University Place

Caring for Your Heart and Arteries

[Richard Page, Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health]

Good evening, everyone. So, I’m a surgeon and surgeon always start on time, and it’s 6:30 and medical school is in session.

So, now we’re going to get things going. Those of you who have been here before, Craig and I usually have easier duty than this. We get to sit down and watch, but today we are part of the – the event. I never get to introduce Craig Kent but let me just briefly.

Craig was recruited by our dean, Bob Golden, who sends his regards, a year and a half before I was recruited, from New York. He could choose to go to just about any medical center, university, in the country, but he was recruited here because he saw something special that he then convinced me was absolutely the case too here in Wisconsin at the School of Medicine and Public Health. His department of surgery, they do great clinical care. Remarkable results, I think is the brand. But – but beyond the excellent care clinical care, they’re also educators and they are scientists, and they are consistently in the top 10 nationwide in terms of N.I.H. funding. So, please join me in welcoming our moderator for today’s session, my good and friend and colleague, Dr. Craig Kent. Let me say that again. Dr. Craig Kent.

[applause]

[K. Craig Kent, Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health]

Thank you, Rick. That’s very kind. Again, I think we have a really great program for you, and the central theme is going to be two patients. This is Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

[slide titled – Mrs. (and Mr.) Smith – featuring a photo of an aged, disgruntled couple sitting on a couch under a sign that says, Happy Anniversary]

[laughter]

Now, you can’t see there, but they’re celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary.

[laughter]

And they’re having a hell of a time. [laughs]

[laughter]

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

Okay.

So – so – so, Martha [laughs] Martha Smith, has problems with her carotid arteries and she has some heart disease, and – and Mr. Smith has had an aneurysm and also has a valve problem in his heart. So -so, they’re struggling a little bit, and what they did is came to us at the University of Wisconsin Cardiovascular Center, okay, where we happen to have what we call the magic potion.

[slide titled – The University of Wisconsin Cardiovascular Center – featuring a photo of Bucky Badger on the right and a stopped beaker filled with a red potion on the left and the words – The U.W. potion]

And I think that’s the focus of tonight’s talk is to tell you a little bit about what that magic potion might be. Badgers go. And – and so, they had a little of that magic potion –

[new slide featuring a slim and spry aged couple in sunglasses standing on a boardwalk]

– and, you know, this is the result.

[laughter]

Now, results are not –

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

– guaranteed. [laughs]

[laughter]

In any event, we – we do have a story to tell you. And we’re going to begin with a younger Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They’re in their 50s. Mrs. Smith works as a 6th grade teacher and becomes a –

[slide titled – Mr. and Mrs. Smith – with the following bio underneath – Mr. and Mrs. Smith are in their 50s. Mrs. Smith who works as a 6th grade teacher, becomes lightheaded for 1-2 minutes while instructing her class then collapses. Within a few seconds she is responsive but feels nauseated and clammy. She refuses to all the school to call paramedics but takes the rest of the day off. Her primary care doctor then refers her to U.W. specialist, Dr. Hamdan]

– bit lightheaded a couple of minutes while she’s instructing her class, and then she collapses. Within a few seconds, she’s responsive again. She wakes up, but she’s kind of nauseated, a little clammy, and just doesn’t feel well. You know, everybody around her says, Mrs. Smith, you’ve got to go to the hospital, you’ve got to be checked. The school actually calls the paramedics, but she doesn’t go in and takes the rest of the day off.

She does go to her primary care doc, and he refers her to a U.W. specialist –

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

– Dr. Hamdan. So, I’ll introduce Dr. Hamdan, who is the Mildred and Marv Conney Endowed Chair in Cardiology, and –

[slide titled – Mohamed Hamdan, M.D., M.B.A. – that features a headshot photograph of Dr. Hamdan and his title, Mildred and Marv Conney Endowed Chair in Cardiology, Professor and Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, U.W. School of Medicine and Public Health]

– he’s also the professor – professor and chief of the Division of Cardiology at U.W. Dr. Hamdan is a national, maybe that’s not right, worldwide expert in arrhythmias. He’s published very widely. He’s been the principle investigator of multiple trials on atrial fibrillation and multiple other studies around arrhythmias. He’s published over 75 articles and authored a number of books and chapters related to this process.

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

So, please welcome Dr. Hamdan, our Chief of Cardiology.

[applause]

[Dr. Mohamed Hamdan, Head, Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health]

Thank you, Craig, for the kind introduction. And good evening, everyone, and thank you all for being with us this evening.

So, the subject of my next eight to 10 minutes is fainting spells. How do we approach patients with fainting spells?

So, fainting, first, is a very common problem. As we get older, the likelihood of you having had a fainting spell in your life increases.

[slide titled – Fainting Spells – which has the following bulleted list – Fainting is a very common problem with increased incidence in the elderly; There are many causes including cardiovascular, neurologic, metabolic and psychogenic; When fainting is due to a sudden drop in blood pressure, it is called syncope]

Around 50% of patients, by the age of 70-80, would have had at least one fainting spell.

There are many causes why people faint. The most common are cardiovascular causes, but also you can lose consciousness because of a neurologic problem, a stroke or seizure, or due to a metabolic problem such as low blood sugar. When we suspect that fainting is due to a transient drop in blood pressure and the brain not getting enough oxygen, we call that syncope.

[new slide called – Loss of Consciousness – Diagnostic Flow – which features a flow chart of loss of consciousness starting at top with Complete Loss – if yes, may be syncope, if no, consider falls, T.I.A., Stroke, Dizziness, Psychogenic; if loss Transient, Short duration – if yes may be syncope, if no, consider neurologic, intoxication; if loss is Rapid Onset – if yes, may be syncope, if no, consider Metabolic, Intoxication, T.I.A., stroke, Psychogenic; if loss recovery is spontaneous, complete and prompt, if yes, may be syncope, if no, consider Epilepsy; if there is loss of postural tone, if yes, maybe syncope, if no, consider Epilepsy]

So, there are a lot of elements of the history that tell us whether this was a syncopal event or not. Usually with syncope, the onset is relatively abrupt, the duration of loss of consciousness is usually quite short, 30 seconds or less, and the recovery is spontaneous and complete. You don’t need to do C.P.R. Patients, within a minute or two, they know exactly where they are. So, when you have all these elements that highly suggests that what you had was a syncopal event. If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you should suspect a neurologic event or a metabolic event.

[Dr. Mohamed Hamdan, on-camera]

It’s important to know why the patient lost consciousness. Not only to better treat them, but also to share with them the prognosis. So, this is data from the Framingham study –

[slide titled – Survival in Patients with Fainting Spells – featuring a graph with follow-up in years on the x-axis and Probability of Survival on the y-axis, showing that the probability of survival decreases over time for each of these causes for fainting spells – no syncope, Vasovagal and others, Unknown, Neurologic cause, and Cardiac cause. Cardiac cause has the lowest probability of survival followed by Neurologic, Unknown, no syncope, and vasovagal (highest)]

– which is a large cardiovascular study involving thousands of patients, looking at survival in patients who had an episode of loss of consciousness. And what you see in red here is that the survival is the worst when it’s due to a cardiac cause. On the other hand, when it’s a benign cause, that I’m going to be discussing later, the prognosis is excellent, and it’s not much different than patients who never had a fainting spell.

[Dr. Hamdan, on-camera]

On the average, patients who have a fainting spell, they see around three doctors before a diagnosis is made.

[slide titled – Patients May Enter The Healthcare System at Multiple Points – featuring a diagram with a yellow circle with an illustrated woman on crutches in the middle and around the circle are illustrations of doctors and nurses representing the points of entry into the healthcare system which include – Emergency, Neurologist, Cardiologist, Internist and Family/General Practice. The slide also notes that people have 10.2 visits per year with visits to 3.2 different specialists and they make multiple physician visits]

They often present to the emergency room if they had trauma, otherwise they see their primary care physician, and then they get referred to a cardiologist and maybe neurologists. And, on the average, they see three doctors, and the rate of diagnosis despite all these visits is around 50%.

