Dr. Grant Reed, Interventional Cardiologist, talk about how we place stents and what we do when there is calcium in the coronary artery to allow the stent to be deployed safely.

Research has shown that women have low participation in clinical trials – especially when it comes to cardiovascular care. Dr. Leslie Cho, Director of the Women’s Cardiovascular Center gives us some reasons this occurs, why it is important for women to increase their participation in trials, and where you can find information about clinical trials.

Aortic dissection is a scary diagnosis. Dr. Scott Cameron, Dr. Milind Desai, Dr. Sean Lyden and Dr. Eric Roselli answer questions patients have about aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection.

What are varicose veins and spider veins? Dr. George Anton a vascular surgeon and Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Vein Center answers common questions patients have about these vein problems:• Why do they occur?• How do you prevent them?• How to choose and wear compression socks?• Are varicose veins and spider veins dangerous?• Treatment options for spider veins and varicose veins?• Recovery after vein treatments• How to choose a treatment center for vein careLearn more about Cleveland Clinic’s Vein Centers - https://my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/heart/depts/vein-center

Patients who are born with a congenital heart condition have many questions about heart care over the years.

Patients have many questions about cardiac devices. Electrophysiology and device experts Drs. Thomas Callahan, Oussama Wazni and Bruce Wilkoff talk about indications for getting a pacemaker and/or ICD and when patients need lead or device extraction. The doctors discuss how extraction is performed, outcomes of this procedure, what happens if complications occur, and how new innovations are lessening the risk of complications – such as infection.

The Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute (HVTI) research has long history of research and innovation. This program takes a deep dive into the three major components: clinical investigations, clinical trials, and an academic research organization – as well as access to basic research as part of our partnership with the Lerner Research Institute. Dr. Eugene Blackstone, Dr. Tara Karamlou, Dr. Michael Lincoff and Dr. Aaron Weiss have a lively discussion about research in HVTI, including the history, organization, highlights and challenges, and plans for future growth and innovation.

Should you take a supplement if you have had a heart attack, stroke or coronary bypass surgery? Will supplements prevent future events? Dr. Luke Laffin, Preventive Cardiologist, provides some facts about common supplements and questions we have unanswered. If you live in Ohio, they are currently enrolling patients in a trial called the SPORT study to answer the question: do supplements make an impact on cardiovascular disease? If you are interested in participating you can email the study team at [email protected].

Cardiac imaging is important not only for diagnosing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) but also in making decisions about treatment and risk of future events. Dr. Milind Desai, Director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center, takes you through the types of testing and what they show. Tests include basic echocardiogram, specialized echo testing, MRI and transesophageal echo. Patients require testing at baseline to diagnose HCM and monitoring over time – it is your friend for life!

The first documented stopped heart surgery was performed on February 17, 1956. Dr. Lars Svensson, Chairman of the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute reviews the operative notes from this innovative surgery performed by Dr. Donald Effler and Dr. Lawrence Groves, using a heart lung machine developed by Dr. Willem Kolff at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Svensson uses illustrations to take us step by step through the procedure. The majority of heart procedures done today use a similar process to stop the heart as the one that Drs. Effler and Groves used 65 years ago during this ground-breaking surgery.