New findings show improved care of severe aortic stenosis with electronic provider notifications while others raise concerns about inaccuracies in pulse oximetry measures.
Cardiology experts from UCSF Health presented new research and clinical findings at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) 74th Annual Scientific Session and Expo in Chicago, March 29-31.
This year’s program featured presentations from UCSF Division of Cardiology investigators and clinicians on such topics as interventional cardiology, pulmonary vascular disease, congenital heart disease, critical care cardiology, electrophysiology and AI in cardiovascular imaging and diagnostics.
Featured Clinical Research
Sammy Elmariah, MD, an interventional cardiologist and chief of Interventional Cardiology at UCSF was senior author and presenter for “Electronic Provider Notification to Facilitate the Recognition and Management of Severe Aortic Stenosis: The DETECT AS Trial” during the Featured Clinical Research I session. Elmariah reported on the results of a randomized clinical trial with Massachusetts General Hospital, evaluating the impact of electronic provider notifications (EPN) on treatment of patients with severe aortic stenosis. In this first-of-its-kind study, EPN increased rates of aortic valve replacement (AVR) for severe aortic stenosis, lessened gender and age disparities in AVR utilization and improved survival time. The results showed EPN may provide a simple, scalable intervention to raise awareness of critical transthoracic echocardiogram findings and improve the quality of care for severe aortic stenosis.
Elmariah was also a panelist at the Primetime Event symposium “Referral of Severe Aortic Stenosis: Are Patient Pathways Changing?” This symposium featured a roundtable discussion regarding the latest clinical data in the management of severe aortic stenosis. Expert clinicians discussed how these findings impact patients, including the benefits of prompt referral and early intervention to achieve optimal outcomes in this challenging patient population.
Carolyn Hendrickson, MD, MPH, a pulmonary and critical care medicine subspecialist and UCSF associate professor of Medicine, was first author and presenter of “The Equiox Study: Evaluating Pulse Oximeter Bias Across a Range of Skin Pigment in Critically Ill Adults” during the late-breaking clinical trials session. A discussion followed the presentation of the study, which had the primary aim of measuring the bias in pulse oximeter blood oxygen measurements across a range of skin pigmentations among critically ill patients with hypoxia (low blood oxygen levels). The study found that the differences, or bias, between estimates of blood oxygen saturation levels as measured with pulse oximeters compared to the gold-standard method of measuring oxygen saturation in arterial blood varied significantly between patients with darkly pigmented skin compared to lighter skin pigment.
Samuel Brusca, MD, a cardiologist and UCSF critical care specialist, presented “POCUS (Cardiac)” and “POCUS (Pericardiocentesis)” during the special topic session “Hands-on Learning: Critical Care Cardiology – Survival Skills in the CICU II.” The session was a simulation learning experience, with five hands-on simulation stations, including common procedures, therapies and diagnostic tests frequently seen in a contemporary cardiac intensive care unit. This included high fidelity simulation with key clinical scenarios in invasive hemodynamic monitoring, point-of-care lung ultrasound, focus cardiac ultrasound, mechanical circulatory support and pericardiocentesis. Brusca also served as a panelist for the special topic session “Surviving in the CICU: Early Career Conundrums and Burnout in Critical Care Cardiology.”
Marc Simon, MD, MS, cardiologist and director of pulmonary vascular disease and the Pulmonary Hypertension Comprehensive Care Center at UCSF, was a panelist, first author and presenter for “Methamphetamine and PAH” during a scientific session on pulmonary vascular disease “High Stakes! Complex Clinical Cases in Pulmonary.” The session delved into methamphetamine-associated PAH (pulmonary arterial hypertension), connective tissue disease-related pulmonary hypertension and critical care challenges. Simon also served as co-chair of the pulmonary vascular disease session “Highlighted Original Research: Pulmonary Vascular Disease and the Year in Review.”
James Pirruccello, MD, a cardiologist and UCSF assistant professor of Cardiology, was the moderator for the multimodal imaging session “Putting the IQ into Artificial Intelligence for Cardiac Imaging,” about how AI is transforming cardiovascular imaging. He also served as moderator for the moderated poster session “CardioHacks: Innovative Solutions for Heart Health,” which focused on devices and tools that use AI to improve cardiovascular health.
Theodore Abraham, MD, FACC, FASE, a cardiologist and co-director of UCSF’s Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of Excellence, served as co-chair of the multimodal imaging session “Multimodality Imaging Unlocks the Secrets of HCM: Joint Symposium of the American Society of Echocardiology and the American College of Cardiology.” The session focused on the importance of multimodality imaging for diagnosing and managing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Cased-based examples provided a practical approach to echocardiography, cardiac myocardial resonance imaging and cardiac-computed tomography.
Shabnam Peyvandi, MD, MAS, a pediatric cardiologist and director of UCSF’s pediatric cardiovascular research program, was a panelist, first author and presenter for “Telemedicine Approaches to Fetal Care” during the congenital heart disease session “Access to Quality Life Long Congenital Heart Health: Myth or Reality?” The overarching aim of the study is to provide uninterrupted life-long care to patients with congenital heart disease while multidimensional factors pose barriers to this goal. Major life events, mental health, health care infrastructure, political policy shifts, geographical scarcity and the disparity in practicing subspecialty cardiologists threatens to undermine care delivery. She was also co-chair of the congenital heart disease session “Neurodevelopment in Congenital Heart Disease: Across the Lifespan.”
Christopher Barnett, MD, MPH, a cardiologist, critical care specialist and CICU director at UCSF, presented “POCUS (Lung)” during special topic session “Hands-on Learning: Critical Care Cardiology – Survival Skills in the CICU V.” The session was a simulation learning experience, with five hands-on simulation stations, including common procedures, therapies and diagnostic tests frequently seen in a contemporary cardiac intensive care unit. This included high fidelity simulation with key clinical scenarios in invasive hemodynamic monitoring, point-of-care lung ultrasound, focused cardiac ultrasound, mechanical circulatory support and pericardiocentesis. Barnett also served as a panelist for the special topic session “Surviving in the CICU: Early Career Conundrums and Burnout in Critical Care Cardiology.”
Yousif Ahmad, MBBS, PhD, was a panelist for the scientific session “Trials and Tribulations: Top Interventional Trials of 2024.” The session reviewed the top four interventional cardiology trials of 2024, which were pitted against each other in a March Madness-style bracket with one trial being crowned the winner by the audience after a lively series of debates. Ahmad reviewed the TRISCEND II Trial.
Please visit ACC25 for complete meeting abstract and session information.
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