurgitation, leading the authors to conclude that CABG alone may not be the optimal therapy for most patients and suggest that concomitant mitral annuloplasty may improve results. Other series similarly suggest that complete resolution of functional IMR is uncommon following revascularization alone. Despite the presence of residual mitral regurgitation following revascularization, the impact of performance of CABG without a valve procedure on long-term survival remains ill defined. Currently, on-going prospective evaluation may help to define the potential role of revascularization alone for patients with moderate IMR. Until the completion of these trials, however, evidence supports the performance of surgical revascularization combined with a mitral valve procedure for moderate-to-severe mitral regurgitation.

Surgical revascularization with a mitral valve procedure

The majority of patients with moderate-to-severe IMR require surgical revascularization with a concomitant mitral valve procedure (MVR or mitral valve repair). Historically, these procedures have been associated with high morbidity and mortality as well as poor long-term. However, improved surgical techniques and postoperative management have improved contemporary outcomes. Those favoring mitral valve repair promote its beneficial effects on survival, preserved ventricular function, and the avoidance of long-term anticoagulation, whereas those favoring MVR argue that it ensures long-term freedom from recurrent mitral insufficiency.

Mitral valve replacement vs. mitral valve repair

The use of MVR for IMR eliminates the possibility of recurrent IMR. In addition, previous literature suggests improvements in surgical technique for MVR 29–32. For patients with IMR, MVR with preservation of the subvalvular apparatus using a chordal sparing technique has been shown to be beneficial 33. David and Ho 33 demonstrated a significant survival benefit for patients undergoing MVR with preservation of chordae tendineae (89%) compared with complete excision of the mitral valves (59%) in a cohort of 51 patients with IMR. In addition, Cohn et al. suggested disproportionate survival benefits favoring MVR in a cohort of 150 patients with both functional and structural IMR, concluding that survival following performance of mitral valve procedures for IMR was more dependent on underlying pathophysiology rather than surgical technique. More recently, series have suggested equivalent results for the MVR and mitral valve repair. Mantovani et al. report that prosthetic MVR and mitral valve repair offer very similar results for chronic IMR, demonstrating similar operative mortality and 5-year actuarial survival for both techniques. In a similar report, Magne et al.•• compared short-term and long-term outcomes for 370 patients undergoing mitral valve repair (n = 186) and MVR (n = 184) for IMR. Although operative mortality was lower for mitral valve repair compared with MVR (9.7 vs. 17.4%, P = 0.03), 6-year survival was similar for both operations (73 ± 4 vs. 67 ± 4%, P = 0.17). Type of procedure was also not an independent predictor of mortality following risk adjustment. As a result, the authors suggest that mitral valve repair is not superior to MVR for patients with IMR.
In contrast, other series favor the performance of mitral valve repair for functional IMR. Although several repair techniques exist, restrictive annuloplasty remains the most commonly performed operation 37• and has been shown to be beneficial in both functional and chronic IMR 38•. The purported benefits of improved survival, decreased valve-related morbidity, and improved left ventricular function have been previously established, and several series have reported lower hospital mortality with mitral valve repair compared with MVR.
The Cleveland Clinic published a landmark review of 482 patients undergoing mitral valve procedures for IMR to study the influence of mitral valve procedure type on survival 1. In this series, propensity-matched cohorts were compared: mitral valve repair (n = 397) vs. MVR (n = 85). Concomitant CABG was performed in 95% of operations, and annuloplasty for repair occurred in 98% of cases. After matching, patients were risk stratified into five quintiles. Group 1 represented the highest-risk patients with higher degrees of heart failure and emergent operations, and group 5 represented the lowest-risk patients. Subsequent survival analysis revealed that overall 5-year survival was poor for patients with IMR (58% mitral valve repair vs. 36% MVR, P = 0.08). Moreover, within matched quintiles, the highest-risk patients (quintile 1) had the worst survival, but survival was similar (P = 0.4) despite mitral valve procedure type. In contrast, survival favored mitral valve repair over replacement for quintiles III–V (P = 0.003).
In the absence of published randomized trials, two recently published meta-analyses provide more robust comparisons of the influence of surgical mitral valve repair or replacement. Shuhaiber and Anderson  compared outcomes of 29 studies, including over 10 000 patients. Study groups were stratified based upon mitral valve etiology into ischemic, degenerative/myxomatous, rheumatic, and mixed groups. Summary analyses indicated worse overall survival for MVR (early mortality odds ratio = 2.24 and total survival hazard ratio = 1.58) compared with repair. Mitral valve repair was also associated with lower rates of thromboembolism. Moreover, a nonsignificant trend toward lower 30-day mortality favored mitral valve repair for those with IMR. The most recent meta-analysis to date compared short-term and long-term survival of mitral valve repair vs. replacement specifically for IMR ••. In this analysis, nine studies were included based upon stringent exclusion criteria to ensure direct comparisons of survival for mitral valve procedures exclusively performed for IMR. Interestingly, in this series, although patients undergoing MVR were older, those undergoing repair often had higher rates of hypertension and diabetes with lower ejection fractions. Further, the proportion of patients with severe ventricular dysfunction was similar between procedure groups. These findings conflict with a common assumption that an inherent selection bias exists within published studies for the performance of mitral valve repair in healthier patients. Nevertheless, MVR was associated with worse short-term mortality (odds ratio = 2.667) and long-term mortality (hazard ratio = 1.35) compared with mitral valve repair, and the authors advocate that choice in mitral procedure should be based upon individual patient profile.

