Leslee Shaw, PhD, and former presidents of both SCCT and ASNC discusses the role of CT and FFR-CT in the 2021 chest pain guidelines.

VIDEO: Cardiac CT now recommended as a front-line chest pain assessment tool

Leslee Shaw, PhD, director of the Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and former president of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC), explains the role of cardiac computed tomography (CT) in the recent 2021 chest pain guidelines.

Edward Fry, MD, is the 2022-23 ACC president.

Q&A: New ACC President Edward Fry discusses the past, present and future of cardiology

Fry joined us for an exclusive interview, discussing lessons learned during the pandemic, some key ways to address physician burnout and much more. 

The ASNC is one of several medical imaging societies asking Congress to repeal the appropriate use criteria (AUC) criteria mandate. They say it poses issues for clinicians and is becoming outdated by changes in CMS payment systems. The AUC requirements call for documentation using CVMS authorized software in order to show advanced imaging such as nuclear and CT is justified, or else Medicare payments might be withheld.

American Society of Nuclear Cardiology urges Congress to speed prior authorizations, repeal AUC mandate 

Over the past few weeks, members of ASNC’s Health Policy Committee have held meetings with their members of Congress.

covid-19 money virus coronavirus dollar

American Heart Association awards $10.6M to researchers investigating the long-term cardiovascular effects of COVID-19

The grants went to 11 different research teams in the United States and are expected to fund these projects for three years.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) annual meeting is the premier source for the latest cardiac science. #ACC22

Links to the ACC.22 late-breaking clinical trials

Learn more about the late-breaking studies presented at ACC.22 in Washington, D.C. 

VIDEO: TAVR durability outperforms surgical valves

Michael J. Reardon, MD, professor of cardiothoracic surgery and Allison Family Distinguished chair of cardiovascular research at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, presented pooled data at ACC.22 from the CoreValve SURTAVI trials that found transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) was more durable than surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) devices.

Nurses caring for a COVID-19 patient in the COVID unit at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix.

An updated look at what cardiologists know about heart damage among COVID-19 patients

An international analysis published in Circulation and a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association both explore the latest data on heart complications associated with COVID-19. 

Adam Greenbaum, MD, Emory, explains the CLASP TR trial of the Pascal clip device for transcatheter repair, which was a late-breaking ACC22 study.

VIDEO: Pascal effective in transcatheter repair of tricuspid valve regurgitation

Adam Greenbaum, MD, co-director of the Structural Heart and Valve Center at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, explains details from the late-breaking CLASP TR trial at ACC.22.

Around the web

Ron Blankstein, MD, professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, explains the use of artificial intelligence to detect heart disease in non-cardiac CT exams.

Eleven medical societies have signed on to a consensus statement aimed at standardizing imaging for suspected cardiovascular infections.