So, that was really –

[new slide titled – Faint and Fall Clinic (FFC) – featuring the following bulleted list – The FFC is a unique service offered to assist emergency doctors, primary care physicians, and other health care providers in the evaluation of patients with faint or fall; It offers a multidisciplinary, guideline-driven approach to prompt diagnosis and treatment; HCP (Health Care Providers) include Cardiology, Geriatric, and Neurology]

– the trigger for creating the Faint and Fall Clinic that we started three years ago here at the University of Wisconsin. The idea with the Faint and Fall Clinic is instead of –

[Dr. Hamdan, on-camera]

– you going and seeing all these doctors, we bring all the specialists to you. So, this clinic is staffed by a cardiologist, a geriatrician, and a neurologist as needed, and patients are seen within 24 hours if need be. And the approach in the clinic is very standardized. In other words, we don’t order every test hoping that we make the diagnosis. We follow protocols that are driven by the guidelines.

So, what is our approach in the Faint and Fall Clinic? Well, the first question is – we ask is, does the patient need to be admitted to the hospital? Often, when you have a fainting spell, the concern is, is this a precursor of sudden death? Is this a precursor of a heart attack? Do I need to be admitted to the hospital? And there are several elements that –

[slide featuring a flow chart of admission to the Faint and Fall Clinic starting with the initial assessment – 1.H&P exam 2. Orthostatic testing 3. ECG 4. Echocardiogram 5. Laboratory tests – do they meet hospital admission criteria? If yes, then in-hospital evaluation, if no, then is the diagnosis certain? If yes, then treatment, if no, then it is an uncertain diagnosis. Is it cardiac syncope? Then cardiac monitoring. Is it Reflex syncope? Then Tilt Table Testing. Is it Delayed Orthostatic Hypotension? Then Tilt Table Testing. Is it a non-syncopal faint? Then Psychogenic evaluation. On the slide Admission criteria is highlighted in yellow]

– of the history, and – and we look at your records and try to determine whether the patient needs to be admitted or not. Majority of cases you do not need to be admitted. Only very few patients required admission for further evaluation of a fainting spell.

The next question is, do we know what went on? Do we know – do we know the diagnosis before ordering any tests? And sometimes we – we know the diagnosis just listening to the patient and checking their blood pressure and vital signs. And after that –

[the slide now highlights the – is the diagnosis certain? – question in yellow]

– if we have a diagnosis that’s certain, then we initiate treatment.

[the slide now highlights the – is the diagnosis uncertain? – question in yellow]

If the diagnosis is uncertain, then there are several possibilities why the patient had syncope.

[the slide also now highlights the question of – Cardiac syncope? – in yellow on the flowchart under the highlighted Uncertain Diagnosis]

The one that concerns us the most is cardiac syncope. And by cardiac syncope I mean losing consciousness because of electrical or mechanical problem in your heart. And if that were to happen, then the pump is not going to be working for a few seconds, and that causes the drop in blood pressure.

[new slide featuring two Electrocardiograms – one at the top of the slide that is normal and one at the bottom of the slide which is abnormal]

So, what you have here on the top is the EKG, normal EKG, of a patient. And these big spikes that you see represent, basically, electrical activation of the bottom chambers of the heart. In patients who have heart disease, particularly patients who have had a heart attack, they are sometimes at risk of having a rapid – very rapid heart rate that can cause your blood pressure to plummet. And these are the things that we are concerned about in somebody with a history of heart disease.

[Dr. Hamdan, on-camera]

And there are several elements again so the history that’s going to help us determine whether this was likely to be a cardiac syncope or not. So, if somebody has a history of heart disease, if they have an abnormal EKG, if they fainted with exercise, if they fainted while lying flat, if they had palpitations before losing consciousness, all these are red flags that the event was most likely cardiac.

The second most common type of fainting, by far, actually it is the most common type, is what we call reflex syncope. And reflex syncope is the medical term we use when your cardiovascular system shuts down for a few seconds.

[return to the Initial Faint Assessment flowchart slide now with the question – Reflex Syncope? – highlighted in yellow under the highlighted – Uncertain Diagnosis – area of the flowchart]

And the – the – the problem there is that the brain sends the wrong message. And in response to certain triggers, such as seeing blood, getting an IV, standing up for a long period of time, heat, anxiety –

[new slide featuring five photos – the first is a patient doing a tilt table test attended to by a doctor. Underneath this photo is a photo of an EKG from a tilt table test. The third image at the top of the slide is of a human brain and from this image of the brain are two arrows. One points an image of a heart and is labelled – heart rate decreases, the second points to a 3D animated image of a dilated blood vessel and is labelled – vessels dilate. A third arrow pointing down is underneath these two images and is labelled – Blood Pressure Drops]

– all these things could cause the brain to make everything slow down. So, what happens is your heart rate slows down and sometimes may stop for a few seconds, and the vessels dilate. And that combination of the pump not pumping enough and the vessels dilating causes your blood pressure to – to plummet. This is a very benign condition. And, but –

[Dr. Hamdan, on-camera]

– once we make the diagnosis, there are treatments to – to make sure that patients don’t have recurrence of injuries.

In some cases, particularly above the ages of 60 and 70, we have concerns about simply a drop in blood pressure because of too much medications, dehydration, and sometimes neurologic problems that do not allow you to deal well with standing up for a long period of time. So, we call that orthostatic stress –

[return to the Initial Faint Assessment flowchart, again with the Uncertain Diagnosis area highlighted as well as now highlighting the question – Delayed Orthostatic Hypotension? – also highlighted in yellow]

– because the heart is not seeing enough blood, and your cardiovascular system has to work harder to keep your blood pressure where it is. And if it doesn’t do its job, then the blood pressure is gonna – is gonna plummet and that might cause you to faint.

And lastly, sometimes too much stress can cause people to faint, and we call that psychogenic syncope. And – and, in some patients, that’s how they present when they have –

[Dr. Hamdan, on-camera]

– a lot of these problems.

So, with this standardized approach that I summarized in three minutes for you, our rate of diagnosis in the Faint and Fall Clinic at 45 days is 70%. When you compare that to the conventional approach –

[slide featuring a graph titled – Time to Diagnosis – with Days on the x-axis and rate of diagnosis on the y-axis for both the Conventional Approach in red and the Faint and Fall Clinic in blue and showing the much higher success of the Faint and Fall Clinic. The FFC has a rate of 70% over 45 days, while the conventional approach has a rate of 39% over the same 45 days]

– which is the standard of care in most places, it’s around 39%. So, it’s a significant increase in the rate of diagnosis. And this is data that actually we just crunched just the past few days, and with more than 500 patients evaluated in the clinic. The rate of diagnosis at two years was close to 90%. So, we’re very – were very proud –

[Dr. Hamdan, on-camera]

– of that, and now we’re looking at the recurrence rate and – and survival in these patients.

In addition to evaluating patients with fainting spells, we also evaluate patients with falls. And particularly we have interest in patients who have unexplained falls. So, I’m not talking about accidental falls, tripping and so on. We’re talking about patients where, out of nowhere, they – they fall. This is a – a tracing from a patient –

[slide titled – Clinical Case – with the following list of information about the patient – 82-year-old man with recurrent falls; Seizure activity noted after being on the ground; Treatment for seizure disorder resulted in no improvement; Exam and ECG normal. The slide also features two EKG charts at the bottom, and one notes a 3.75 second pause between heartbeats and the second shows noise due to seizure activity]

– 82-year-old retired professor, who has been having these falls two to three times a year for the past several years, and he tells you that, I never had loss of consciousness. Sometimes he has seizure activity after hitting the ground and has been treated for seizures without much improvement. So, long story short, we monitored the patient to see if the falls were due to a sudden drop in blood pressure, and when the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen –

[Dr. Hamdan, on-camera]

– often you lose postural tone, and you can collapse. And what we found that indeed this patient, his heart rate was pausing, and that was causing him to fall. And what you see here is actually the noise –

[return to the previous – Clinical Case – slide with the list and two EKGs]

– artifact because of the seizure activity that he has. So, this patient ended up getting a pacemaker and haven’t had any recurrences.

