Page 7 – Pulmonary Vascular Disease Specialists Add Balloon Angioplasty as a Treatment Option for Patients Not Eligible for Surgery Percutaneous balloon angioplasty joins surgical thromboendarterectomy and acute em-bolectomy in the arsenal of therapies offered at the Heart & Vascular Center that aim atrevascularizing pulmonary vessels to improve ventilation, flow balance, and right-ventricularfunction.

Page 2 – Advanced Heart Disease Specialists Leading Expanded U.S. Clinical Trial of HeartMate3 Left Ventricular Assist System As one of the limited centers in the United States participating in the limited clinical trialprogram of the HeartMate 3™ centrifugal-flow chronic left ventricular assist system, theBrigham and Women’s Hospital Heart & Vascular Center was among the first to implantthis potentially game-changing technology in mechanical circulatory support.

Page 4 – Cardiovascular Genetics Center Specialists Identify How Mutations of the Titin GeneCause Dilated CardiomyopathyResearchers in the Cardiovascular Genetics Center were the first to sequence the be-hemoth titin gene responsible for encoding the largest protein in the human body.They discovered that mutations truncating titin are the most common genetic causeof severe and familial dilated cardiomyopathy. Earlier this year, they expanded thesestudies to 5,000 individuals with a spectrum of cardiovascular physiology.

Page 6 – With Implanted Hemodynamic Monitor, Heart Failure Specialists Are Able to Reduce Hospitalizations and Improve Patient Care at HomeHeart & Vascular Center interventional cardiologists were among the first to implant theCardioMEMS™ Heart Failure System, after its recent FDA approval as an implantablehemodynamic monitor for heart failure patients. This first-of-its-kind implantable wirelessdevice placed in a blood vessel in the lung provides remote monitoring of pulmonary artery pressure to reduce hospitalizations in patients with heart failure.

brighamandwomens.org/heart

HEART & VASCULAR CENTER ADVANCES

WINTER 2015

2 | Brigham and Women’s Hospital HEART & VASCULAR CENTER ADVANCES

As one of the limited centers in the United States participatingin the limited clinical trial program of the HeartMate 3™ cen-trifugal-flow chronic left ventricular assist system, the Brighamand Women’s Hospital (BWH) Heart & Vascular Center wasamong the first to implant this potentially game-changingtechnology in mechanical circulatory support.

This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave thego-ahead to broaden enrollment of the U.S. clinical trial to in-clude more than 1,000 patients at up to 60 clinical sites. Man-deep R. Mehra, MD, Executive Director of the Center forAdvanced Heart Disease and Medical Director of the Heart &Vascular Center, is one of four national co-principal investiga-tors leading the trial and chair of the publications and presen-tations committee.

Next-Generation TechnologyThe HeartMate 3 LVAS is a third-generation mechanical circu-latory support device, engineered with the promise for en-hanced hemocompatibility. It features a centrifugal-flowdurable left ventricular assist system that utilizes fully magnet-ically levitated technology designed to lower adverse eventrates, especially hemocompatibility complications (i.e. throm-bosis). Evidence of enhanced hemocompatibility was demon-strated in the first 50 patients receiving the HeartMate 3 at 10centers in Europe, Australia and Canada, where no devicethromboses occurred and no pump exchanges were requiredin the first six months post implantation.

“The HeartMate 3 technology includes several design fea-tures aimed at enhancing durability and hemocompatiblity,”said Dr. Mehra. “A miniaturized centrifugal flow device givesit a smaller profile and fewer moving parts than previous gen-eration left ventricular assist devices, which also helps withease of surgical placement.” He explained that, “Magneticlevitation technology spins the rotor and keeps it in a stableposition at a broad range of speeds, while the internal pul-satility with automatic changes in speed produces an intrinsicpulse to minimize pump stasis.”

In addition, large gaps between the rotor and the pump hous-ing allow for improved blood flow with minimized shear stresson blood components and internal sintering with textured ti-tanium microspheres creates a more biocompatible surface.

“HeartMate 3 can be used either as a short term device tobridge patients to transplantation or as a long-term lifetimetherapy,” said Dr. Mehra.

MOMEMTUM 3: The Largest LVAD Trial to DateWith Dr. Mehra participating as national co-principal investi-gator of the MOMEMTUM 3 (Multi-center Study of MagLev

Advanced Heart Disease Specialists Leading Expanded U.S. Clinical Trial of HeartMate 3Left Ventricular Assist System

Technology in Patients Undergoing MCS Therapy with Heart-Mate 3) clinical trial, the Center for Advanced Heart Disease isat the forefront of evaluating this technology in the largestLVAD clinical trial to date. More than 1,000 patients with ad-vanced heart failure will be randomized to either the Heart-Mate 3 or its predecessor, the HeartMate II device, to evaluatesurvival free from device replacement and debilitating strokein both the short term (six months) and long term (two years).

