Make plans to attend the Fifth Annual Meeting of Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society
By Anshuman Sharma, MD
Program Chair
On behalf of the organizing committee, Suanne and I welcome you all, to join us at the fifth annual Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society meeting to be held in beautiful San Diego on March 31, 2011. Like the previous four meetings, we have a great scientific session which includes topics that should be of interest to those involved in the care of patients with congenital heart disease. We are fortunate that this meeting continues to attract excellent speakers and a great audience.
The 2011 meeting will open with a session focused on chronic hypoxia. Our first speaker, Dr. Mike Crowder from Washington University School of Medicine, will start the day discussing the cellular mechanisms involved in the hypoxic cell death. He will then share recent findings from his lab that shed light on potential methods to strengthen hypoxia survival mechanism in mammals. Dr. Christopher Caldarone of the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, will then discuss the mechanisms by which a multi-organ ischemic stimulus is able to offer hypoxia/ischemic tolerance in remote organs including heart and brain. He will also focus his talk on the clinical benefits of remote preconditioning in the patients with congenital heart disease. This session will conclude with a presentation by Dr. Scott Walker, who will discuss many challenges of providing anesthetic care to the children living with long standing hypoxia.
Cardiac MRI is becoming a common diagnostic tool in the management of congenital heart disease. Dr. David Parra, a pediatric cardiologist from Vanderbilt University, will educate the audience about the benefits of cardiac MRI in obtaining specific diagnostic information that other invasive and noninvasive test are unable to provide. Dr. Kirsten Odegard will then highlight the risks, including anesthetic risks, that are often incurred while obtaining this information.
Our last pre-luncheon session, moderated by Dr. Suanne Daves, should generate an exciting discussion. Three expert anesthesiologists will present their approach and management strategies for dealing with critically ill patients in the cardiac catheterization lab. First, Dr. Mossad will describe his approach to providing anesthetic care for a child with extremely poor myocardial function who requires a diagnostic catheterization prior to getting listed for cardiac transplant. Dr. Alexander Hughs will then highlight the challenges of providing safe anesthetic care for a child with William syndrome who may require balloon dilatation for his critical aortic and pulmonary valve stenosis. Finally, Dr. Nina Guzzetta will discuss the emergent anesthesia care for a child with systemic-pulmonary shunt, presenting to cardiac catheterization with severe, persistent desaturation.
Similar to the last CCAS meeting, an informal poster session, with a focus on congenital heart disease, will be held during our 2011 meeting. In addition, in the first post-luncheon session, Dr. Courtney Hardy 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.
This will be followed by a session focused on the practice of early extubation after pediatric cardiac surgery like the Fontan procedure. Dr. Glyn Williams will moderate this session during which Dr. Jon Meliones will make a presentation on cardio-pulmonary interactions after CPB. We anticipate a erudite and passionate pro and con debate between Dr. McGowan and Dr. Mittnacht.
Drawing from the success of last year’s ‘Study a Lesion’ session, our last scientific session will be focused on the study of ‘Tetrology of Fallot’, moderated by Dr. Jim Dinardo. The first talk is by Dr. Angela Sharley, a pediatric cardiologist, who will outline various anatomical components and variants of the pathology seen with this congenital condition. Dr. Wanda Miller-Hance will discuss the role of trans-esopahgeal echo in assisting surgical repair and will offer tips for acquiring the images necessary to illustrate the relevant anatomical defects in the pre and post bypass periods. Finally, Dr. Lamberti, a pediatric cardiac surgeon from Rady Children’s Hospital, will discuss surgical techniques and other relevant issues that affect the decision-making process when dealing with a child with Tetrology of Fallot.
We will end this one-day conference on a high note. Dr. Anthony Clapcich and Dr. Dinavahi will host the Jeopardy contest, during which the audience will be able to refresh and test their knowledge of all topics related to congenital heart diseases and their surgical repairs.
We hope that these topics will interest and motivate you to sign up for the 2011 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. Please also join us for a wine and cheese reception on the conclusion of the day to celebrate the fifth meeting of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society.
Hoping for a rain-free CCAS and SPA/AAP conference in San Diego.