When not to repair ischemic mitral regurgitation?

Within the context of published literature and current dogma among practicing surgeons, the fundamental question of when not to repair an ischemic mitral valve remains. For several years, accumulated evidence supports the performance of mitral valve repair over replacement for the surgical treatment of functional IMR. The aforementioned benefits of repair include improved long-term survival, durability and efficacy, improved ventricular function, and avoidance of chronic anticoagulation therapy. Nevertheless, MVR still plays a select role in the treatment of IMR.
With respect to the performance of MVR, the use of bioprosthetic valves and the avoidance of mechanical valve replacement are preferred. This choice is largely driven by the avoidance of complications due to long-term anticoagulation use as well as by the belief that it is unlikely that the majority of patients requiring MVR are likely to encounter bioprosthetic deterioration in their lifetime. In addition, MVR with techniques to preserve the subvalvular apparatus should be performed when possible.

Summary

Undoubtedly, the debate regarding when to perform repair or replacement for IMR remains unsettled. In the recent era, mitral valve repair has proven efficacious and remains the preferred surgical strategy for most cases of IMR. MVR should be considered for severe tethering, complex or uncertain mechanisms of mitral insufficiency, regurgitation due to papillary muscle rupture, and perhaps for the sickest and highest-risk patients.
The present review was supported by Award Number 2T32HL007849-11A1 (D.J.L.) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors.
Hybrid Cath Lab Combines Nonsurgical, Surgical Treatments  2008
A new cardiac treatment facility that couples the benefits of interventional cardiology with cardiothoracic surgery for critically ill newborns, children and adults has opened at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago.  Toshiba’s new biplane hybrid cardiac suite, which is one of only three facilities of its kind in the U.S., is equipped with the latest in continuous, real-time imaging technology and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology which allows “all-in-one-room” care. The suite allows collaboration between the surgeon and interventional cardiologist on complex heart problems. For example, fixing a very large hole in the heart can be done by inserting a catheter through a small incision in the chest rather than relying on major surgery to open the chest to reach the heart. “Now, interventional cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons working together in this suite will reduce the amount of time required to correct complex heart problems and reduce the emotional and physical stress placed on a patient and their family – which translates into less pain, less scarring and a faster recovery time,” Ziyad Hijazi, M.D., director of the new Rush Center for Congenital and Structural Heart Disease. The hybrid suite is equipped with the latest technology for minimally invasive interventional cardiology that involves the use of a catheter and an image-guidance system to thread tiny instruments through blood vessels to repair the heart. Through these special catheters, physicians at Rush can implant stents, artificial heart valves and insert patches for holes in the heart. In many complex cardiac cases, patients who would otherwise have no other option but to undergo open-heart bypass surgery can now have minimally invasive procedures that would otherwise not be available to them. “We can now communicate with colleagues and obtain their expertise in real time for very complex situations,” said Dr. Hijazi. “If physicians decide another procedure is needed, even surgery, the suite can be converted into an operating room and the surgical team can be assembled in the new suite ”Patients at Rush will stay in one place in the new hybrid cardiac suite where all the imaging technology and implantable devices that might be needed are stored and located. The additional ability it gives us to provide surgical treatments allows us to provide the most comprehensive care in the most sensitive manner for patients with often extremely fragile conditions.”  The new hybrid cardiac catheterization suite has the most advanced imaging technologies and can still get a precise, optimal image of any region of the heart regardless of the size or complexity of congenital heart disease. The imaging system also features eight-inch cardiac flat panel detectors designed to deliver distortion-free images. The suite also includes intravascular ultrasound machines, which takes real-time images to allow physicians to see the progress of the procedure taking place inside the patient’s body. A high-tech, automated clinical resource management system located in the suite stores and tracks the medication, surgical tools, medical devices, and implantable devices and supplies using the latest RFID enabled technology.