This pivotal non-inferiority trial will start with 294 patients fol-lowed for six months to evaluate the short-term indication ofbridge-to-transplantation therapy, after which an additional 72patients will be added (total of 366) and followed for two yearsto evaluate long-term use as a destination therapy. Beyondthe pivotal trial cohort, approximately 600 additional patientswill be enrolled to assess the superiority of HeartMate 3 toHeartMate II on pre-specified secondary endpoints.

“The all-comers population of advanced stage heart failurepatients in this trial is somewhat unique for an LVAD trial,where typically devices are studied either for use as bridge-to-transplantation or for destination therapy,” explained Dr.Mehra. “But patients do not always fit neatly into these twocategories, nor do they always remain in their initially assignedcategory. Research shows that about one-third of patients ini-tially slated to undergo heart transplantation remain on LVADsupport for more than two years, and nearly half of these pa-tients may be eventually removed from the transplant list.”

In addition, among patients who undergo LVAD implantation,those who are ineligible for transplantation tend to have mod-estly poorer outcomes compared with transplant candidates,who are typically younger and have fewer co-morbidities.

Mandeep R. Mehra, MD,Executive Director of theCenter for Advanced HeartDisease and Medical Director of the Heart & Vascular Center, is one offour national co-principalinvestigators leading a clinical trial of the HeartMate 3 ventricular assist system.

brighamandwomens.org/heart • 1-800-MD-TO-BWH | 3

At the Forefront of LVAD ResearchThe Center for Advanced Heart Disease at BWH is an inter-nationally-recognized center of excellence in the diagnosisand treatment of heart failure and its complications. Areas ofstrength include the management of chronic heart failureacross the spectrum of disease severity, judicious utilization ofmechanical circulatory support and cardiac transplantation,cardiovascular genetics (including inherited cardiomyopathiessuch as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), cardio-oncology, andpulmonary hypertension/right heart failure.

As well, the Center has taken a leadership role in the nationalregistry for mechanical circulatory support (INTERMACS) representing over 15,000 patients in the United States, theparallel registry for medical outcomes (MEDAMACS) in pa-tients progressing toward mechanical circulatory support.

Mandeep R. Mehra, MD, Executive Director, Center for Advanced Heart Disease,Medical Director, Heart & Vascular Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

First implant of the New Generation HeartMate 3 LVAD

First elective explant of a long-term left ventricular assist device for myocardial recovery

First total artificial heart implant

The Heart & Vascular Center at Brigham and Women’sHospital continues to lead New England in pioneeringadvanced therapeutics. Recent milestones include:

For more information on the Heart & Vascular Center and our programs and services, please contact us at BWHHeartandVascularCenter@partners.org.

To reach us immediately for patient-related issues:

• For an ambulatory consultation or to reach a specific physician or researcher: (857) 307-4000

• For direct inpatient transfers and cardiovascular interventional procedures: (617) 543-4170

• For direct assistance with patient referrals and consultations with one of our specialists, please contact physician liaisonEllen Steward at (617) 582-4733 or esteward@partners.org

Heart & Vascular Center Access Information

Advanced Heart Failure/Cardiomyopathy Program – Contact UsThe Advanced Heart Failure/Cardiomyopathy Programat BWH offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatientclinical services to adults with cardiomyopathy and heartfailure, from diagnosis to cardiac catheterization to inno-vative medical- and device-based treatments.

Contact our experts at (857) 307-4000 to learn moreabout management and treatment options for patientswith advanced heart disease.

2015

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Steve K. Singh, MDSurgical Director, Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program,Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Michael M. Givertz, MDMedical Director, Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program,Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Hari Mallidi, MDSurgical Director, Right Heart Rescue and PulmonaryThromboendarterectomy,Brigham and Women’s Hospital

4 | Brigham and Women’s Hospital HEART & VASCULAR CENTER ADVANCES

Three years ago, Christine Seidman, MD, Director of the Car-diovascular Genetics Center, and colleagues were the first tosequence the behemoth titin gene responsible for encodingthe largest protein in the human body. They discovered thatmutations truncating titin are the most common genetic causeof severe and familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) (N EnglJ Med 2012;366:619-28).

