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September-October 2011 Archives:
October 5, 2011 -- 12:10pm EDT In Memoriam: J. Willis Hurst, MD
Above all he was a teacher. Countless cardiologists went through his classes at Emory and he shaped the views and outlook of many thousands of physicians. You can read more about Dr. Hurst in a letter from his colleagues, posted on the Emory website. He was a Fellow of Dr. Paul Dudley White, considered the founder of American academic cardiology, and Hurst served as President Lyndon Johnson's personal cardiologist for 18 years. But Hurst also had a hand in fostering what became a revolution in cardiology.
J. Willis Hurst, as Chairman of the Department, was instrumental in meeting Gruentzig's needs, both academically and, well...check out the short video clip below. I had the honor of interviewing Hurst for my documentary, "PTCA: A History" and he told me what Gruentzig asked for in order to come to Emory.
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September 23, 2011 -- 11:20am EDT Cross-Country
Training for Transradial Wrist Angioplasty
So why are only 5% of U.S. procedures done via the wrist while figures in other countries run 50-80%? One reason has been training. In the U.S. cardiology fellows are trained in the femoral (leg/groin) approach, because that's what's practiced at their hospitals. So it's been a self-perpetuating practice. But this is changing. Rapidly.This fall no less than eight major training courses in the transradial technique were scheduled: from North Carolina to San Francisco (you can see these on Angioplasty.Org's list of upcoming transradial approach training courses) -- more than were available during an entire year, maybe two, just a short while ago. Next up on October 14 is a one-day course in San Francisco, the Transradial Intervention Program (TRIP) that since last November has been held at a number of centers by the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI). The following weekend of October 20-21 is the first advanced two-day course being run by Duke Clinical Research Institute, which also conducted a one-day course last weekend. November brings a course at the Mid-America Heart Institute in Kansas City, MO and then an afternoon of over 20 presentations at the TCT 2011 meeting in San Francisco, the largest annual gathering of interventional cardiologists in the U.S. Patients and physicians who want to learn more about this growing technique can read more about it at Angioplasty.Org's Transradial Access Center. « permalink » « send comment » « back to top »
September 8, 2011 -- 6:45pm EDT Transradial Angioplasty Training in Las
Vegas
And Dr. Richard Heuser has been performing PCIs since the beginning days of balloons and stents -- so his perspective on why the transradial approach offers significant benefits is definitely of import to cardiologists across the U.S. As he states in his interview, if you utilize the transradial approach:
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Having
an coronary angiogram or heart stent placed via the wrist approach
is common in Europe. India and Japan -- much less so in the U.S.
-- even though the wrist (transradial) approach offers lower complications
and higher patient comfort. Some studies have even shown that the
radial approach, with its significantly lower bleeding complications,
is superior in treating heart attacks (STEMI) since those patients
need to be on high levels of anticoagulation meds.
This
weekend Richard R. Heuser, MD, FSCAI and John E. Lassetter, MD, FSCAI
of St. Luke's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona will
be conducting