Summit Combines Timely Updates in Congenital Heart Disease With a Deep Dive Into CCTGA

A slate of U.S. and international experts in congenital heart disease (CHD) will converge on Cleveland this fall to share the latest developments in CHD care and comprehensively explore a rare congenital defect that seldom receives such detailed educational focus: congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA).

It all happens at Cleveland Clinic’s 4th Annual Advances in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Summit, a 2.5-day CME-certified course held Thursday, Oct. 17, through midday Saturday, Oct. 19, at the InterContinental Hotel & Conference Center on Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.

“The first day, we’ll cover a variety of topics relevant to congenital heart disease in general, including the appropriate use of various imaging modalities, genetic considerations and management of patients — from the fetus to the competitive adult athlete,” says course co-director Hani Najm, MD, Chair of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery at Cleveland Clinic. “For the next day and a half, we’ll focus on our main topic of the summit, CCTGA, a rare but important defect with diagnostic and management challenges for which we’ll review longstanding surgical approaches and introduce new, innovative surgical solutions.”

Anatomic illustration of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries.

The latter focus gives this year’s installment of the summit its title, “Congenitally Corrected Transposition of the Great Arteries: Management and Outcomes from Infancy to Adulthood.” At its most basic, CCTGA involves reversal of the heart’s ventricles and their attached valves (see illustration), but the term encompasses a variety of morphological forms that result in a range of outcomes from patients being asymptomatic to needing transplantation.

What to expect

The summit kicks off with a talk by Robert Anderson, MD, PhD, Emeritus Professor at University College London. As the premier world expert on the structure and development of normal and congenitally malformed hearts, Dr. Anderson will deliver several presentations during the summit, covering common congenital cardiac anatomy as well as the complex morphological variations of CCTGA and how they influence management.

Virtually all course content will be delivered in well-focused presentations of 15 minutes by approximately 50 expert faculty (see list here) from Cleveland Clinic and other leading U.S. and international centers.

Participants can expect to come away with a solid understanding of a complex congenital heart disorder and how to manage it. Sessions devoted to CCTGA include:

• Basics of anatomy and natural history
• Imaging strategies
• Management approaches, catheter interventions, biventricular pacing and transplantation
• Timing and selection of repair interventions
• Managing complications and treatment failures
• Panel discussions with debates on managing asymptomatic infants and symptomatic toddlers
• Advances in clinical medicine, including 3D modeling and repair

More highlights

Other summit highlights include the following:

• A comprehensive workshop on echocardiography and other imaging methods for diagnosing and evaluating CCTGA. This optional 2.5-hour interactive session will use case studies to illustrate appropriate use of various imaging techniques.
• A cardiac intensive care unit simulation. Another 2.5-hour hands-on option, this new course will be a hands-on simulation-based workshop focused on strategies in perioperative management of high-risk single-ventricle patients. Evidence-based practice and contemporary data will be incorporated to highlight different scenarios at various stages of palliation.
• A patient experience segment showcasing how surgery guided by 3D-printed modeling produced life-changing results for a patient with a severe form of CCTGA.
• CHD updates. Recent revisions to guidelines on congenital and complex heart disease will be reviewed, and updates will be provided on the pathophysiology, imaging and genetics of CHD.
• A focus on team-based management of CHD. An ongoing theme will be the importance of having an effectively communicating interdisciplinary team and how to foster mutual understanding among team members.

“Congenital heart disease affects such a variety of specialties, so in addition to cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons, this summit will be highly relevant to many anesthesiologists, critical care specialists, pediatricians, OB-GYNs, perfusionists and other healthcare providers,” notes course co-director Elizabeth (Tess) Saarel, MD, Chair of Pediatric Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic Children’s.

Visit ccfcme.org/pediatricheart19 for more details and registration. Early-bird rates end Sept. 6.

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