Earlier this year, they expanded these studies to 5,000 indi-viduals with a spectrum of cardiovascular physiology. Theyshowed that titin mutations are the most common geneticcause for DCM in ambulatory patients and identified clinicallyimportant manifestations and outcomes for patients with titinmutations (Sci Trans Med. 2015; 14:270). They discovered howtitin mutations do their damage to the heart muscle. Truncat-ing titin mutations prevent development of the normal car-diomyocyte structure and impair the cardiomyocyte’scontractile performance (Science 2015; 349:982 -86).

Cardiovascular Genetics Center Specialists Identify How Mutations of the Titin GeneCause Dilated Cardiomyopathy

lated cardiomyopathy,” said Dr. Seidman. These mutationswere associated with marked reductions in the contractilefunction of the heart and increased the risk for arrhythmias.“We were also able to reveal that the location of the mutationmattered. Only truncating mutations that are predominantlyin the titin A-band region were strongly associated with dilatedcardiomyopathy,” added Dr. Seidman, “whereas other muta-tions, particularly those in the I-band, did not cause disease.”

To understand the different consequences in titin mutations,the laboratory characterized titin expression in human hearttissues. These studies showed that titin molecules in humanhearts universally incorporated A-band sequences, but onlyvariably incorporated I-band sequences. A mutation that al-tered sequences that are rarely expressed in the human heartwould have little or any adverse consequences on contractilefunction.

“These findings have improved the accuracy of clinical genetictests, which allows these to accurately screen relatives at riskfor dilated cardiomyopathy. In addition, establishing geno-type-phenotype correlation in the management of patients’dilated cardiomyopathy due to titin mutations can be im-proved by early surveillance and interventions,” explained Dr.Seidman.”

Investigating the DamageTo determine how truncated titin does its damage, Dr. Seid-man and colleagues produced a cellular model of dilated car-diomyopathy – cell cultures of human cardiomyocytes withtitin mutations that are derived from induced pluripotent stemcells. With collaborators in Dr. Christopher Chen’s laboratoryat Boston University these cardiomyocytes were used to de-velop micro-cardiac tissues that contract, produce force, andrespond to stimuli.

Since titin is known to be responsible for sensing and respond-ing to myocardial stresses, Dr. Seidman and her colleaguessuspected that titin truncating variants might exhibit aberrantstress responses. “We found that micro-tissues made from car-

Cardiovascular Genetics Center – Contact UsThe Cardiovascular Genetics Center at BWH is composedof a multidisciplinary team of internationally recognizedphysicians and investigators who collaborate to apply thelatest discoveries in research on inherited cardiac diseaseto deliver personalized care for patients.

Contact our experts at (857) 307-4000 to learn moreabout cardiovascular genetics research at BWH.

Christine Seidman, MD, Director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Center, and colleagues are researching how mutations of the titin gene cause dilated cardiomyopathy.

Sequencing TitinUsing next-generation sequencing, Dr. Seidman and col-leagues sequenced the enormous titin gene in more than5,000 individuals, including over 600 patients with dilated car-diomyopathy, over 3,000 community-based participants in theFramingham and Jackson Heart Studies with longitudinal car-diovascular data, and over 300 healthy controls. The re-searchers correlated the presence of mutations that truncatedtitin with the clinical manifestations in each cohort.

“We found that truncating titin mutations were present in 20percent of patients with severe and in 13 percent with mild di-

brighamandwomens.org/heart • 1-800-MD-TO-BWH | 5

diomyocytes with titin mutations were less able to respond tomechanical and beta-adrenergic stress and had impairedgrowth factor and cell signaling activation,” she said. “Thesedeficits are expected to impair cardiac adaptation to increasedmechanical load and stress signals.”

The team also studied titin protein in cultures of human car-diomyocytes with titin truncating mutations. Some produceda stable truncated protein, a surprising observation. However,these mutant proteins did not assemble with other contractileproteins into well-organized functional sarcomeres. “The sar-comere is the contractile unit of muscle cells. Poorly organizedsarcomere could account for basal contractile deficits and at-tenuated signaling,” explained Dr. Seidman.

RNA-sequence analyses also indicated that titin truncating mu-tations affected cardiomyocyte signaling and RNA expression.Notably there was diminished expression of several growthfactors. “Interestingly, the growth factor deficit could be par-

tially overcome by supplementing the cardiomyocytes with thevascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF),” she said.

Looking Ahead“Based on this research,” Dr. Seidman said, “we can explainwhy patients with specific titin truncating mutations developdilated cardiomyopathy and we now have some clues aboutpotential therapeutic approaches to help limit the disease andits progression to heart failure.”

With titin mutation as a target of therapy, pharmacologicagents could be developed to enhance titin gene expression,increase sarcomere formation, or stimulate cardiomyocyte sig-nals that improve function.