[new slide titled – Back to Mrs. Smith – featuring three photos of exercises that Mrs. Smith is to do – one leaning against the wall with her feet crossed, one grasping onto a small, folded towel and the last grasping her hands together in front of her and pulling them outward. The rest of the slide features the following diagnosis and treatment – diagnosis – Vasovagal Syncope (benign condition); treatment – 1. Liberal fluid and salt intake. 2. Elevation of the head of the bed. 3. Compression stockings. 4. Counter-pressure Maneuvers (Leg crossing, handgrip, arm tensing)]

So, back to Mrs. Smith. Good for her, the diagnosis is very benign. She has the most common type of fainting that falls under reflex syncope, the one I described earlier. We call it vasovagal syncope. That’s when, again, the brain makes everything slow down. In her case, it’s probably because she’s been standing up for a long period of time. And the hint that that’s what she had is because she felt nauseous and sweaty and had some, you know, warning signs, and that always indicates that this is more likely to be a benign condition. So, treatment is – is straightforward. We give her fluid and – and salt intake. We elevate the head of the bed to minimize what we call nocturnal diuresis so that when she wakes up in the morning, she’s not as dehydrated. Compression stockings are extremely helpful, particularly in patients above the age of 60 and 70. And what you see here are some maneuvers that you can do when you start feeling dizzy that can help elevate your blood pressure and buy you time until you can go and sit –

[Dr. Hamdan, on-camera]

– somewhere and – and recover from the event.

So, with that, this is – this is the number for our Faint and Fall Clinic.

[slide titled – Faint and Fall Clinic and the phone number 608-890-8400 – and featuring the names and headshots of the clinic staff – Kathleen Walsh, DO & MS, Geriatric and Cardiology; Mohamed Hamdan, MD, Cardiovascular Medicine; Jennifer Marks, NP; Trisha Baneck, NP; Joy Amundson, NP]

These are the providers in the clinic, Dr. Walsh, and we have wonderful nurse practitioners. And we have two locations. One here at U.W. and recently opened another Faint and Fall Clinic at the American Center.

So, with that, I want to thank you for your attention, and I think we’re taking questions at the end.

[applause]

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

That was excellent. And thank you. Thank you so much. So, Mrs. Smith recovers, and she does well. In fact, I think it was a – Dr. – Dr. Hamdan, a syncopal episode? Is that what it was? I guess vasovagal, right? Nothing serious. So, the Smiths, after this episode, decide that they want to relax a little bit. So, they book a trip to Hawaii. And there they –

[slide titled – Mr. and Mrs. Smith – with the following synopsis – After treatment, the Smiths decide to relax and take a family vacation to Hawaii. Just as they take their seats on the flight Mr. Smith complains of chest pain and shortness of breath. A few minutes later he slumps in his seat, and she is not able to arouse him. She cries out for help!]

– are in their seats in the plane, and the plane takes off, they’re up in the air, and Mr. Smith now says, I’m having some chest pain, and he’s a little out of breath. And she ignores him as usual, right? And then a few minutes later, he slumps over in his seat, and she’s not able to arouse him. She cries out for help.

[Dr. K Craig Kent, on-camera]

So, to talk about this episode, I’m going to introduce my partner in crime, Dr. Rick Page, who you all know well. But the part that you don’t know about him is that, of course, he’s the Chair of Medicine at U.W., and medicine is really the behemoth of any medical school. He has 350 faculty members in his department, and that includes all of the endocrinologists, the gastroenterologists, the cardiologists, the rheumatologists, and so many of the primary care physicians. I – I think sometimes leading physicians is similar to herding cats, and he has a very large number of cats to heard.

[laughter]

Dr. Page, outside of his administrative responsibilities at U.W., is a national figure. If you go the airport and you see these defibrillation machines, you know? Which have saved literally thousands of lives around the country. Dr. Page and a few of his cohorts around the country are the people that are responsible for that happening. And it’s very unusual that one physician has the ability to have an impact nationally where literally thousands of lives have been saved, and – and Rick is that individual.

He’s the past president of the Heart Rhythm Society. He currently chairs one of the Federal – F.D.A. panels. You know, the F.D.A. is the one that approves all new devices and drugs, and – and he’s – hes really a leader in new device development. And lastly, he’s published over 200 papers, and one of his most recent editorials was in the New England Journal, which is really our primary journal that’s most prestigious in – in – in medicine. So, please give us a warm welcome to Dr. Page.

Thank you.

[applause]

[Dr. Richard Page, Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health]

Thank you, Craig. So, back to Mr. Smith. You saw an EKG that Dr. Hamdan showed you. Remember those two panels, and there was one that was kind of slow and narrow and there was one that was a little bit faster? The top rhythm being normal; the second one being bad. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith’s was even worse. This is –

[slide titled – Mr. Smith is unconscious, pale, and barely breathing – and featuring two bullet points – What is the likelihood that he would survive? – and the second is the statement – this is his EKG – along with a photo of said EKG which shows a quivering heart]

– Mr. Smiths EKG. What’s the likelihood that he’d survive this rhythm? This is the heart’s electrical activity. Instead of pumping regularly, it’s quivering. And if it’s quivering, it’s not pumping blood to the brain, the rest of the body, to itself. And the A.H.A. –

[new slide titled – Importance of Rapid Defibrillation – with a graph which features four EKG scenarios over time – the first is No CPR and delayed defibrillation and showing a survival rate of 0-2%; the second EKG is Early CPR and delayed defibrillation and showing a survival rate of 2-8%; the third EKG is Early CPR and early defibrillation and showing a survival rate of 20%; and the last EKH being Early CPR, very early defibrillation and early ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Live Support) and showing a survival rate of 30%]

– analyzed the likelihood of survival, and they pretty much got it right back in 1997 when they identified if you didn’t do CPR and you didn’t convert that rhythm with what’s called a defibrillator, less than one in 50 could survive. On the other hand, if you do CPR early and shock earlier and earlier, they estimated that if hypothetically –

[Dr. Richard Page, on-camera]

– you could have a defibrillator right where someone dies, you could have as many as one in three surviving.

Well, back to Mr. Smith. He was on an airplane that American Airlines had just begun putting AEDs on aircraft. And I got to work with them in this program back in the late 90s –

[slide titled – AED Operation – featuring a photo of an unpacked AED device and the following bulleted list – analyzes the rhythm; voice prompt through operation sequence; time from pads placement to first shock is about 21 seconds]

– when I was at the University of Texas in Dallas. An AED is an (A)utomated (E)xternal (D)efibrillator. You’ve seen them on the wall at the airport. They analyze the rhythm, then they talk to you, and they tell you what to do. And within 21 seconds, this device can actually convert the heart.

[slide titled – Automatic External Defibrillator – featuring the pictogram instructions for the AED device as well as descriptions of all of its parts and use]

This is what it looks like, and this could be Mr. Smith and that could be the flight attendant on his flight. You get out this device, you make the chest bare, you put these adhesive patches on, and then you turn on the machine and it tells you what to do. It analyzes the rhythm, and if the rhythm is a dangerous rhythm, if it’s that ventricular fibrillation that must be shocked in order to survive, it tells you to push the button, and that’s what happens.

[new slide titled – Analyzing heart rhythm. Do not touch the patient – and featuring an illustration of an EKG with a quivering heart]

So, back to Mr. Smith. He has the device put in place. It says, Analyzing heart rhythm; do not touch the patient. And there’s that chaotic heart rhythm.

[new slide titled – Shock delivered – featuring a photo of a person with their hand on the AED shock button and the EKG for the patient after the shock is administered]

You push the button when it tells you to. Shock delivered. And then –

[new slide titled – Analyzing heart rhythm. No shock advised. It is now safe to touch the patient – and featuring a photo of a normal EKG]

– this was the rhythm afterward. The cardiologist will see it’s not perfectly normal, but it’s slow and it’s adequate and the individual patient from this paper that we published – I must confess Dr. Hamdan was part of the et. al. He was a co-author back when we worked together in Texas. This patient survived and was awake when he left the aircraft.

[Dr. Richard Page, on-camera]

And indeed, Mr. Smith has survived.

Now, we got to study this when Mohamed and I were in Dallas, and we looked at the data behind the American Airlines experience, and we wrote it up in New England Journal. In all cases, we found that ventricular fibrillation was recognized in all cases when the shock was applied. In one case, someone had terminal cancer and their family said, Don’t give the shock and the flight attendants respected that. But in all 15 where a shock was applied –

[slide tiled – Lessons Learned Aboard Aircraft – featuring a small inset photo of an American Airlines jet and the following information – All episodes of ventricular fibrillation were recognized, and first shock success was 100% in each of 10 cases; 6 of 15 patients receiving shocks survived to hospital discharge (40% survival)]

– it converted the rhythm, and 40%, six out of those 15, survived their hospitalization and went home with their usual functioning.

