UCSF Heart Specialists Share Expertise at Annual Cardiology Conference
Cardiology experts from UCSF Health presented new research and clinical findings at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) Annual Scientific Session and Expo in New Orleans, March 28 to 30. The 75th annual conference brought together leading cardiology researchers and clinicians, helping to shape clinical practices and research directions for a global audience.
This year’s scientific program featured the latest developments in clinical research by experts from the UCSF’s Division of Cardiology. UCSF investigators and clinicians participated in presentations in such areas as interventional cardiology, pulmonary vascular disease, congenital heart disease, critical care cardiology, electrophysiology, and AI in cardiovascular imaging and diagnostics.
UCSF Presentations (all times CDT):
Intensive Sessions on Artificial Intelligence:
Rima Arnaout, MD, a physician-scientist and principal investigator at the Arnaout Lab at UCSF, was a panelist during the artificial intelligence intensive session “Artificial Intelligence Intensive III: Pixels to Prognosis – Research Frontiers in Cardiovascular Health AI Featuring the Zipes Distinguished Young Scientist Awardee Keynote” (#260). This session explored the cutting-edge integration of artificial intelligence into cardiovascular diagnostics, with a focus on electrocardiography (ECG) and echocardiography (Echo) and included insights into the current evidence, clinical applications, and implementation strategies for AI tools in cardiovascular care.
Arnaout also presented “Challenges of Using and Integrating AI in Clinical Settings” during the artificial intelligence intensive session “From Code to Clinic: AI Transforming Cardiac Imaging” (#304). This session covered currently available technologies, practical challenges with implementation, and future advancements in AI for cardiovascular imaging.
James Pirruccello, MD, a cardiologist and UCSF assistant professor of Cardiology, was a panelist for artificial intelligence intensive session “Tech or Therapy? Is Innovation or Tradition Better for Preventing CV?” (#378). This session featured two high-impact debates on the future of cardiovascular prevention. Experts faced off on whether renal denervation or aggressive medical therapy offers superior blood pressure control. Then, AI-driven models were pitted against classic risk tools in predicting coronary artery disease as Pirruccello and others discussed whether cutting-edge innovation or time-tested therapy holds the key to better outcomes.
Scientific Sessions:
Zian Tseng, MD, MAS, a cardiologist cardiac electrophysiologist and UCSF professor of Cardiology, presented “Precision Diagnostics After Cardiac Arrest: Right Diagnosis for the Right Patient” (#282) during the scientific session on ischemic heart disease “Shocking the System: Reimagining Care for Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest.” Tseng’s presentation leveraged the insights learned from his one-of-a-kind, post-sudden cardiac death study, which uses gold-standard postmortem investigation of cardiac arrest non-survivors to uncover the true underlying causes of cardiac arrest, only half of which are truly cardiac. Other causes include occult overdose, aortic dissection, pulmonary embolism, hemorrhage, sepsis, neurologic causes like stroke, and others. Tseng believes understanding the true underlying causes is essential in order to move the needle on improving cardiac arrest survival which has plateaued at 10% for decades.
Sammy Elmariah, MD, an interventional cardiologist and chief of Interventional Cardiology at UCSF, was a panelist for the late-breaking clinical trial research session “Featured Clinical Research IV” (#291). He reviewed results of the ALERT Trial, a cluster randomized trial evaluating the impact of automated electronic clinician alerts on improving the care of patients with aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation.
Christopher Lee, MD, a cardiologist hypertrophic cardiomyopathy specialist and UCSF assistant professor of Cardiology, served as co-chair for the scientific session “Valve Clarity: Leveraging Advanced Imaging for Assessment of Valvular Pathology” (#341). He presented “Severe-ish? Navigating Diagnostic Uncertainty in Patients with Aortic Regurgitation.” Lee discussed the role of cardiac MRI for aortic regurgitation, particularly when it is difficult to elucidate on echocardiography, and spoke about the added metrics that can be used with MRI to assess aortic regurgitation and long-term cardiac remodeling.
Samuel Brusca, MD, a cardiologist and UCSF critical care specialist was a panelist for the scientific session “Critical Care Cardiology Perspectives: Catching Your Breath - What the Clinician Needs to Know About Mechanical Ventilation in Critical Care Cardiology” (#340). This session focused on invasive respiratory support during cardiac critical illness. Experts in respiratory support discussed a physiology-based approach to mechanical ventilation in cardiac critical illness with particular attention paid to approaches in cardiovascular disease such as acute myocardial infarction, mitral regurgitation, pulmonary hypertension/right heart failure, and cardiogenic shock.
Michael Salerno, MD, PhD, a cardiovascular imaging specialist and UCSF professor of Medicine, presented “Case Presentation: Abnormal Stress CMR Quantitative Perfusion” (#347-08) during the scientific session “Beyond Coronary Stenosis: Unraveling INOCA With Multimodality Imaging.” This session explored the pivotal role of advanced multimodality imaging in evaluating vascular function and coronary flow in patients with Ischemia with No Obstructive Coronary Arteries (INOCA).
