Take heart! Come to Florida for the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society 2012 meeting!
By Jumbo Williams, MB, ChB
Program Co-Chairman
Welcome to sunshine and the sixth Annual Meeting of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society that will be held on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 in Tampa, FL. We offer a scientific program that builds on the tremendous success of previous meetings and is unabashedly tailored for those who care for children with heart disease. The topics chosen are “cutting-edge” and the speakers are excellent. We also want to hear from you. One of the great strengths of past sessions has been the audience’s enthusiastic participation in high quality debate. This is no surprise because many of our members have tremendous depth of knowledge and clinical experience.
The 2012 meeting will open with a session on oxygen – an essential, toxic drug. Frank McGowan, MD will review the basic science and clinical relevance of oxidative stress to children undergoing open-heart surgery. Wally Carlo, MD, is a neonatalogist and distinguished researcher who has published extensively on oxygen and ventilation strategies for neonates. He will share his perspectives, focusing particularly on neonates with cardiac disease.
Our second session will be of special interest to members who are fascinated by physics, physiology and high-tech gizmos. Aman Mahajan, MD, PhD, will introduce us to current and future models of pulse pressure analysis. Katherine Taylor, MD, follows with an overview of available non-invasive technologies for determining cardiac output in children.
The final morning session is very clinical: How to manage children with cardiac disease who require non-cardiac surgery? Three relatively common, high-risk scenarios have been chosen. Scott Watkins, MD, will discuss the anesthetic concerns when caring for a Fontan patient undergoing posterior spinal fusion. Mark Twite, MD, has to deal with a pulmonary hypertensive crisis during Broviac catheter placement and Peggy McNaull, MD, manages an infant for laproscopic Nissen fundoplication who is s/p Norwood Stage 1 palliation.
During lunch there will be an update on CCAS affairs by Jim DiNardo, MD, and David Vener, MD, reports the first data harvests from the CCAS/STS Anesthesia Database.
An informal poster session, with a focus on congenital heart disease, will be held during our 2012 meeting. In addition, in the first post-luncheon session, Courtney Hardy, MD, will moderate a five-minute presentation from each of the three best abstracts selected by the CCAS and SPA program directors. All the selected abstracts will be displayed during the conference.
Session V addresses a very controversial topic: administration of recombinant activated Factor VII (rFVIIa) during pediatric open-heart surgery. Bel Russel, MD, and Nina Guzetta, MD, review the data and debate rFVIIa’s role in hemostasis management. Then the discussion opens to the audience. This is your opportunity! Relate your experiences, discuss dosing regimens, suggest indications for its use.
After a coffee break to regain composure, we start a session devoted to the borderline left ventricle. Debra Kearney, MD, a cardiac pathologist, discusses the spectrum of pathological findings associated with this lesion. Sifaram Emani, MD, presents the new concepts in surgical LV rehabilitation that have been pioneered at Children’s Hospital, Boston, and Wayne Tworetsky, MD, reviews the role of non-invasive imaging for assessing suitability for LV rehabilitation.
The final session will be fast-paced, fun and informative. Anthony Clapcich, MD, and Radhika Dinavahi, MD, will host the Jeopardy contest, during which audience teams will be able to refresh and test their knowledge of pediatric heart disease.
Afterwards, please join us for an informal wine and cheese reception. Time to relax and chat with friends.
Many thanks to Suanne Davies, M.D., Wanda Miller-Hance, MD, and Jim DiNardo, MD, for their assistance in designing this program. It is our hope that the topics will draw you to the 2012 CCAS conference in record numbers. We would like to extend our special invitation to pediatric anesthesia fellows and anesthesia residents who can join the conference at a discounted rate.
See you all in Tampa!
