Riata ICD Leads: Is there a problem or just a cosmetic issue?

Dr. Raed H. Abdelhadi, Cardiac Electrophysiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, reviews the background for the Riata ICD recall and the available data on the Riata ICD lead, explains the preliminary results for the Riata Multicenter Study, discusses the challenges regarding screening and management and summarizes the Riata Summit.

Decongestive Strategies in Acute Heart Failure

Dr. Steven R. Goldsmith, Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, Director of the Heart Failure Program at Hennepin County Medical Center, and Director of the Minnesota Heart Failure Consortium, explains the importance of congestion as a contributor to the pathophysiology of acute heart failure, describes the limits of current decongestive strategies and the promise of newer modalities and discusses emerging insights concerning the relationship between congestion and the cardiorenal syndrom in acute heart failure.

Atrial Fibrillation: New Agents for Stroke Prevention

Dr. R. Jeffrey Westcott, Medical Director at the Cardiac Cath Lab at the Swedish Heart and Vascular Institute, discusses the pharmacology of the new oral direct thrombin and Xa inhibitors, evaluates what patients are more likely to experience bleeding complications and discusses the advantages of these agents versus warfarin in treating patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

TCT/AHA Highlights: Platelets and Stem Cells

Dr. Timothy Henry, Director of Research at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, and Dr. Jay Traverse, Senior Consulting Cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, review the results of the LateTIME, SCIPIO and CADUCEUS trials.

Update in Preventive Cardiology 2011

Dr. Thomas Knickelbine, Director of Preventive Cardiology at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital discusses US population risk factors, explains how to approach patients with statin intolerance, describes the current approaches to treatment of non-HDL cholesterol and Metabolic Syndrome and outlines MHI prevention goals and future vision.

AHA Abstract Presentations

Acute Aortic Intramural Hematoma: an analysis from the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection - Presented by Dr. Kevin M. Harris

Circadian Dependence of Infarct Size and Left-Ventricular Function Following ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction - Presented by Dr. Ronald Reiter

Cardiogenic Shock in Cardiac Arrest No Longer a Contraindication for Therapeutic Hypothermia - Presented by Fourth-Year Medical Student, Kalie Y. Kebed

Prevalence of Premature Coronary Heart Disease and Female Gender in Patients Presenting with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction - Presented by Dr. Michael D. Miedema

Critical Limb Ischemia: Is there a role for drug eluting stents in the periphery?

Dr. Steve Levin, Vascular Fellow at the University of Minnesota, defines critical limb ischemia, identifies the evolving role of drug eluting stents in the treatment of peripheral arterial disease and compares how drug eluting stents have performed relative to balloon angioplasty and bare metal stenting in patients suffering from critical limb ischemia.