[new slide titled – VF in Casinos – The Gaming Experience – featuring a photo of several people playing slot machines in a casino and having the caption – The odds are good! (Up to 75% survived)]

The same time the experience from the casinos was published and the odds were even better at the casinos –

[laughter]

– where they reported if you got a shock within three minutes by the security guard, of all things, up to one in four died. Three out of four survived. Pretty good odds indeed.

[new slide titled – Chain of Survival – featuring an illustration of linked chains with red backgrounds and representing the five steps – a phone ringing (immediate recognition and activation), two hands clasped together (early CPR), a heart with a lightning bolt through it (rapid defibrillation), an ambulance (effective advanced life support), and an EKG (integrated post-cardiac arrest care)]

Now, the American Heart Association recognizes that it’s a chain of survival to remind you gotta know CPR and then recognize – and recognize that someone’s in cardiac arrest. You defibrillate soon with the defibrillator. You get advanced cardiac support with an ambulance, and you go to a hospital that specializes in caring for such patients.

[Dr. Richard Page, on-camera]

Now, Mr. Smith survived. However, he was taken to the hospital, and they found the reason he had his cardiac arrest was he was having a heart attack.

[slide titled – Mr. Smith survives! – and featuring the following synopsis – He is taken to a hospital and found to be having a myocardial infarction (heart attack) caused by blockage in a coronary artery; The cardiologist performed an angioplasty with a stent to keep the vessel open and maintain blood flow to the heart]

A heart attack is not the cardiac arrest. A heart attack is when the blood vessel is suddenly blocked, and part of the heart isn’t getting blood flow. And what happened is the cardiologist did an angioplasty and placed a stent, and I’ll explain both of those terms to you in just a moment. But if you do it soon enough, you can save the heart, so the person has no permanent damage.

[new slide titled – Normal Electrocardiogram – and showing three instances of a normal EKG]

This is a normal EKG. It didn’t look like what he had to begin with. Unfortunately, this is –

[new slide titled – Acute Myocardial Infarction – featuring three instances of an abnormal EKG and showing tombstone patterns that indicate myocardial infarction]

– the EKG that someone like Mr. Smith might have. I’m not going to go into detail, but these waves here that go up –

[Dr. Page flips between the current slide and the previous slide to show the differences between normal and tombstone patterns]

– there instead of being flat, cardiologists call those tombstones. That means your heart is really hurting, and if you don’t open up that blood vessel, there will be a lot of damage.

[new slide titled – Normal Coronary Anatomy – featuring an illustration of the heart on the left and pointing out the main areas of the heart (aorta, left main coronary artery, left circumflex, left anterior descending, right coronary artery) as well as an image of what normal blood flow to the heart looks like]

This is the heart arteries. This is a normal heart artery. But if you imagine one of these is blocked, what would that look like? Well, let’s take a look at –

[new slide titled – Ruptured Plaque – featuring a cross-section of a blood vessel that has an excess of plaque around the interior walls]

– a cross-section of the blood vessel. So, again, the artery is going along the heart, but looking across it, if you cut it across, it would be a circle, right? But this individual has, due to a few extra hamburgers perhaps or whatever, plaque in their heart, and then if there’s bleeding in that, suddenly a blood clot can block the artery. And if you don’t get to that right away, that’s what is a heart attack.

[new slide titled – Balloon-mounted stent – featuring two photos, one of the stent without the balloon deployed and the second photo with the balloon part of the stent deployed]

Now, getting to this right away involved blowing up a balloon, but it’s not just blowing up a balloon. A number of years back, we identified that the balloon itself doesn’t hold –

[Dr. Richard Page, on-camera]

– the blood vessel open, so you put a stent in. A stent is a wire cage. So, at the top, it’s –

[return to the previous – Balloon-mounted stent – slide]

– before it’s been deployed. At the bottom, you blow up the balloon, you deploy the cage to hold the blood vessel open, and then you collapse the balloon and take the catheter out.

[new slide titled – Stent Deployment – featuring a cross-section illustration of a blood vessel with a stent deployed and the catheter still in the vessel]

And this is what it looks like inside the artery. Here you’ve got this stent holding the blood vessel open, and that blockage is pushed out of the way.

Now, even stents aren’t perfect. And Dr. Kent mentioned that I’m working with the FDA with –

[Dr. Richard Page, on-camera]

– their advisory panel. And just imagine, it was a great advance to get a stent that would hold the blood – blood vessel open. The problem is what happens with stents, if you look at the left, this is –

[slide titled – Drug Coated Stents – featuring two cross-sections of blood vessels with stents in them (top) and a close-up of the vessel wall in cross-section at the bottom. The first is from a normal stent (labelled Control) where over time the vessel still gets dilated. The second is from a new type of stent called Paclitaxel which is covered with a drug that keeps the stent more open over time]

– again, looking down the blood vessel. This circle, those little black dots blown up here, those are the stent. But you can see the blood vessels blocking off again. It held the blood vessel open, but you’re getting more scar there. So, people came up with the idea of a drug coated stent. A drug coated stent is shown here on the right. Isn’t that amazing? Instead of having all that scar tissue, here you have these black dots. Again, those are the metal struts that are holding open – open the blood vessel. But there’s a problem with that. Our body doesn’t –

[Dr. Richard Page, on-camera]

– like having foreign objects in it. They – our body wants to close them off, and having this exposed metal gives rise to blood clots. And you don’t want blood clots in your heart arteries.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you had a blood – a stent that was deployed and then disappeared? And that’s what I actually got to review at the FDA recently. And the – this quote came from that meeting.

[slide titled – FDA Advisory Panel Backs Approval of Abbott Bioresorbable Stent – and featuring a quote from Dr. Page – The holy grail is the idea of putting in a stent that stays open, elutes a drug to keep it open, and then disappears. People have been talking about this sort of thing for the past 2 decades as far as Im aware and I consider the technology potentially transformative]

We voted to approve a stent that does exactly that. And the quote is: The holy grail is the idea of putting in a stent that stays open, elutes a drug to keep it open, and then disappears. People have been talking about this sort of thing for the past two decades, as far as I’m aware, and I consider the technology potentially transformative.

[Dr. Richard Page, on-camera]

Now this isn’t approved yet. We voted for approval, but I wanted to give you all a glimpse of the future. And you’ll be hearing more about stents as we’re – were going through tonight’s presentation.

So, back to Mr. Smith.

[slide titled – Mr. Smith is discharged from the hospital – with the following synopsis – He has survived both cardiac arrest (sudden death) and myocardial infarction (heart attack); There is no significant damage; He goes back to work and goes on with his life]

He survived the cardiac arrest, the sudden death event. He survived the myocardial infarction, the heart attack. The blockage of the vessel. He’s now got that one vessel opened. And he didn’t have a lot of other disease. There’s no significant heart damage. He got immediate care. And he goes back to work and goes on with his life.

And now Dr. Kent will tell you more about the saga of Mr. Smith.

Thank you.

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

[applause]

So, wasn’t Mr. Smith lucky that Dr. Page was sitting in the seat next to him, right?

[laughter]

Well, so there’s good news, right? Mr. Smith did okay. He had his angioplasty, and all was well. But he didn’t learn very well from his experience. So, what did he do? They got their kids off to college –

[slide titled – Mr. and Mrs. Smith – with the following synopsis – Mr. And Mrs. Smith are now in their 60s. Their children are off to college, and they are thriving as empty nesters. Mr. Smith has gained weight, not exercised, and has not kept up with his cardiologist. Over the past 3 months he has noted difficulty breathing. At first, after walking long distances but more recently he becomes winded just walking to the mailbox. Their internist refers Mr. Smith to a U.W. cardiologist who makes the diagnosis of coronary artery disease as well as aortic valve stenosis (obstruction in one of the valves of the heart). Mr. Smith is referred to Dr. Lozonschi for surgical treatment]

– and he and his wife were having a heck of a life. You know, they gained a little too much weight. They don’t exercise much. Dr. Hamdan’s told him to take a statin, but they won’t take their statin. And things aren’t going so well. So, at some point, they’re walking down the mall together and Mr. Smith can’t get down the mall, right? Because he gets out of breath. And this goes on for a couple of months or so. Finally, they – Mr. Smith sees his internist, refers him to Dr. Hamdan. Dr. Hamdan says, I think you have two problems. One is you have coronary artery disease again. You’re blockages have come back. The – the stents clogged up. And also, you have a problem with your aortic value. And for – the heart has four valves, but the aortic valve is the one that’s really important. It’s the one where the blood is pumped out to the rest of the body, and that valve is stenotic, meaning it’s narrowed, and not enough blood is coming out.