Christine Seidman, MD Director, Cardiovascular Genetics Center,Brigham and Women’s Hospital

When the Levine Cardiac Unit opened in February 1965, at the Peter Bent Brigham Hos-pital, one of the predecessor institutions to today’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital(BWH), it was one of a handful of novel, specialized coronary care centers that would rev-olutionize both the care and survival of heart attack patients.

The Levine Unit was specifically designed and staffed to monitor heart rhythm and re-suscitate patients experiencing fatal arrhythmias. It was, at the time, a remarkable facility,equipped with electrocardiographic monitors for continuous heart rhythm surveillance,alarms to alert staff of rhythm derangements, and highly trained coronary care nursesschooled in electrocardiographic pattern recognition and well-prepared to intervene dur-ing cardiac arrest.

As the Levine Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), the name it has evolved into, celebratesits 50th anniversary, hospitals throughout the world have cardiac intensive care unitswhere patients who reach the hospital in time after a heart attack will very likely survive;a dramatic change from 50 years ago when as many as a third of heart attack patientswould die before leaving the hospital.

“The longest-running director of the Levine CICU, Elliott Antman, MD, (1980-2009), helped to shape the modern era of coro-nary care and its improved outcomes; such that the majority of heart attack patients in the Heart & Vascular Center are nowable to be treated in cardiac step-down units,” said David A. Morrow, MD, current Director of the Levine CICU. “Today theLevine CICU is located in the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center at BWH, where it continues to lead the way in caring for the mostcomplex critical cardiac patients and training the next generation of world leaders in the field through an innovative fellowshippathway in critical care cardiology.”

Invented Defibrillation and CardioversionIn 1962, Bernard Lown, MD, became the first clinician to apply direct current (DC) electrical shock to halt life-threatening ven-tricular tachycardia. Others’ attempts at alternating current electrical cardioversion had been partly successful, but alternatingcurrent induced fibrillations in about one quarter of cases. With his invention of the DC defibrillator and cardioverter, a safeand reliable method of delivering a life-saving shock to the heart was realized. In 1965, Dr. Lown became the first director ofthe Levine Cardiac Unit.

Levine Cardiac Intensive Care Unit Celebrates 50th Anniversary

6 | Brigham and Women’s Hospital HEART & VASCULAR CENTER ADVANCES

Interventional cardiologists at the Brigham and Women’s Hos-pital (BWH) Heart & Vascular Center were the first in New Eng-land to implant the CardioMEMS™Heart Failure System, afterits recent FDA approval as an implantable hemodynamic mon-itor for heart failure patients. This first-of-its-kind implantablewireless device placed in a blood vessel in the lung providesremote monitoring of pulmonary artery pressure to reducehospitalizations in patients with heart failure.

Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, Executive Director of Interven-tional Cardiovascular Programs, who implanted and calibratedthe device in the catheterization laboratory, explained, “Pa-tients can send their internal heart pressures from home everyday to a central monitoring site that detects changes and pro-vides alerts to their care team.”

“By detecting rising pulmonary pressure early, physicians areable to adjust therapy in time to avert decompensation andavoid hospitalizations,” said Lynne Stevenson, MD, Directorof the Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure Program.

Reducing Heart Failure HospitalizationsIn the CHAMPION trial of CardioMEMS, Dr. Stevenson,Michael M. Givertz, MD, and colleagues evaluated hemody-namically guided heart failure management using the Car-dioMEMS device to monitor pulmonary artery pressures inpatients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class IIIheart failure. In patients with preserved ejection fraction, therewas a 33 percent reduction in hospitalization during theblinded randomized period when only the physicians knewthe results of monitoring, increasing to 48 percent reductionwith use in the real-world setting in which patients knew theywere being monitored. (Lancet 2015; released on line Novem-ber 8, 2015).

Furthermore, the reduction of hospitalization was almost 50percent in patients with heart failure with preserved ejectionfraction (Circ Heart Fail. 2014; 7:935-944). “This is a remarkableadvance for care of a population for whom no other therapieshave been shown to have any benefit,” said Dr. Stevenson.“In this population alone, we could anticipate a reduction ofup to 250,000 heart failure hospitalizations annually. An addi-tional unique impact of this strategy is reduction not only ofheart failure hospitalizations, but all-cause hospitalizations andparticularly due to hospitalizations for pulmonary disease,which can be exacerbated by heart failure.”

Heart failure specialists in the trial were able to make moreprecise adjustments in diuretic and vasodilator therapies whenthey had information on pulmonary artery filling pressuresfrom the device than when they did not have that information.

