5 Reasons Your Colleagues Will Be Attending ‘Mastering the Mitral Valve’ in NYC Dec. 1-2

When Cleveland Clinic convenes its first-ever “Mastering the Mitral Valve” CME course in New York City in early December, it will be one of the most deep-diving CME explorations of mitral valve disease offered anywhere to date.

“This course will drill down into a wide range of specific questions related to mitral valve disease, particularly from the standpoint of enhancing clinical decision-making in a variety of situations,” says course co-director Brian Griffin, MD, Head of Cardiovascular Imaging at Cleveland Clinic.

“Proper management of mitral valve disease can be complex,” adds course co-director A. Marc Gillinov, MD, Chairman of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic. “In this course, we emphasize appropriate timing for intervention and the most successful techniques for restoring mitral valve function. Understanding these key principles restores patients to full function and, in the case of mitral valve prolapse, provides a normal life expectancy.”

The 1.5-day event will be held at JW Marriott Essex House New York at 160 Central Park South on Friday-Saturday, Dec. 1-2 (see ccfcme.org/mitralmasters for details and registration). Here are five big reasons the course is stirring interest among its target audience of cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, internists and midlevel providers specializing in cardiovascular care.

1) Mitral valve disease is highly prevalent

About 5 percent of the U.S. population has some degree of mitral valve disease, notes Dr. Griffin. “It’s something we’ve become much more aware of in recent years,” he says. “Understanding of this topic has really grown and there is much that’s new and highly relevant to cardiovascular practice, even for the general cardiologist.”

2) A comprehensive and powerhouse agenda

The course’s six topical sessions take a soup-to-nuts approach to mitral valve disease, starting with anatomy and imaging and ending with transcatheter repair and replacement. In between are comprehensive sessions devoted to various aspects of degenerative mitral regurgitation — when to operate, mitral valve repair and special situations — along with a session exploring issues in functional mitral regurgitation. Dr. Griffin says the various discussions around the timing of interventions are certain to be highlights.

3) A dynamic course design

That powerhouse course content will be delivered in an engaging way. All lectures will be sharply focused at 20 minutes or less, and each topical session concludes with audience Q&A. Centerpieces of the agenda will be three 30-minute pro/con debates on burning questions in mitral valve care:

• Are we operating too late in degenerative mitral regurgitation?
• Repair or replacement in the elderly patient?
• Repair or replace for severe ischemic mitral regurgitation?

4) A premier faculty

Most of the course’s 20 expert faculty members are surgeons and cardiologists with Cleveland Clinic’s Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute. They will be joined by superb guest faculty from Northwestern University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Northwell Health and other leading U.S. institutions. “Managing the mitral valve requires special knowledge and expertise,” notes Dr. Gillinov. “Our world-class experts from the nation’s busiest mitral valve centers will share their insights and expertise.”

5) New York City in December!

What better time to be in New York? The venue’s location along Central Park puts attendees in the heart of the city. And adjournment times of 4:15 on Friday and noon on Saturday leave plenty of time for weekend sightseeing.

Just for good measure, Dr. Gillinov sums up the case for making time for this course in the 23-second video below. To register, visit ccfcme.org/mitralmasters.

This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 credit™.