So, Mr. Smith is referred to one of our illustrious cardiac surgeons, Dr. Lucian Lozonschi. Dr. Lozonschi is part of my department. An associate professor of surgery. A very talented and brilliant, I will say, cardiac surgeon. His clinical expertise is minimally invasive surgery. And you’re going to hear some about that today. He’s really an expert in a – a program called TAVE, which is a minimally invasive way of fixing heart values, and also robotic cardiac surgery. Can you believe that you can fix a heart with a robot? You’ll learn more about that also.

Dr. Lozonschi is also a true surgeon scientist. Somebody who is excellent in the operating room but also is doing great research. In fact, he does work with stem cells and – and has somehow convinced these stem cells to become an artificial heart. You know, one that actually beats in a Petri dish. So, give us a warm welcome for Dr. Lozonschi.

[applause]

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, Associate Professor, Cardiac Surgery, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health]

Thank you very much, Craig. So, Mr. Smith is now 68 years old. And he had the following –

[slide titled – Clinic Visit with Mr. Smith – with the following details – Mr. Smith is now 68 years old; Symptoms = Chest pressure/tightness, Shortness of Breath, Increased Tiredness; Studies -]

– symptoms. He has chest pressure and tightness. Shortness of breath – gets winded easily with exertion and increase tiredness. So, he got the following studies –

[the slide animates on Exercise Stress Test = positive under the Studies bullet point]

– a positive exercise stress test –

[the slide animates on ECHO = severe aortic stenosis under the Studies bullet point]

– and echocardiography that showed severe –

[new slide titled – Echocardiography – featuring a photo of a doctor looking at results on an ECHO machine as she applies a wand to the patients chest]

– aortic stenosis. For many who – of you may not know, echocardiography uses the same principle as sound waves to create the motion picture of the heart. And same way we look at the babies as fetus and during the pregnancy –

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, on-camera]

– monitor that.

Here’s some pictures, examples of what we see on echocardiography. And so –

[slide titled – Severe Aortic Stenosis – featuring four echocardiograms on screen – on the top are two echoes showing aortic stenosis which are compared to the bottom two which show echoes of normal aortic valves]

– here’s actually the stenotic aortic valve of Mr. Smith. You see the valve is thickened and barely opens. Compared to a normal valve that has the leaflets, those moving things, opened widely, they’re thinner, and also, we look with the color Doppler on this valve to see the speed of the blood. And it’s in the normal valve, you can see how there’s just blue blood that’s non-turbulent flowing through this normal aortic valve. But here you see a lot more yellow and red and orange against the guns that flows through the stenotic valve here.

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, on-camera]

So, he went to the cath lab, and you’ve seen from Dr. Page’s presentation that how do we get this angiograms is just getting this catheter that’s long from the groin –

[slide titled – Coronary Angiogram – with the bullet point – Coronary Artery Disease and featuring two photos of angiograms, one labelled RCA and showing the blockage in the artery and the other of a ghost vessel discovered]

– about two millimeters in diameter, and we inject dye that’s absorbed by the kidneys and cleared by the kidneys afterward in the urine, and we can define the anatomy by injecting that opaque dye for X-ray. In this case of Mr. Smith, we found a narrowing and blockage, almost here you can say, in the right coronary artery. But also, we found on – on a later inspection on the same angiogram that a ghost vessel appears here, which is the main vessel in the heart. Has a bad name. It’s a widow maker vessel. Its that tells you how important this – this vessel is.

[new slide titled – Porcelain Aorta – with a small picture of a porcelain teapot next to the title and to the right is a photo of a CAT scan machine which is labelled CT scan]

And so, in preparation for the next procedures, Mr. Smith got a CAT scan. And so –

[the slide animates on three photos, one labelled A which is a CT of the whole heart, one that is labelled B which is a close-up of Mr. Smiths porcelain aorta and a third showing a side view of Mr. Smiths CT]

– this doughnut takes about several hundred X-rays while the patient gets in and out. And we found that Mr. Smith has a porcelain aorta. Here’s an example, if you don’t know. The aorta, what it means – that develops a – a ring of calcium in the position and hardens and that has implications in the treatment options for him.

[new slide titled – Choices of Heart Surgery – featuring an illustration and a photo, the illustration is titled – Conventional Heart Surgery – and features an illustration of a large clamp holding open the chest and various instruments around the exposed heart; underneath the illustration is a photo of a heart taken during open heart surgery]

We’ll get back to that later.

So, what are the choices for Mr. Smith now? Either facing conventional heart surgery, which is – we do very successfully for the past 50-60 years in the world. And by that which means opening the breastbone and putting the heart on a heart/lung – the body on a heart/lung machine and stopping the heart and doing what we need to do here with the chest open.

[the slide animates on a new illustration to the right of the Conventional Heart Surgery illustration titled – Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery that features not an open heart, but a catheter-like device inserted near the abdomen and a small incision in the chest where the heart resides. Additionally, a new photo appears to the right of the open heart photo showing robotic arms descending on a patient in the minimally invasive surgery]

Or, in this case, he has, because of the anatomy, he has an option of having a minimally invasive heart surgery assisted by the robot. And –

[slide titled – Hybrid Approach (1+2) – featuring an illustrated step-by-step labelled 1. Stenting of RCA. At the top is an illustration of a heart with the coronary artery circled and a line leading to the RCA procedure in steps – Step A is an illustration of placing a catheter in the coronary artery that has a balloon stent placed in the area where the plaque has accumulated in the artery. The second illustration – Step B – is an illustration of the balloon being deployed from the catheter. The third illustration – Step C – is an illustration of the mesh stent in place with the balloon and catheter having been removed]

– I’ll get to that, more details. Here’s what the hybrid approach Mr. Smith needs – needs stenting of the right coronary artery. Dr. Page introduced that concept –

[the slide animates on the #2 of the 1+2 – Robotic Assisted CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting) which features two photos – one of the robots in action (a larger version of a photo from a previous slide) and the second is a photo of the small scar that is left on the chest from this procedure]

– before. And the robotic assisted bypass, so-called Cabbage (CABG). It’s abbreviated as Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.

[new slide titled – Size of Incisions – featuring two photos – one labelled Traditional CABG and featuring a photo of a patient who has a large scar from their neck to their abdomen, and a second photo labelled Robotic CABG featuring a patient with a very small scar underneath their nipple]

This is the comparison of the incisions in traditional and robotic-assisted bypass. I had to put an arrow to make sure nobody misses the incision right there.

[new slide titled – Cath Lab – featuring two photos, one of two doctors performing catheter surgery and a smaller inset photo of a close-up of the end of the catheter between a doctors hands]

And so, that’s what we did. We took the –

[new slide titled – Coronary Artery Stenting – and featuring two echo photographs – on the left is the echo showing the right coronary artery blockage and on the left is the same echo after stenting showing the free-flowing artery after the stent has been applied]

– Mr. Smith to the cath lab, we fixed that artery that had the blockage with a stent. Was not an absorbable stent yet, but it was a good stent, very good results. And next Mr. Smith went home.

[new slide under still under the heading – Coronary Artery Stenting – now with a bulleted list starting with the statement – Procedure performed under mild sedation and a second point animating on – Mr. Smith was in the hospital overnight for observation]

Stayed overnight –

[slide animates on the next bullet point – Mr. Smith went home the next day]

– just for observation. And he could have had a robotic procedure –

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, on-camera]

– on the same admission, but he had some business to take care of, and so he decided he can come back in a few weeks, which is acceptable from our perspective.

