Scottsdale Interventional Forum introduces breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine

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From March 21-24, the Scottsdale Interventional Forum will showcase the latest and greatest discoveries in the world of cardiovascular health.

Traditionally, there was a competition between cardiologists and surgeons, according to Dr. David Rizik of HonorHealth, but now it has become a collaborative effort. Up until about a decade ago, the emphasis was on the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease, Rizik says. Many heart surgeries would include weeks of recovery time in the hospital compared to days of recovery time now.

The management of cardiovascular disease used to include x-rays. Today, physicians like Dr. Robert Burke of Honor Health, can create a 3-D image of the heart in real time using ultrasounds. It’s a much less invasive measure to diagnose and manage diseases. It’s not just a gradual evolution, Burke says, but a revolution.

Among the advanced technology and clearer understanding came the realization that men and women have to be treated for heart diseases differently. Until 2000, cardiovascular medicine was based on studies only using men. Rizik says, in his opinion, understanding women’s heart issues is probably the greatest evolution and revolution in heart disease management.

How do you keep your heart healthy? First of all, put down the cigarette. Burke says the most simple, single measure people can do to protect their heart is to quit smoking. Exercise will also keep your heart healthy by protecting you from issues with your weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, Burke says.

TED SIMONS: AN UPCOMING FORUM IN SCOTTSDALE WILL OFFER A COMPREHENSIVE STATE OF THE ART REVIEW IN ADVANCES IN HEART AND VASCULAR MEDICINE AND HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE FORUM AND UPDATE THE HEART HEALTH IS DAVID RIZIK WITH STRUCTURE AND CORONARY INTERVENTIONS AND DR. ROBERT BURKE WITH NONINVASIVE CARDIO DIAGNOSTICS AND THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE AND JOINING US. THE LATEST IN THE TREATMENT AND THE DIAGNOSIS, THE LATEST IN HEART HEALTH, WE TALK ABOUT CANCER, EVERYONE IS VERY OPTIMISTIC, ALL ALZHEIMER'S IS SLOW TO RAMP WHAT ABOUT HEART.

DAVID RIZIK: YOU KNOW IT’S INTERESTING, IF YOU LOOK AT THE PRACTICE OF CARDIOLOGY IN THE 80s AND 90s EVEN UP UNTIL ABOUT A DECADE AGO OUR EMPHASIS WAS ALMOST TOTALLY ON THE DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE. THE ADVENT OF BYPASS SURGERY, ADVANCES IN STENT TECHNOLOGY WE REALLY FOCUSED ALMOST SOLELY ON CORONORY DISEASE MANAGEMENT. BUT THERE HAS BEEN A DRAMATIC EVOLUTION IN CARDIOLOGY OVER THE LAST DECADE. WE ARE NOW BEGINNING TO DIAGNOSE AND MANAGE THOSE DISEASED STATES THAT WERE TRADITIONALLY THE DOMAIN OF THE OPEN HEART SURGEON BUT WE ARE DOING IT WITH LESS INVASIVE MEANS THAN PREVIOUSLY.

TED SIMONS: THUS NONINVASIVE OPERATIONS AND YOU DOCTOR TALK ABOUT IT IN THE OLD DAYS HEART SURGERY WAS THIS IS A TOUGH SELL AND IT'S GOING TO BE A TOUGH RECOVERY AND IT'S A BIG OLD SCARS AND NOT MOVING AROUND FOR A WHILE AND KIND OF CHANGING ISN'T IT.

ROBERT BURKE: IT CHANGED COMPLETELY. SO SIX YEARS AGO WHEN WE STARTED THE STRUCTURAL HEART PROGRAM WITH TAKING CARE OF THE AORTIC VALVE DISEASE THAT IS WHEN THE MAIN VALVE LEAVING THE HEART DOESN'T OPEN AND IT'S STENOSED AND REPLACING IT LIKE DR. RIZIK DOES AND REPLACE THAT IT'S DONE IN LITERALLY MINUTES AND THE RECOVERY TIME IS MEASURED IN DAYS AS OPPOSED TO WEEKS.

