CCAS review
2017 Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society Annual Meeting
By Faith J. Ross, MD
Seattle Children’s Hospital
This year the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society, under the leadership of program chair Scott Walker MD (Riley Children’s Hospital, Indianapolis), put on another fabulous annual meeting in Austin, TX. The day began with a focus on basic science and clinical applications. Deepak Srivastava MD (UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, San Francisco) kicked off the meeting with a fascinating discussion of genetic technology in the treatment of congenital heart disease and Mark Rodefeld MD (Riley Children’s Hospital, Indianapolis) described the potential role for a cavopulmonary assist device in preventing complications of high venous pressure in the Fontan circulation.
The morning continued with practice updates in congenital cardiac anesthesia. Dean Andropoulos, MD MHCM (Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston) discussed the present and future of advanced training in congenital cardiac anesthesia and gave an overview of the advanced training programs in the United States. Annette Schure, MD (Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston) presented a concise review of the physiology and anesthetic concerns for patients after heart transplantation and Nina Deutsch, MD (Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC) described her institution’s novel approach to MRI-guide catheterization procedures. The Focus on a Lesion session this year featured a discussion of perioperative and surgical management of congenitally corrected transposition with Premal Trivedi, MD (Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston) and Joseph Forbess, MD (UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas).
After lunch, the meeting resumed with three excellent research presentations from Rebecca Scholl, MD (Duke Children’s Hospital, Durham), Michelle DaCosta, MD (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta), and Jonathan Meserve, MD (Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston). The afternoon continued with a session on thoracic anesthesia including presentations on vascular rings by Greg Hammer, MD (Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford), coarctation repair by John Scott, MD (Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), and thoracotomy pain management by Santhanam Suresh, MD FAAP (Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago).
The audience then had the opportunity to participate in one of several workshops or attend the “Ask the Experts” panel featuring Dr. Andropoulos (Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston), James DiNardo MD (Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston), Nina Guzzetta, MD FAP (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta), George Hoffman, MD (Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), and Francis McGowan, MD FAAP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia). The day concluded with moderated poster presentations and a lovely reception.
For those interested in a more detailed account of this meeting, a complete review will be included in the summer CCAS newsletter. I look forward to another interesting and informative meeting next year in Arizona.
