Dr. Marc Gerdisch is my guest for this episode.

Dr. Gerdisch is currently the Chief of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, IN, and owner of Cardiac Surgery Associates in Downers Grove, Illinois, just outside Chicago. 

During the last 21 years, Dr. Gerdisch has performed more than 5,000 innovative surgical procedures, of which 3,500 involved heart valve operations. He is an innovator in heart surgery and presents internationally on novel heart valve repair techniques and participates in ongoing landmark research in next-generation heart valves and heart tissue regeneration.

Join us for a discussion focusing on the exciting and illuminating results offered by the ATLAS Study, aka the AtriClip® Left Atrial Appendage Exclusion Concomitant to Structural Heart Procedures (ATLAS).

Discussion points: 

Introduction and background – Dr. Marc Gerdisch

What drove the clinical ATLAS study into being?

How heart surgeons like Dr. James Cox started closing the left atrial appendage as an avant-garde move many years ago

Patients CHADVASc scores and risks for Afib

The LAAOS III study and its outcomes

Atriopathy and why all atrial diseases are related

The next phase of the ATLAS study will have thousands of patients, multi-national

ATLAS study only studied clips, LAAOS included sewing and stapling, which don’t function as well

How a poorly closed appendage can be worse than not closing it at all

There is such a large amount of data out there on AFib, as diagnostics improve and its danger is recognized

Physicians should be screening for AFib if patients have the related risk factors

Any patient who has ever snored should have a sleep study done

In closing– to all heart surgeons with access to the left atrial appendage during surgery, you should discuss a pre-op plan for closing it in your patients!

Resources:

Dr. Marc Gerdisch LinkedIn

ATLAS Study

LAAOS III Study

Cardiac Surgery Associates Website

Dr. Kiankhooy LinkedIn

All Things AFib Website

All Things AFib Twitter 

All Things AFib YouTube Channel