Hybrid Cath Lab/ORs Are the Way of the Future

Recent developments in cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology with new percutaneous alternatives for aneurysm repair, valve replacements, shunt closure devices and aortic arch reconstruction have led to the creation of integrated, hybrid cath lab/operating rooms (OR) that allow both surgical and intravascular procedures. These rooms offer both surgical equipment and high-end angiographic equipment. Creating such rooms requires special planning and design from both surgical and interventional cardiologists working closely together. Cath labs have high-quality fluoroscopy equipment, but generally are smaller rooms and lack the sterile requirements and equipment needed for surgical procedures. ORs tend to use lower quality mobile C-arms, which are not ideal for interventional procedures. The hybrids aim to provide the best of both worlds. The trend toward hybrid labs has been reinforced by digital angiography manufacturers partnering with surgical equipment companies to create easy-to-integrate hybrid room solutions with coordinated installation. Philips partners with both Skytron and Steris. Toshiba partners with MAQUET. GE Healthcare, Siemens and Toshiba also offer hybrid installations. Philips said while some hospitals want to combine interventional procedures with minimally invasive surgeries, they also want a properly equipped room in case emergency surgery is needed.
Philips said hybrids also allow hospitals with lower PCI numbers to get a bigger bang for their buck by allowing the same room to serve the needs of surgeons. Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA, created a hybrid lab with help from Siemens, which opened in November. Wilson Szeto, M.D., cardio-thoracic surgeon, and William Matthai, M.D., interventionalist, both from Penn Presbyterian said hybrid labs are ideally suited for procedures that require both percutaneous and surgical interventions, percutaneous valve replacements, deploying percutaneous septal occluders or installing aortic stent grafts. Interventionalists can also be called in after cardiac surgery to perform a completion angiography.