Town Hall Session:
Samual Brusca, MD, was co-chair of the town hall “Conversations on Pulmonary Vascular Disease Topics” (#314). This town hall covered topics ranging from the new pulmonary embolism guidelines, novel therapeutics for all pulmonary hypertension groups, clinical care conundrums, and imaging.
Moderated Poster Presentations:
Marc Simon, MD, MS, cardiologist and director of pulmonary vascular disease and the Pulmonary Hypertension Comprehensive Care Center at UCSF, was the moderator and presenter for “Comparative Longitudinal Echocardiography In PAH: Do Meth-APAH Patients Remodel Differently?” (#1053) during the moderated poster session “Beignets and Pulmonary Hypertension: A Sweet Escape.” In his presentation, Simon evaluated the echocardiographic response of methamphetamine-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension to standard therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension. There is currently very little data documenting the response of these patients to treatment and some have even argued against treating. Simon provided highly needed evidence of a measurable response to treatment.
River Jiang, MD, an advanced echocardiography fellow at UCSF, presented his poster “Automated Non-Invasive Prediction of a Complete Hemodynamic Profile: A Deep Learning Approach to Echocardiographic Interpretation” during the moderated poster session “Highlighted Original Research: Multimodal Imaging” (#909). Accurate assessment of intracardiac pressures is important, with right heart catheterization serving as the gold standard. Conventional echocardiographic estimations demonstrate modest correlations with invasive measurements. Jiang and his colleagues developed a deep learning model to predict the complete spectrum of right heart catheterization-derived hemodynamic parameters directly from standard 2D and color Doppler transthoracic echocardiographic videos. The study found that deep learning can accurately predict invasive hemodynamic pressures from echocardiographic videos, with particular advantages for LV filling pressure assessment. This approach provides standardized, comprehensive hemodynamic profiling, potentially offering improved accuracy for non-invasive cardiovascular assessment.
Ruby Tang, UCSF medical student, presented her poster “Care Fragmentation Among Adults with Congenital Heart Disease at Tertiary Centers” (#1050-7) during the moderated poster session “ACHD.” Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) often experience care fragmentation (CF), defined as care spread across multiple health systems. CF has been linked to worse outcomes, yet its extent and predictors in ACHD care remain unclear. From 13 tertiary centers’ electronic health data (2015-2022), Tang and her colleagues used a hierarchical algorithm to identify ACHD patients aged 18-65 with ≥3 years of continuous care. The study found that only one in nine ACHD patients, primarily those with more comorbidities, receive coordinated care with both PCP and ACHD specialists at the same system. The study provides critical evidence to improve ACHD care coordination and highlight demographic targets for future interventions.
Christabelle Junaidi, a UCSF medical student, presented her poster “Maternal Cardiovascular Risk Factors as Predictors for Postpartum Depression: An Analysis of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, 2016-2022” (#1049-07) during the moderated poster session “Advances in Understanding Cardiovascular Risk After Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes.” Postpartum depression (PPD) affects one in seven birthing individuals, and recent research has shown an association between PPD and future cardiovascular disease (CVD). The mechanisms underlying this association remain unknown. Junaidi and her colleagues sought to examine whether maternal CVD risk factors before and during pregnancy are associated with PPD. This study included 202,685 participants with 10% reported PPD. In multivariable analysis, pre-pregnancy maternal CVD risk factors were associated with increased odds of PPD, highlighting the importance of optimizing cardiovascular health prior to pregnancy.
Interactive Sessions:
Kirsten Fleischmann, MD, a cardiologist specializing in echocardiography and UCSF professor of Cardiology, served as echo imaging expert panelist during the multimodal imaging guidelines session “Parade of Patients: Cardiovascular Testing Before Non-Cardiac Surgery and Sports Participation” (#230). In this session, patient scenarios relevant to the 2024 Guideline for Perioperative Cardiovascular Management for Noncardiac Surgery and other commonly encountered clinical screening scenarios were presented in 'rapid-fire' succession to the audience, an 'Imaging Expert' team, and a 'Master Clinician' team. Each team chose their ‘next best step’ for each patient (e.g., no testing/medical optimization, exercise ECG, stress echocardiography, SPECT MPI, PET MPI, coronary CTA, stress cardiac MRI, invasive coronary angiography) to better understand how the new guideline has impacted real-time clinical decision-making.
Sammy Elmariah, MD, served as structural interventionalist team member for the game show session “The Valve Wars: Transcatheter Triumph or Surgical Supremacy?” (#202). This debate-style session pitted expert structural interventionalists against leading cardiac surgeons in a spirited competition over today’s most pressing controversies in valvular heart disease intervention. Top voices in the field challenged each other’s perspectives, sharing cutting-edge insights, and engaging in discussions designed to deepen understanding of this evolving landscape in cardiology.
Poster Presentations:
Please visit ACC26 for complete meeting abstract and session information.
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