DAVID RIZIK: THE ONE THING I WOULD SAY IS THAT TRADITIONALLY THERE WAS SORT OF A COMPETITION BETWEEN CARDIOLOGISTS AND SURGEONS AND NOW THIS IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN CARDIOLOGISTS INTERVENTION CARDIOLOGISTS AND SURGEONS AND NONINVASIVE IMAGING EXPERTS LIKE DR. BURKE IT'S A COLLABORATIVE TEAM EFFORT.

TED SIMONS: AND HIGH TECH IS A MAJOR PART.

DAVID RIZIK: VERY HIGH TECH AND YOU MENTIONED THE SCOTTSDALE INTERVENTIONAL FORUM THIS IS A FOUR DAY CMU OR CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM WHERE WE BRING TOGETHER THE TOP MINDS IN CARDIOLOGY AND SURGERY AND IT'S A FOUR-DAY COURSE IF YOU WILL, OVER 100 DIDACTIC LECTURES AND 14 LIVE CASES FROM THE TOP PROGRAMS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

TED SIMONS: AND AGAIN REGARDING VALVES AND VALVE REPLACEMENTS AND THESE SORTS OF THINGS IS IT LITERALLY A WORLD AWAY FROM FIVE YEARS AGO, FROM TEN YEARS AGO?

ROBERT BURKE: IT'S BEEN AN EXPLOSION. I MEAN THIS IS NOT JUST A GRADUAL EVOLUTION IT HAS BEEN A REVOLUTION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE AND IT STARTED WITH THE AORTIC AND INCLUDES MITRAL VALVE DISEASE AND ARE WE REPAIR LEAKING MITRAL VALVES AND PREVENT STROKE WITH RHYTHM PROBLEMS PUTTING IN A WATCHMAN DEVICE AND PROTECTS PEOPLE FROM HAVING A STROKE. ALL OF THIS HAPPENS INSIDE THE CATH LAB WHICH IS HOME TO DR. RIZIK AND IS TRADITIONALLY EVERYTHING THAT WAS DONE WITH X-RAYS AND WHAT HAS HAPPENED MORE RECENTLY IS THAT NOW PHYSICIANS LIKE MYSELF HAVE BEEN BROUGHT IN TO ACTUALLY IMAGE THIS WITH REAL TIME AND ULTRASOUND SO WE CAN SEE THE HEART IN THREE DIMENSIONS AND ALLOW US TO GUIDE PROCEDURES THAT OTHERWISE WOULD NOT BE DONE WITH JUST X-RAYS ALONE.

TED SIMONS: I WOULD IMAGINE REAL QUICKLY THE FACT THAT THE RECOVERY TIME HAS BEEN SHORTENED SO MUCH THAT HELPS THE OVER ALL HEALTH OF THE PATIENT I WOULD IMAGINE.

DAVID RIZIK: THINK ABOUT THAT FOR ONE MINUTE. BYPASS SURGERY PATIENTS STAYED IN THE HOSPITAL FOR 7-14 DAYS OR VALVE SURGERY PATIENTS STAYED IN THE HOSPITAL FOR 7-14 DAYS, THE AVERAGE LENGTH OF STAY NOW IS ABOUT A DAY AND A HALF TO TWO DAYS ON THESE SAME PROCEDURES DONE VIA CATHETER BASED METHOD.

TED SIMONS: OKAY SO LET'S SAY 10, 15 YEARS AGO WHENEVER DAVID LETTERMAN HAD HIS BYPASS THE PROCEDURE YOU GO IN THERE AND YOU BYPASS THE PROBLEM, WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

DAVID RIZIK: NOW, WE HAVE LESS INVASIVE MEANS AND WE STARTED OFF DOING CATHETER-BASED TECHNIQUES, STENT TECHNOLOGY BY GOING UP THROUGH A CATHETER PLACED IN THE ARTERY OF THE LEG NOW WE GO THROUGH AN ARTERY IN THE WRIST AND WHEN WE ARE DONE IMPLANTING THE STENT AND OPENING THE ARTERY WE PUT A LITTLE BAND OVER THIS AND THEY GO HOME THE NEXT MORNING.

TED SIMONS: MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS. ALL RIGHT GENERAL HEART ISSUES, HEALTH CONCERNS IS SMOKING STILL THE NUMBER ONE WAY TO AVOID HEART PROBLEMS JUST STOP SMOKING AND YOU'RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK? IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S THE ALFA AND OMEGA.