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56•. Goland S, Czer LS, Siegel RJ, et al. Coronary revascularization alone or with mitral valve repair: outcomes in patients with moderate ischemic mitral regurgitation. Tex Heart Inst J. 2009;36:416–424. This series documents current outcomes for the performance of CABG alone with/without concomitant mitral valve repair for ischemic mitral regurgitation. The authors report similar 5-year survival rates for both techniques; however, revascularization with repair resulted in significantly reduced mitral regurgitation grade, improved left ventricular function, and functional class compared with revascularization alone. This study provides an important comparison of these two techniques in the current surgical era. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
57••. Magne J, Girerd N, Senechal M, et al. Mitral repair versus replacement for ischemic mitral regurgitation: comparison of short-term and long-term survival. Circulation. 2009;120(11 Suppl):S104–S111. In this study, the authors compare postoperative outcomes for mitral valve repair and replacement for ischemic mitral regurgitation. Despite lower operative mortality following mitral valve repair, long-term survival was equivalent between surgical groups. This study adds important long-term comparisons of mitral valve procedures to accumulating data examining surgical treatments for ischemic mitral regurgitation. [PubMed]
58. Silberman S, Klutstein MW, Sabag T, et al. Repair of ischemic mitral regurgitation: comparison between flexible and rigid annuloplasty rings. Ann Thorac Surg. 2009;87:1721–1726. discussion 1726–1727. This study provides a contemporary comparison between the use of flexible and rigid annuloplasty rings for the surgical treatment of IMR. The authors report significantly improved clinical and hemodynamic results for rigid mitral annuloplasty rings compared with flexible rings. [PubMed]
59•. Tekumit H, Cenal AR, Uzun K, et al. Ring annuloplasty in chronic ischemic mitral regurgitation: encouraging early and midterm results. Tex Heart Inst J. 2009;36:287–292. This study reports early and midterm results for the use of flexible annuloplasty rings for the surgical treatment of chronic IMR. The authors demonstrate that use of flexible mitral valve annuloplasty conferred a reduction in left ventricular diameter with improved New York Heart Association functional class. This study reports current, encouraging results and provides a context for future investigations comparing flexible and rigid annuloplasty rings for chronic IMR. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
60. Shuhaiber J, Anderson RJ. Meta-analysis of clinical outcomes following surgical mitral valve repair or replacement. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2007;31:267–275. [PubMed]
61••. Vassileva CM, Boley T, Markwell S, Hazelrigg S. Meta-analysis of short-term and long-term survival following repair versus replacement for ischemic mitral regurgitation. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2010 [Epub ahead of print] This meta-analysis provides a comparison of nine published series specifically addressing the performance of mitral valve repair vs. replacement for IMR. The authors demonstrate worse short-term and long-term mortality for MVR. Their analysis offers an up-to-date and robust comparison of these two surgical techniques. [PubMed]

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Cardiac Surgery Theatre in China vs. in the US: Cardiac Repair Procedures, Medical Devices in Use, Technology in Hospitals, Surgeons’ Training and Cardiac Disease Severity”    http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/01/08/cardiac-surgery-theatre-in-china-vs-in-the-us-cardiac-repair-procedures-medical-devices-in-use-technology-in-hospitals-surgeons-training-and-cardiac-disease-severity/

Heart Remodeling by Design – Implantable Synchronized Cardiac Assist Device: Abiomed’s Symphony                                                                                     http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/07/23/heart-remodeling-by-design-implantable-synchronized-cardiac-assist-device-abiomeds-symphony/
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Texas Heart Institute: 50 Years of Accomplishments

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

 

Texas Heart Institute’s Overachieving President and Medical Director Dr. James T Willerson Profiles THI’s 50 Years Of Accomplishments


Posted Thursday , April 25,2013

The Texas Heart Institute is a not-for-profit cardiology and heart surgery center located at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. Founded in 1962 by Dr. Denton A. Cooley, the mission of the Texas Heart Institute has been to reduce the devastating toll of cardiovascular disease through innovative programs in research, education and improved patient care. Over the past 51 years the Institute has been involved in training cardiologists, heart surgeons, imaging specialists in cardiovascular medicine and cardiac electrophysiology, and pathologists, and educated hundreds of cardiovascular specialists.

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A nonprofit organization in the truest sense, and unlike most institutions that have a source of operating revenue, the Texas Heart Institute relies solely on government grants, research contracts and, above all, philanthropy, with donations from grateful patients, foundations, corporations, physicians, and the general public account for more than half of the Institute’s annual operating budget. The Institute’s location in and affiliations with St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital have assured that all age groups will be treated, and has freed the Institute of the burden of financing a health care facility.

The Texas Heart Institute (THI) and its clinical partner, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, have become one of America’s largest cardiovascular centers, whose 160-member professional staff have reportedly performed more than 100,000 open heart operations, 200,000 cardiac catheterizations, and 1,000 heart transplants.

In its 2010 annual survey of “America’s Best Hospitals,” U.S. News & World Report ranked the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital number four in the United States for heart care, marking this its 20th consecutive year of inclusion as one of the top 10 heart centers in the country.

willersonIn an interview with the European science news journal Research Media, THI President and Medical Director, Dr. James T Willerson, says that when he originally came to the Institute in 2004, then still President Dr Cooley wanted him to be Medical Director of Cardiovascular Research, and upon Dr. Cooley’s resignation in 2008, he asked Dr. Willerston to succeed him in that position.