[new slide featuring a video of the robotic surgery in action with Dr. Lozonschis play-by-play below]

Here’s an example of how we do the robotic procedure. And we – this – there’s some robotic arms and theyre attached to the ports. There’s some plastic tubes that go in the chest of the patient. Here they’re getting attached right there. I have Dr. Kohmoto here assisting at the table. This is the camera in the middle that’s positioned. There are three ports. One camera and one for the instruments. The instruments go through those ports. It could be scissors, electrocautery and – and a clip applier. Here’s me controlling the – the movement of the robotic arms. And the robotic arms translate to my movements of the hand or the joysticks there on a one-to-one scale. And here’s the artery, the mammary artery that runs behind the breastbone. That we – it’s very important for bypassing the – the vessels. And we make that artery as an artery – new artery for the heart. We prepared that very carefully. We separate it off the chest wall and tie the – and – and clip the branches, the bigger ones, and electrocauterize the – the smaller ones. So, once that’s prepared, we make an incision about two inch. An incision just above or below the nipple, but right on top of the – the blocked artery that we need to fix and bypass. And here we bypass directly under direct vision through that small incision. And off pump without stopping the heart. And that’s – we do that with a thread that’s as thin as a hair. And you actually can see I’m tying that suture, and water is used to make sure that the suture doesn’t break while I’m tying. The pro – this is done already. The bypass is open. And then we check, actually, the flow. This is a Doppler probe to check the flow and make sure the bypass works properly there. Then we enclose the incision, which is about two centimeters – two inches. We just showed, measured the incision. The usual handshake at the end.

[laughter]

And the patient gets off to the ICU. And he was extubated in the operating room, had the breathing tube out, and here’s him walking later that day. Which is – he was saying very happy about the – the progress and how things went.

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, on-camera]

So, he went home on day three because he has a tube that has to stay there for a day or so to make sure there’s no bleeding from this.

So now, comparing the return to normal activities between traditional –

[slide titled – Return to Normal Activities – featuring two columns, one labelled Traditional CABG and the second labelled Robot Assisted CABG and the bullet point – Driving]

– CABG and robotic, this is the CABG; I’m – Im sure a few of you in the audience would know what the difference is. I was thinking to poll, but it would take too much time.

[the slide animates on underneath the bullet point – Driving – 1 month under Traditional CABG and 7-10 days under Robotic Assisted CABG]

It’s one month for driving. And it just – once patient is off pain medicines, they can drive the car with the robotic assisted CABG. This man actually went to work in two weeks.

[the slide animates on the new activity category – Swimming, golfing, lifting more than 20 pounds]

Swimming, golfing, and lifting more than 20 pounds –

[the slide animates on under the Swimming, golfing – 3 months for Traditional CABG and 2 Weeks for Robotic Assisted CABG]

– takes about three months because you need the breastbone to let it heal. Compared to the no breastbone incision, in the robotic procedure, the return to activities –

[new slide titled – Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) – and features a 3D illustration of a catheter in a blood vessel]

– can be as short as two weeks.

Well, we have one more thing with Mr. Smith to fix. Because that porcelain aorta, we couldn’t do a traditional bypass.

[new slide titled – Hybrid Cath Lab – featuring the same two photographs used previously in the Cath Lab slide with the two doctors and the inset of the catheter end]

So, for that reason –

[return to the – Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) – slide which is now showing a 3D animated animation of a catheter travelling through a blood vessel and into the heart]

– we had performed a transcatheter aortic valve replacement. How that is done is by putting a bigger sheet, this time in the groin, in the artery, and we bring over a wire that’s placed in the heart. We bring a balloon, and we crack first open the valve, which is, you know, right here. And so, we remove the balloon that’s deflated, and then we come back up with the compressed collapsed valve that’s sort of similar to the ones we use in surgery –

[the animation now restarts with a compressed valve in the catheter instead of a balloon stent]

– but we’re going to place this on top of the old one. And so, this valve comes very nicely across the aortic arch. What you can see there. It’s 180-degree turn to get to the heart. And we positioned the valve very precisely across that. At some point, we’re going to actually fibrillate and make the heart quiver, as Dr. Page was saying, intentionally so when we deploy this valve there – there’s no movement. So, the valve doesn’t go anywhere but the place where it’s intended to be.

[the 3D animation now shows a close-up of the valve being replaced]

So, here we did the – we do the last final adjustments. And then we inflate the balloon while the heart is quivering and leave the valve behind on top of the old one. And there’s a little squirt there, right here. The polyester, the latest generation of valves that’s used to better seal the – the valve in place. And that device comes out and they –

[return to the Hybrid Cath Lab slide]

[new slide still under the title – Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) – now showing two echo videos, one labelled – checking position – which shows the catheter in place and the second labelled – valve deployment – showing the catheter valve expanded and being deployed]

– he’s done well. Here’s actually example of what we do in – in – in the cath lab, in hybrid operating room, where here the valve is – is collapsed, and we check the position. And here, with how we inflate and deploy that valve on top of the old one, we have all sorts of markers here that I’m not going to go in details, but you can see –

[new slide titled – Hospital Stay – with the statement – Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement – TAVR with 26mm transcatheter valve]

– how this valve is deployed.

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, on-camera]

That was real life, not an animation, obviously.

So, he, Mr. Smith got a 26-millimeter aortic valve. Procedures done –

[return to the slide titled – Hospital Stay – now with the bullet points – Procedure was done without general anesthesia (awake) and Mr. Smith walked the halls of the ICU the evening of the procedure]

– awake and –

[the slide animates on the next bullet point – Went home on 2 days after the procedure]

– he was walking the halls as well, again, evening of the procedure and went home in two days –

[new slide titled – Treatment Summary – with the bullet point – Hybrid Coronary Revascularization (Stenting and min. invasive Bypass)]

– after this.

[the slide animates on the bullet point – the best of both worlds – with the subsequent bullets – Best patency with arterial revascularization LIMA-LAD and Stenting = least invasive but with similar/better patency compared to vein grafting]

So, in summary, he got a hybrid coronary vascularization. The best of both – both worlds. Using the artery, that mammary artery behind the breastbone, so that widow maker vessel, and then stenting with a – a stent that can be – theyre better than the usually vein grafts that we take down from the leg.

[slide animates on the next bullet point – Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)]

And the –

[the slide animates on the point – offers excellent results in patients who are at high risk or cant undergo traditional aortic valve replacement surgery]

– transcatheter aortic valve, which offers excellent alternative to high-risk patients or those who cannot –

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, on-camera]

– go on to – go regular heart surgery.

So, what sets us apart is that we are the only hospital in Wisconsin that offers the robotic cardiac procedures.

[slide titled – What sets U.W. apart? – featuring the following list – U.W. is the only hospital in Wisconsin offering robotic cardiac procedures, and U.W. offers the only hybrid program in Wisconsin – Stenting + CABG/bypass]

Hence, the only hybrid robotic program in Wisconsin.

[the slide animates on the next point – Largest experience in Wisconsin with balloon expandible TARV valve and the only center part of the national trials with the newest balloon expandable valves]

And we have the largest experience with this expandable valve. And we’re the only center that participates in the national trials –

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, on-camera]

– with the testing of the – the newest valves under F.D.A. And, to look in the future here, just want to share with you that I was involved with developing and designing a new valve for the mitral, diseased mitral valve in the heart. Thats –

[slide featuring a screenshot of the website for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology which features an article titled – First-in-Human Off-Pump Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement about Dr. Lozonschis work]

– the second most important valve. Or the first. It depends on who you ask. To develop this in – I helped implant this valve earlier in 2014, the first-in-human, and also more recently, the first few valves in the world for in a – in a clinical trial as well as in the United States. So, Mr. or Mrs. Smith, they’re in good shape. Should their mitral valve get diseased, we’re going to be able to help them.

[new slide titled – Mr. and Mrs. Smith – with this new scenario – Mr. Smith does well with his surgery and now the couple is in their late 70s. Over a period of 6 months, Mr. Smith notices that Mrs. Smith is having trouble keeping up with him. She has to stop and rest frequently because of pain in both of her calves that resolves when she stops walking. Mrs. Smith is evaluated by her local medical physician who makes the diagnosis of vascular claudication (blocked arteries in the legs). During the evaluation she is also found to have an abdominal aortic aneurysm or a bulging in the main artery in the abdomen. She is referred to Dr. Matsamura, a vascular surgeon for evaluation and possible treatment of both problems]

Thank you.

