Video: ACC 2011: Structural heart disease repairs place demand optimal imaging choices
In this 5-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. John Carroll reports that the introduction of new devices for structural heart disease has been accompanied by parallel developments in imaging.

Video: ACC 2011: Hypothermia being actively pursued to preserve myocardium in acute MI
In this 4-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. David Erlinge reports on the progress so far in developing hypothermia as a tool to limit the damage to heart muscle from an acute myocardial infarction (MI).

ACC 2011: 2D versus 3D imaging for aortic annulus assessment
New findings presented at the ACC conference have revealed which 2D and 3D imaging techniques are most appropriate for the measurement of aortic annulus diameters before transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

Video: ACC 2011: Home monitoring of sleep apnea expected to improve outcome in heart failure
In this 1.5-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. William T. Abraham explains that sleep apnea occurs in approximately 70% of patients with heart failure, but it is underdiagnosed in many countries, including the U.S.. He suggested that there is a critical need for more aggressive efforts toward diagnosis and treatment.
 

Video: ACC 2011: Monitoring strategies in heart failure patients designed to reduce readmissions
In this 5-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. John Cleland reports that two separate strategies are being tested to reduce heart failure decompensation and hospital readmission. One evaluates a comprehensive home monitoring strategy. The other evaluates a health maintenance strategy.

Video: ACC 2011: Continuity of care after hospital discharge tackled with home monitoring
In this 4.5-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), Dr. Eric Silfen explains that there is an important new initiative to provide continuity of care after hospital discharge. The initiative, which is being promoted by the ACC and others, has been given the formal acronym of H2H, which stands for hospital to home care.

Video: ACC 2011: Risk factors for tricuspid regurgitation in patients with atrial fibrillation identified
In this 1.5-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Mohammad Najib discusses predictors of severe functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTG) in patients with atrial fibrillation. In this retrospective study, which compared 42 patients with severe FTG to a control group of 38 atrial fibrillation patients with no more than mild FTG, he is able to identify key risk factors for this complication.

ACC 2011: CCTA reduces unnecessary hospital admissions
Using coronary CT angiography (CCTA) to evaluate acute chest pain in an emergency department significantly reduces the number of unnecessary hospital admissions, according to the findings of a large study presented at the ACC conference.

ACC 2011: FDG-PET provides aortic plaque insights
The relationship between 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake and aortic atherosclerosis has been explored in a new study presented at the ACC conference.

Video: ACC 2011: Gender differences found in CT scans relative to cardiovascular risk factors
In this 2.5-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Kavitha Chinnaiyan discusses gender differences in computed tomography (CT) scanning. From a database of 25,000 patients, Dr. Chinnaiyan reports that women have greater disease than men on CT scans for a comparable clinical risk score. She then evaluates whether women may not be receiving adequately aggressive therapy.

Video: ACC 2011: Even the most reluctant physicians typically prefer EMR after the switch
In this 4-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. James E. Tcheng acknowledges that transitioning from a paper-based to an electronic medical records (EMR) system incurs an initial disruption. However, the period of transition is relatively brief, and physicians benefit from a substantial increase in efficiency. Once adopted, EMR just becomes part of the daily routine.

Video: ACC 2011: Electronic referral letters are a carrot for physicians to embrace EMR
In this 4-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Lee R. Goldberg explains how his institution used referral letters to induce cardiologists to engage into an electronic medical records (EMR) initiative. As easily generated referral letters depended on incorporating electronic data, these provided an impetus for physicians to join in electronic data creation.

Video: ACC 2011: H2H (Hospital to Home) Is Rapidly Expanding Outcome Improvement Initiative
In this 4-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz discusses a large collaborative initiative called H2H that is pursuing the goal of improving post-discharge care to reduce readmission rates. Heart failure patients are the initial focus.

ACC 2011: Digital dosimeter use cuts X-ray exposure
Wearing a digital dosimeter that provides live feedback on X-ray exposure leads to a significant reduction in X-ray screening times during pacemaker implantation procedures, according to new study findings presented at the ACC conference.

ACC 2011: CCTA improves risk prediction in coronary artery disease
According to researchers in Germany, coronary CT angiography (CCTA) improves the predictive accuracy of both clinical risk predictors and calcium scoring (CASC) for severe cardiac events in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD).

ACC 2011: Assessing risk algorithms for elderly valve-replacement patients
In elderly patients undergoing aortic valve replacements, the STS predictive risk of mortality algorithm is more accurate than the LES algorithm in predicting mortality risk, according to the results of a large observational study.

Video: ACC 2011: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) Found Effective in High Risk Patients
In this 2-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Craig R. Smith reports that a large, randomized trial has demonstrated that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is equivalent open heart surgical replacement of the aortic valve in high risk patients. Due to the recovery advantages of TAVR, this approach is expected to be a new standard in high risk patients.

Video: ACC 2011: Transcatheter aortic valve intervention (TAVI) demands program coordinator
In this 3.5-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Martina Speight, RN discusses the major challenges of coordinating cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, and anaesthesiologists to produce a successful TAVI program.

ACC 2011: Noninvasive assessment of plaque burden "promising"
Specialists have concluded that noninvasive surveillance of coronary plaque volume changes using multidetector CT "appears promising".

ACC 2011: Treating sleep apnea reduces AF risk
Treating obstructive sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can significantly reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), according to new data presented at the ACC conference.

Video: ACC 2011: Transradial catheterization is growing rapidly in popularity
In this 3-minute video interview conducted at the 2011 meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Akshay K. Khandelwal explains why the transradial route of catheterization is rapidly superseding the transfemoral route for diagnostic and invasive procedures. Although he does not believe that all catheterizations are best performed by entering through the wrist artery with the current state of technology, this may change.