In the interview, Dr. Willerston, a native Texan, profiles the THI’s achievements and shares his thoughts on reducing the heavy burdens of Cardiovascular disease, which is estimated to cost the economy $449 billion annually.

Accounting for over a quarter of all deaths in the U.S. each year, cardiovascular disease is obviously a major health concern, but mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) has substantially decreased in recent decades. Dr. Willerston attributes the decrease to research discoveries that have provided insights into mechanisms responsible for thrombosis in injured coronary and cerebral arteries, and led to improved treatment.

He cites as an example that increased understanding of ‘bad’ low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in patients to values well below 100 mg/dl has been a very important contribution, as has the development of statins to lower LDL has also been crucial, the use of low-dose aspirin and other medications to control blood pressure, avoidance of smoking and use of recreational drugs, control of blood sugar in patients who are diabetic, emphasis on diet and exercise, and improved imaging techniques for blood vessels and the cardiovascular system, as factors that have played a role in protecting CHD patients and decreasing mortality risk.

However, he notes that the greatest GHD risk factor is a genetic one, and a remaining priority must be to identify genes that contribute to this risk; ultimately silencing the most dangerous ones using microRNA methodology. Dr. Willerston says numerous clinical studies in patients with cardiovascular disease using a variety of stem cell types, including mesenchymal stem cells taken from the bone marrow or adipose tissue have been conducted, and that through the pioneering work of Dr Doris Taylor, scientists are now able to deplete human hearts of their cellular structure and then restore that same heart to normal function by the infusion of stem cells. With continued success, these efforts could fill a great unmet need and pave the way to a new area of transplant medicine.

Dr. Willerston maintains that prevention would be the single most effective means of reducing healthcare costs, and should be the main concern initiated at very young ages and continue throughout adulthood.

Dr. James T. Willerson, born in Lampasas, Texas, is President of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he is the Alkek-Williams Distinguished Professor and holds the Edward Randall III Chair in Internal Medicine. In October 2004, Dr. Willerson was named President-Elect of the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Texas. He holds the Dunn Chair in Cardiology Research and the John O’Quinn Chair named the “James T. Willerson Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Research,” both at the Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas. From 1989 through 2000, he was the Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston where an Annual Lectureship has been established in his name. During this same period, he served as the Chief of Medical Services at Memorial Hermann Hospital. He is also the Medical Director, Director of Cardiovascular Research, and Co-Director of the Cullen Cardiovascular Research Laboratories at the Texas Heart Institute. He is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Dr. Willerson also founded TexGen Research, a collaboration which brings together all of the institutions in the Texas Medical Center to collect blood samples necessary for the discovery of those genes and proteins that play a key role in causing major diseases. With TexGen, each Texas Medical Center institution obtains blood samples from patients who have a personal or family history of cardiovascular disease, stroke, dementia, or selected cancers and who are admitted to their hospitals. Great progress is being made by this collaborative biomedical research effort.

A graduate of the Texas Military Institute in San Antonio, Texas, where he was the Battalion Commander, President of the Senior Class, Editor of the school newspaper, and a state swimming champion, Dr. Willerston attended The University of Texas at Austin, graduating as a Phi Beta Kappa, member of the Texas Cowboys, and where he lettered for three years in varsity swimming. Upon graduating as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, he completed his medical and cardiology training as an intern, resident, and research and clinical fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and as a Clinical Associate at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

He is the former Chairman of the National American Heart Association Research Committee and of the Cardiovascular and Renal Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. He has received the Award of Merit from the American Heart Association and has served as a member of the Board of Directors and Steering Committee of the National American Heart Association. Before coming to The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Dr. Willerson was Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardiology Division at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas, and Director and Principal Investigator of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Specialized Center of Research under a major grant from the NIH. Upon his departure, the “James T. Willerson, M.D. Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Diseases” was established at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.