[applause]

[Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, on-camera]

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

Okay, so, lo and behold, after a lot of work from U.W., Mr. Smith – and Mr. and Mrs. Smith are actually doing fairly well. And –

[slide again titled – Mr. And Mrs. Smith – with the following scenario – Mr. and Mrs. Smith (who by the way have been a bit unlucky ) are now treated for all of their cardiovascular problems and our story has a happy ever after ending! However, both are concerned about their children. Are they likely to have the same problems? Could any of this have been prevented? They search far and wide and finally at U.W. they are able to find Preventive Cardiologist, Heather Johnson. They arrive in her office with son Tom, and daughter, Mary, ages 38 and 40]

– there’s a good ending here. But they’re worried, right? They have a – a son and a daughter. One’s 38 and the other’s 40, and they’re in good health, but they – they really don’t want the same thing that’s happened to them to happen to their children. So, what they do is meet with their internist and say, Is – is there any way to prevent this disease from happening? And, as such, the – the internist refers both the son and daughter to –

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

– Heather Johnson.

Now, Heather is a – a newly tenured associate professor of surgery at U.W. Bravo. To get tenure at U.W., it means that you have to be nationally-known and well-published and an expert in your field. And – and Heather’s field is preventive cardiology. She’s done some really seminal research trying to understand how to better control high blood pressure in young people. And, of course, as we all know, if you can prevent the blood pressure from happening, you can prevent cardiovascular disease. She’s really one of the national experts in preventative cardiology, and she’s going to tell us about how to take care of the Smiths son and daughter. Heather.

[applause]

[Dr. Heather Johnson, Assistant Professor, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health]

Alright, well, good evening. I don’t have any exciting videos or anything to share. No surgery on my end. You wouldn’t want me doing it. But we’re going to talk about how to be able to prevent a first issue regarding heart attack, stroke, blocked arteries, etc., or how to prevent another episode. So, it’s the ABCs to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Can everyone hear me? Okay. Alright.

So –

[slide titled – Atherosclerosis Begins Early in Life – featuring an illustration of degradation of a blood vessel over time starting with Foam Cells and Fatty Streaks from the first decade of life and proceeding to Intermediate Lesions and Atheroma from the third decade of life – growths mainly from lipid accumulations – to Fibrous Plaque and Complicated Lesions/Ruptures from the fourth decade of life – growths from Smooth Muscle and Collagen as well as Thrombosis and Hematoma. The illustration shows more and more plaque accumulation over time and also indicates the primary prevention occurs between the third and fourth decade (where Tom and Mary are) and the secondary prevention occurs after the fourth decade (where Mr. and Mrs. Smith were)]

– Dr. Page actually showed a picture of a blood vessel that had a clot in it, and it was a cross-sectional picture. And what should really be highlighted is the fact that the atherosclerosis, the blocked arteries, those fatty cells that clog the arteries, actually begin very, very early in life. So, this particular picture is the vessel. The same vessel, again, in a cross-sectional view. And on top are the different layers as far as the progression of how we get to that ruptured or that clogged artery.

The other thing that’s highlighted here, though, is that it actually starts in our first decade in life. So, by the age of 10, we already begin to have some changes in our blood vessels. Here we’re talking about the third decade and ultimately the fourth decade.

Now, what’s also interesting is that Tom and Mary, Mr. and Smith – Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s children, are here. Tom is 38. Mary is 40. They had not yet had an event. And that’s called primary prevention where we work with patients in our U.W. Preventative Cardiology Clinic to help them not –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– have their first event. To not have their first heart attack, their first stroke, or to have major blockages in their limbs or in their arms or legs.

But then, Mr. Smith we’re talking about a secondary event as far as not having another heart attack, not having another heart arrest.

Now, for Mrs. Smith, we talked about some blockages in her vessels, but we didn’t really talk about a heart attack. And one –

[slide titled – Heart Disease in the United States – with the following bullet points – it is the #1 Cause of Death for Men AND Women. There is one heart attack every 43 seconds. And 1 in 3 deaths are from heart disease or stroke]

– point we wanted to highlight is that for men and women, heart disease and death from heart disease is number one. One heart attack occurs every 43 seconds. One in three people die from heart disease or stroke.

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

So, both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are at risk of dying from heart disease.

When we talk about the ABCs of prevention, the next few slides I’m talking about is really preventing that first event. And A is for aspirin.

[slide titled – Aspirin, Primary Prevention (with the A underlined) – and the following points – Aspirin 81mg. (baby aspirin); 50-69 years old – at increased risk for heart disease; do NOT have an increased bleeding risk; MUST have a discussion with your doctor about your risks and benefits; Not enough data for under 50 and older than 1 individuals]

Again, primary prevention. So, there’s been a lot of research and a lot of discussion about what dose may be better and is higher better. And what’s been demonstrated recently is that aspirin, at a dose of 81 milligrams, that’s that baby aspirin dose that we hear about, is the safest dose. But the age range as far as where we seem to have the best benefit to prevent that first event is between 50 to 69 years old. And these are for people who are at increased risk for heart disease –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– do not have an increased risk of bleeding. We’re talking about do not have an increased risk of bleeding in the stomach, stomach ulcers. But it’s important to have this discussion with your doctor before starting the aspirin.

Now, again, to prevent a first event, there’s not a lot of data in other age groups. But again, Mr. and Mrs. Smith already having some disease, aspirin will definitely be discussed.

Blood pressure is the B.

[slide titled – Blood Pressure (with the B underlined) – and the following points – U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (2015); Yearly screening – individuals under 40 years old; High-normal blood pressure – 130-139/85-89 (systolic or diastolic); Overweight or obese (BMI greater or equal to 25 kg/m2); African American]

So, recently the U.S. – there was a huge document released in the U.S. about how to even diagnose high blood pressure. And for someone who’s at least 40 years of age, who had what’s called a high normal blood pressure, it’s borderline. It’s not quite at that high blood pressure range. Who may be overweight or even certain race/ethnicities, particularly African Americans, blood pressure should be checked yearly. So, if any of these –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– things apply, at least a blood pressure check on an annual basis.

But what we’re learning – so, high blood pressure is also called hypertension. And more and more we’re learning that high blood pressure –

[slide titled – High Blood Pressure = Hypertension – featuring an illustration of a cross-section of a blood vessel with a double-sided arrow drawn between the vessels walls and the definition – Blood pressure is the measurement of force applied to the artery walls. Additionally, there is the following bulleted list under the heading – Hypertension contributes to – 69% of heart attacks; 77% of strokes; 75% of heart failure; kidney disease; shorter life expectancy]

– is contributing to so much heart disease. Almost 69% of heart attacks are contributed because of high blood pressure. 77% of strokes. Majority of heart failure, kidney disease. But most concerning is the fact that someone with high blood pressure, if it’s not treated, if it’s not well controlled, can also – this can result in a shorter life –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– expectancy. It takes years off of your life, and that’s extremely important. There’s also a lot of discussion about What should my goal blood pressure be?, How low?, What should I be treated to? Overall, in general, the consensus is that that top number should still be less than 140 –

[slide still under the banner of High Blood Pressure=Hypertension with the bulleted list continued – Goal blood pressure less than 140/90 mmHG; individual discussions on lower or higher goal; 2-3 medications to achieve blood pressure goal; lowering your blood pressure will lower your risk of – heart attack; stroke; kidney disease; heart failure]

– and that bottom number still less than 90. But we’re learning more and more the purpose of individualized discussions. Maybe your doctor may recommend a lower target. Maybe a higher target. We heard about people who may have fainting spells or falls. Nevertheless, if medications are started –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– on average in the United States, two to three medications are needed to get to your particular target.

We also know that lowering your blood pressure will lower your risk for a heart attack, stroke, kidney disease or dialysis, and also lower your risk for heart failure.

So, the A was aspirin, the B blood pressure, and C we’re talking about cholesterol.