ROBERT BURKE: CLEARLY THE MOST SIMPLE SINGLE MEASURE THAT SOMEBODY CAN DO AS FAR AS PREVENTING THE RISK OF HAVING A HEART ATTACK, HAVING CORONARY DISEASE IS TO QUIT SMOKING. VERY SIMPLY. THERE ARE THINGS WE CAN CHANGE AND THERE ARE THINGS WE CAN'T. YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE DATE OF YOUR BIRTH YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR GENDER YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR PARENTS YOU ARE STUCK WITH THOSE. THOSE ARE FIXED, THINGS WE CAN MODIFY THE SINGLE BEST THING TO FIX IS SMOKING. YOU CAN THEN WORK ON OTHER THINGS CHOLESTEROL BLOOD PRESSURE AND BLOOD SUGAR BUT A BINARY FIX OR NO FIX IT'S SMOKING.

TED SIMONS: YOU MENTIONED YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR GENDER AND RESEARCH INTO WOMEN'S HEART HEALTH ISSUES HAS CHANGED TOO HASN'T IT.

DAVID RIZIK: THAT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE GREATEST EVOLUTIONS AND REVOLUTIONS IF YOU WILL IN HEART DISEASE MANAGEMENT IS UNDERSTANDING WOMEN'S CARDIOVASCULAR ISSUES. YOU KNOW SO MUCH OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE UP TO 2000 WAS ALL BASED ON STUDIES IN MALES. THERE HAS BEEN AN EXPLOSION IN STUDIES IN WOMEN CARDIOVASCULAR ISSUES OVER THE PAST DECADE AND A HALF OR TWO DECADES AND NOW WE UNDERSTAND, YOU KNOW THE EXPRESSION MEN ARE FROM MARS AND WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS IT'S TRUE WITH CARDIOVASCULAR.

TED SIMONS: THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

DAVID RIZIK: NO QUESTION.

TED SIMONS: THIS IS A QUESTION AND ENTIRELY PERSONAL BECAUSE I LIKE TO EXERCISE AND IT'S GOOD FOR ME I THINK IT'S GOOD FOR ME. WHY IS EXERCISING AND MAKING YOUR HEART JUST WORK AS HARD AS IT CAN OR CLOSE TO AS HARD WHY IS THAT GOOD FOR YOUR HEART?

ROBERT BURKE: EXERCISE BASICALLY EXERCISE FIXES MANY OF THE THINGS THAT BRING PEOPLE INTO THE OFFICE TO SEE US. IT HELPS WITH THEIR WEIGHT, IT HELPS WITH BLOOD PRESSURE AND CHOLESTEROL AND MODIFYING THEIR BLOOD SUGAR ALL OF THOSE RISK FACTORS ARE IMPACTED BY EXERCISE SO AS YOU EXERCISE YOU'RE GOING TO HELP MINIMIZE THOSE PROBLEMS, HELPS TO BRING YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE DOWN, HELPS TO BE GET YOUR BLOOD SUGAR UNDER BETTER CLOSE AND CONTROL CHOLESTEROL ALL THE THINGS THAT WE LOOK AT THAT WE OTHERWISE TREAT WITH MEDICATIONS CAN BE IMPACTED BY EXERCISE ALONE.

TED SIMONS: ALL RIGHT I JUST WORRY SOMETIMES I'M OUT THERE IS THIS REALLY A GOOD THING THAT IS HAPPENING TO ME BECAUSE I CAN BARELY BREATHE HERE BUT I GET THE POINT THERE GOOD STUFF GOOD INFORMATION GOOD TO HAVE YOU BOTH HERE THANK YOU. AND WEDNESDAY ON ARIZONA HORIZON WEEKLY UPDATE WITH LAWMAKERS THE LATEST AT THE LEGISLATURE AND LEARN ABOUT AN ONLINE RESOURCE THAT COMES TO THE RESCUE OF FIREFIGHTERS, THAT IS WEDNESDAY RIGHT HERE ON ARIZONA HORIZON. THAT IS IT FOR NOW. I'M TED SIMONS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US YOU HAVE A GREAT EVENING.

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Dr. David Rizik: HonorHealth
Dr. Robert Burke: HonorHealth

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