Dr. Willerson has served as visiting professor and invited lecturer at more than 220 institutions worldwide, and has received numerous national and international awards, as well as having served on editorial boards for many professional publications including: The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Circulation, Circulation Research, Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis, American Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, American Journal of Cardiology, American Heart Journal, and Cardiovascular Medicine. From 1993 to 2004, he was the longest-serving Editor of Circulation, the major publication of the American Heart Association. In 1998, the monthly journal was converted to a weekly publication and attained the highest Impact Factor of any cardiology journal in the world. He has edited or co-edited twenty-four textbooks, including the Third Edition of Cardiovascular Medicine which was released in February of 2007. Additionally, he has published more than 850 scientific articles.

Dr. Willerson has been elected to membership in numerous professional societies, including the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Association of Professors of Medicine, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus by the Baylor College of Medicine in 1998 and a Distinguished Alumnus of The University of Texas at Austin in 1999.

SOURCE:

http://bionews-tx.com/news/2013/04/25/texas-heart-institutes-overachieving-president-and-medical-director-dr-james-t-willerson-profiles-this-50-years-of-accomplishments/

Comment of Note

Dr. Lev-Ari, was a visitor at Texas Heart Institute, Perfusion Program, and shadowed Open Heart Surgery in 8/2005.

The museum on the First floor of the building represents a Historical exhibit of Images of Cardiac Procedures. On display is a complete array of surgical tools used in Cardiac Repair during the last 50 years of unprecedented development in Cardiac Medical Devices and Procedures. A duplicate of the exhibit is available at the Smithsonian Museum at WashDC.

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Briefing on ILSI – BioMed Conference, May 21-23, 2012 in Tel Aviv

http://www2.kenes.com/BIOMED/CONFERENCE/Pages/Detailed_Program.aspx

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

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CARDIOLOGY SEMINAR — I attended the following on May 21, 2012 — will report on these topics in few posts to follow.

VALVES IN TLV (two-lung ventilation)
OPENING
Dr. Francesco Maisano
Dr. Michael Mack
Dr. David Brown

STRUCTURAL HEART DISEASE
LEFT ATRIAL APPENDAGE CLOSURE; NEW TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
Dr. William Cohn, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas

“OFF LABEL” PERCUTANEOUS VALVE IMPLANTATIONS – CONSIDERATIONS, CORONARIES AND IMAGING
Dr. Elchanan Bruckheimer, Rabin Medical Center, Israel

MITRAL VALVE
EVALVE: WHERE WE ARE? WHAT EVIDENCE IS AVAILABLE AND WHAT IS MISSING
Dr. Michael Mack, Baylor Heart Hospital, Dallas, USA

OTHER MITRAL VALVE TECHNOLOGIES: HYPE OR HOPE? (MITRALIGN, GDS)
Dr. Eberhard Grube, Bonn University Germany

VALTECH CARDIO: PROVIDING THE FULL SPECTRUM FOR INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY AND SURGERY
Dr. Francesco Maisano,  HSR Milan, Italy

MITRAL VALVE REPLACEMENT: WHERE ARE WE?
Dr. Michael Mack, Baylor Heart Hospital, Dallas, USA

NEOVASC: A NEW APPROACH TO TRANSCATHETER MITRAL VALVE REPLACEMENT
Prof. Shmuel Banai, Souraski Medical Center, Israel

TEN YEARS FOR TAVI (Transcatheter Aortic-Valve Implantation) –   
LESSONS LEARNED AND WHAT IS THE FUTURE           

EDWARDS SAPIEN: BALLOON EXPANDABLE VALVES: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE DOUBTS
Dr. David Brown, Baylor Heart Hospital, Dallas, USA

COREVALVE: THE FIRST SELF EXPANDABLE VALVE: NEW FEATURES AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Dr. Eberhard Grube, Bonn University, Germany

PORTICO SAINT JUDE: NEXT GENERATION SELF EXPANDING VALVE
Dr. Greg Fontana, Lenox Hill New York, USA

SADRA MEDICAL: THE LONG ROAD TO SUCCESS
Prof. Eberhard Grube, Bonn University Germany

DIRECT FLOW: THE VALUE OF REPOSITIONABILITY
Francesco Maisano, HSR Milan, Italy

THINKING WAY OUTSIDE THE BOX
Dr. William Cohn, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA

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