[slide titled – Cholesterol (with the C underlined) – and the following list – LDL-c (low density lipoprotein bad cholesterol); A statin medication is recommended if – cardiovascular disease is present or LDL-c is greater than 189 mg/dL; diabetes mellitus type 1 or 2 (40-75 years old) or intermediate to high risk of developing cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years; Statin medications lower LDL-c up to 55%]

For this brief time, we’ll just talk about the bad cholesterol. What’s known as the LDL or the low-density lipoprotein. Again, there’s been a lot of discussion about statin medications. We know that statins are recommended if you already have heart disease or vascular disease, like Mr. and Mrs. Smith. But in talking with their children, if their bad cholesterol is at least 190, if they may have diabetes, or if it’s determined that they’re at higher risk for heart disease just based upon other issues they may have, like tobacco use, overweight, etc., then a statin may be recommended.

We also know that statin medications can lower your bad cholesterol over 50% –

[new slide titled – Statins can Lower Your Risk – featuring an illustration of a heart labelled A with the coronary artery indicated by a box, an inset illustration of a close up of what is in this box labelled B shows the coronary artery filled with plaque – above the illustrations are a downward facing arrow indicating statins can lower heart attack risk by 40%]

– as far as that value. But the biggest benefit for patients is that it lowers your risk for a heart attack by up to 40%. So, again, going back to really trying to protect those vessels and prevent or help to stabilize those blockages.

[an new illustration of a brain animates on to the right of the heart illustration which has an inset photo of a vessel in the brain that has lots of plaques – above the illustration is another downward facing arrow indicating that statins lower stroke risk by 25%]

It also lowers your risk for stroke by approximately 25%. So, a huge health benefit –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– regardless of all the other things we’re hearing about statins.

So, the D is dietary. Of course, this occurs right before we go out to our reception here.

[laughter]

But, nevertheless, this – regardless of all the discussion about diets, one of the things that’s been agreed about – agreed upon is called the DASH diet.

[slide titled – Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, DASH Diet – which features a photo of several blocks of cheese on the right next to a downward facing arrow and a photo of several brats on a grill next to a downward facing arrow as well as the following bulleted list – Low in sodium (less than 2,000 mg/day); low in saturated fat, cholesterol; 7-8 servings of fruits and/or vegetables; low-fat dairy products; reduce red meat, sweets, and sugar-containing beverages]

It stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. However, we’re also learning it helps to lower cholesterol. It’s been supported by the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health, and it focuses on a low sodium diet. Less than 2,000 milligrams a day. Low in saturated fat and high in fruits and vegetables. Low-fat dairy. I didn’t say no cheese. I understand we’re here in Wisconsin, but just lower fat. And reducing our red meat intake. So yes –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– you can do Brat Fest and things like that, just not Brat Fest every day, though. So, that’s a big difference.

Exercise. Physical activity. It helps to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, but it’s moderate in intensity. You don’t have to strain yourself all the way to the point of passing out or anything, but something moderate.

[slide titled – Exercise (Physical Activity) [with the E underlined] – and the following list – lowers cholesterol and blood pressure; moderate intensity; 3-4 sessions/week; goal – 40 minutes per session; OK to divide into shorter sessions. Additionally, there is a chart of exercises that are labelled Moderate-Intensity – Brisk walking; Dancing; Bicycling, mostly level terrain; mowing the lawn; heavy cleaning (washing windows); rowing machine; stair climber; swimming; gardening (raking leaves, digging); shoveling light snow]

Maybe you can do only 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Even working up to 10 minutes. That’s okay. But gradually getting in maybe 30 to 40 minutes a day will be very, very helpful. When we say moderate, what does that mean? For whatever your level of activity is, a brisk walk. Maybe it’s moving the arms, doing chair exercises. Maybe we do a lap around the reception table before we all eat. But the key is that it’s exercise as being active to help support our arteries and our heart.

[new slide titled – Know Your Risk for Heart Disease – featuring a three by six chart with the three headings being things – We can NOT change, We CAN change, and We CAN control – under things we CANNOT change are – Family History, Age, and Race/Ethnicity; under things We CAN change are – Sedentary lifestyle, High sodium diet, tobacco use, high stress, and overweight; under things we CAN control are – high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes mellitus]

So, what we encourage everybody and what we’re learning tonight is knowing about your risk. Notice the shorter column here. Things we can’t change. Mrs. and Mrs. – Mr. and Mrs. Smith, yes, they have heart disease and their children, yes, they have a family history now of their parents having heart disease. We all gain birthdays each year, so we can’t control age. And race and ethnicity play a role too.

But we can change – notice the longer list here. We can be more active. So, having a sedentary lifestyle. Reducing our fat and sodium intake. Quitting smoking, one of the best things we can do. Reducing and managing our stress. And if we have to lose a few pounds, gradually working towards that. If we have a diagnosis of high blood pressure or hypertension, if we have high cholesterol or diabetes –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– working with our clinical team in order to be able to manage those conditions.

So, here at U.W. Preventive Cardiology, there’s a lot of research going on. My lab is N.I.H. funded, and as was discussed earlier, we focus a lot on risk factors here in Wisconsin. Looking at the effects of high blood pressure across all age groups. But what –

[slide titled – U.W. Preventative Cardiology Research – featuring a graph with time in months on the x-axis and probability of receiving a hypertension diagnosis on the y-axis for five age groups (18-24, 25-31, 32-39, 40-59, 60 and older) and showing an increase for all groups of getting hypertension over time – 18-29=44%, 40-59=71%, and over 60=73%]

– this was published in one of the top hypertension journals, and each line represents a different age. The lower lines here, the blue and red, are our younger age groups. About 18 to 31 years old. And what we notice is that overall, even if they had high blood pressure for years, only about 44% actually received a diagnosis of high blood pressure. Meaning they weren’t –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– getting diagnosed, they weren’t getting treated. And we’re working throughout Wisconsin to help improve that.

For patients who may have been over 60 years old, almost 75% received a diagnosis, but it’s not at 100% yet. We have a ways to go.

So, our clinic is really focused on helping patients understand what their risks are. Preventing –

[slide titled – U.W. Health Preventive Cardiology [608-263-1530] – and the following list under Personalized – Heart disease risk assessment; Exercise prescription (Exercise physiologist); Dietary counseling (Dietician); Stress reduction program; Medication plan]

-the first event, like with Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s children, and preventing another event, like with Mr. and Mrs. Smith. We work on a personalized plan. What is your individual risk for heart disease or for another event as far as what we can do? You get to meet with our exercise physiologist to develop a plan or prescription to help you determine how to be active and make it effective. Then you can use the app that was just discussed also. You get to –

[Dr. Heather Johnson, on-camera]

– meet with a dietician individually. We have stress – stress reduction plans and programs. And also, individualized as far as your medication plan. Which ones may be best for you to help lower your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol, and reduce your risk for heart disease.

Thank you.

[applause]

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

Thank – thank you, Heather. That was great. I – I think you’re going to have about 700 people signed up for your clinic tomorrow morning. So, you better watch out.

Well, so, this has been a great story. I – I think we’ve all learned a lot. Certainly, you’ve passed your cardiovascular section of mini medical school. Every story has to have an epilogue, and so –

[slide titled – Epilogue – They lived happily ever after! – featuring a photo of a large French villa with a swimming pool and the following scenario – Mr. and Mrs. Smith are now in their 90s, residing in a fabulous villa, just off the coast of France]

– they lived happily ever after. Here’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They’re in their 90s. Fabulous villa just off the coast of France. So – so, that worked out okay for them.

[new slide still under the Epilogue heading with the scenario continued – Their daughter is the C.E.O. of Goldman-Sachs, and their son is currently the campaign manager for Hilary Clinton. BOTH are in fabulous health/normal weight/run 5 miles a day/on statins – looking forward to inheriting their parents villa! The slide also features a photo of a woman running on a nature trail]

Their daughter, C.E.O. Goldman Sachs. Not bad. Son, campaign manager, Hillary Clinton.

[laughter]

Both are in fantastic health. Running five miles a day, looking forward to inheriting the villa.

[Dr. K. Craig Kent, on-camera]

So, that ends our story. What I’d like you to do is just give a fantastic round of applause to all of our speakers.

[applause]

Thank – thank you, Craig