Check out the highlights for the Arrhythmia/EP Streams at the Meeting. Who are the speakers? Interesting topics to look out for, prize presentations and social activities to look forward to.
Arrhythmia / EP Highlights at the CSANZ ASM 2022.
See the whole Program here, and plan your 2022 CSANZ ASM Gold Coast visit now.
The Australian Government Department of Health introduced permanent telehealth arrangements on 1 July 2022 following cessation of the temporary telehealth arrangements on 30 June 2022. Information on the permanent telehealth items is available in the new Fact Sheet on the MBSOnline website MBS online – MBS Telehealth Services from 1 July 2022
Members are advised that the Government has indicated it intends to defer to 1 October 2022 the implementation of the telephone specific 30/20 compliance rule which was to take effect on 1 July 2022.
The ANZET 2022 program is coming together for the Meeting 12 – 14 August 2022.
We are delighted to announce the Named Lecturers for 2022:
The Louis Bernstein Lecture will be presented by Prof John Ormiston, Medical Director INTRA, NZ.
The Paul Yock Innovations in Cardiology Lecture will be presented by Prof Paul Yock, Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, USA (virtual presentation).
Other international faculty presenting at ANZET22 include Prof Vinayak Bapat, Dr Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, Prof Akiko Maehar, Dr Michael J. Reardon, MD and Lauren Connolly, Clinical Nurse Specialist. Register Now!
Submissions for ANZET Prizes close soon, apply now:
The Geoff Mews Memorial ANZET Fellows’ Prize – closing 13 July 2022.
Best Interventional Imaging Competition – closing 13 July 2022.
Hearts4heart will be launching Australia’s first national Heart Failure Awareness Week, 27 June – 3 July 2022
This new initiative aims to raise awareness, educate people and encourage critical conversations around the importance of reform in how heart failure diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management is addressed in Australia.
During the week, Australia’s first Heart Failure Patient & Caregiver Charter will be launched to support shared decision-making between patients and clinicians and as a guide for GPs.
CSANZ has submitted an application for a new MBS item number for Cardiac MRI in the Diagnosis of Myocarditis. As part of the appraisal process, MSAC is inviting input on the application from a range of stakeholders, through both targeted and public consultation.
Public consultation is now open until 8 July 2022.
CSANZ Members are encouraged to provide input in the consultation process for the item number by completing the consultation survey at this link.
http://www.msac.gov.au/internet/msac/publishing.nsf/Content/1713-public
The 4th International Clinical Cardiovascular Genetics (ICCG) conference was held in Brisbane on May 11-13, 2022. As the first face-to-face meeting for the majority of the attendees, it was as much a social event and “family reunion” as it was an outstanding scientific conference exploring the latest in cardiovascular genetic advances and how these amazing developments have led to improved patient care.
Our two international guests, Dr Perry Elliott (UK) and Dr Bruce Gelb (USA), shared their knowledge in the fields of inherited cardiomyopathies and congenital heart diseases, and were accompanied by an exceptional national faculty of unmasked speakers, and a number of students presenting abstract talks and posters many for the first time at an international conference.
Download the report in full here (pdf).
Prof Chris Semsarian, Scientific Program Chair
The Joint National CV Implementation and Policy Roundtable held in Canberra in March 2022 provided a unique opportunity to bring the community together to collectively take important steps to set a national CV Implementation & Policy agenda and action plan.
Prof Garry Jennings and Prof Julie Redfern, under the flagship of the ACvA Implementation and Policy, have joined forces with the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand and the National Heart Foundation of Australia to start the national discussion to identify implementation and policy solutions for cardiovascular disease.
Over 60 participants from government, peak bodies, and individuals spanning clinicians, researchers, primary care, allied health, pharmacists, nurses, consumers and industry were in attendance and a draft report has been prepared for consultation and input take the first steps towards a National Implementation and Policy agenda and action plan.
The first use of non-invasive fractional flow reserve-derived from CT coronary angiography (FFRct) in Australian patients is reported in our article, now published in Heart, Lung and Circulation [1]. This technology is currently TGA-approved in Australia, although not approved for use under Medicare.
Advances in CT coronary angiography currently offer the ability to assess both the anatomical and physiological aspects of coronary disease within the one scan. Non-invasive fractional flow reserve derived from CT coronary angiography (FFRct) is a technology first described in 2011 [2], pioneered by HeartFlow in the USA. Large multicentre global validation studies have since established its diagnostic performance and prognostic implications to be comparable with invasive fractional flow reserve. Across the US, Europe and Japan, and following regulatory approval, FFRct has evolved to become part ofmainstream clinical practice; in US (American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology) and UK (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE] guidelines, FFRct is currently recommended for use in patients with stable recent onset chest pain.
How does FFRct work? Using the images of a routinely acquired CT coronary angiogram, a model of the coronary luminal tree is derived. Physiological assumptions are made regarding the viscosity of blood, as well as inlet and outlet flow and pressure, based on their observed relationship in accordance with vessel size and myocardial mass. These assumptions are then applied to the luminal model. Flow and pressure are derived using computational fluid dynamics across the entire coronary tree [3]. When compared with invasive fractional flow reserve, FFRct has high diagnostic performance. Importantly, it provides improved specificity for detection of vessel specific ischaemia compared with anatomical stenosis assessment using CT coronary angiography alone.
Our study included 109 patients who had undergone CT coronary angiography and invasive fractional flow reserve; the technology of FFRct was retrospectively applied. In this cohort of Australian patients, the diagnostic performance of FFRct was found to be comparable with the existing international literature, with demonstrated improvement in performance compared with CT coronary angiography alone for detection of vessel specific ischaemia.
[1]Chua A, Ihdayhid AR, Linde J, Sorgaard M, Cameron JD, Seneviratne S, Ko BS. Diagnostic Performance of CT-derived Fractional Flow Reserve in Australian Patients Referred for Invasive Coronary Angiography. Heart Lung Circ 2022; Article in press https://www.heartlungcirc.org/article/S1443-9506(22)00115-9/fulltext
[2]Koo BK, Erglis A, Doh JH, Daniels DV, Jegere S, Kim HS, et al. Diagnosis of ischemia-causing coronary stenoses by noninvasive fractional flow reserve computed from coronary computed tomographic angiograms. Results from the prospective multicenter DISCOVER-FLOW (Diagnosis of Ischemia-Causing Stenoses Obtained Via Noninvasive Fractional Flow Reserve) study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2011;58:1989-97.
[3]Khav N, Ihdayhid AR, Ko B. CT-derived Fractional Flow Reserve (CT-FFR) in the Evaluation of Coronary Artery Disease. Heart Lung Circ 2020; 29: 1621-32.
Summary by co-author Brian Ko
May encounter a persistent “session-active” flag following the use of inductive telemetry, typically with CareLink Express. This will result in temporary suspension of some features until the flag is cleared:
ANZCDACC Hazard Alert May 2022
Device:
Medtronic Cobalt™ and Crome™ Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs) and Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Defibrillators (CRT-Ds)
TGA Reference: RC-2022-RN-00608-1
The status of cardio-oncology services in Australia through an online multi-disciplinary survey.
Read the article published in the Internal Medicine Journal, by Prof Kazuaki Negishi, senior author, that assesses the status of cardio-oncology services in Australia through an online multi-disciplinary survey.
Read summary in full and link to article on WileyOnline from the Internal Medicine Journal (IMJ).