With Implanted Hemodynamic Monitor, Heart Failure Specialists Are Able to ReduceHospitalizations and Improve Patient Care at Home

“The device is designed to alert clinicians when a therapeuticchange is needed to halt rising filling pressures sooner thanwould be the case if we waited for patients to report weightgain or increased symptoms,” explained Dr. Stevenson. “Mon-itoring filling pressures on a daily basis has allowed us to in-tervene much earlier to more effectively manage heart failure,keeping patients feeling better and out of the hospital.”

Improving Patient Care Akshay Desai, MD, MPH, Director of the Heart Failure DiseaseManagement Program, explained how BWH heart failure spe-cialists are leveraging the CardioMEMS technology to improvepatient care. “CardioMEMS fits very well into our integratedheart failure management program, where nurses specializingin heart failure management have close, ongoing contact withour heart failure patients at home,” said Dr. Desai, who is anactive investigator on a forthcoming manuscript that validatesthe algorithm for changing medications according to the pul-monary pressures. “CardioMEMS has enhanced that relation-ship to improve the care of our heart failure patients.”

When increased filling pressures are detected, a heart failurenurse calls the patient to discuss his or her medications, diet,and fluid intake to ascertain which factors likely contributed tothe increased filling pressures. Changes can then be made tomedications, diet and fluid intake so that filling pressures arereduced and decompensation is averted without the patienthaving to suffer from worsening symptoms.

Hemodynamic monitoring with CardioMEMS has also led toa surprising benefit that could not be appreciated when

continued on back cover

The CardioMEMS Heart Failure System is a first-of-its-kind implantable wirelessdevice that provides remote monitoring of pulmonary artery pressure to reducehospitalizations in patients with heart failure.

brighamandwomens.org/heart • 1-800-MD-TO-BWH | 7

Pulmonary Vascular Disease Specialists Add Balloon Angioplasty as a Treatment Optionfor Patients Not Eligible for SurgeryPercutaneous balloon angioplasty joins surgical thromboen-darterectomy and acute embolectomy in the arsenal of therapiesoffered at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart & VascularCenter that aim at revascularizing pulmonary vessels to improveventilation, flow balance, and right-ventricular function.

“Balloon angioplasty may be a valuable option for clearing vas-cular obstruction in patients who are not candidates for surgicalthromboendarterectomy and those who have had a less-than-optimal outcome from surgical intervention,” said Aaron Wax-man, MD, PhD, Director of the Pulmonary Vascular DiseaseProgram.

“While the surgical approach can effectively clear obstructionsin the larger proximal pulmonary vessels, balloon angioplasty iscapable of reaching and restoring blood flow in the narrower,more distal vessels,” he explained. “The goal is to intervene invessels that are situated to maximize downstream improvementof blood flow.”

“Often, there are several vessels to treat,” said Dr. Waxman. “Aless-invasive option, like balloon angioplasty, allows us to takea staged approach, treating five to eight vessels at a time duringseveral procedures. And because cardiopulmonary bypass isnot required during balloon angioplasty, there is no ischemia-reperfusion injury so patients often feel better sooner after theprocedure.”

Balloon angioplasty for pulmonary lesions is considered bysome experts to be a less-complete solution than thromboen-darterectomy and, in some ways, it is. After surgical intervention,many patients will no longer need medical therapy, which is notoften the case after angioplasty.

“Balloon angioplasty is not intended to replace thromboen-darterectomy,” explained Michael J. Landzberg, MD, Director,Boston Adult Congenital Heart (BACH) and Pulmonary Hyper-tension Group. “It rounds out the full arsenal of pulmonary vas-

cular disease therapies, making the Heart & Vascular Centerprepared to treat all aspects of pulmonary artery disease,whether a patient needs revascularization of proximal or distalvessels or an emergency embolectomy.”

“Balloon angioplasty may also have potential as a bridge ther-apy to prepare complex patients for surgical intervention oras part of a hybrid surgery-angioplasty approach in patientswith complex disease,” said Dr. Mehra.

Emergency Pulmonary EmbolectomyThis large saddle pulmonary embolism was removed dur-ing emergency pulmonary embolectomy in a 64-year-oldwoman who presented with shortness of breath a fewweeks after a bilateral hip replacement. Rapid assessmentrevealed the large saddle embolism and evidence of rightventricular dysfunction. Hari Mallidi, MD, Surgical Directorof Right Heart Rescue and Pulmonary Thromboen-darterectomy in the Pulmonary Heart Disease Programwithin the Heart & Vascular Center, performed an emer-gency embolectomy to remove the clot resulting in im-proved right heart function. The patient was dischargedwithin one week to complete her hip replacement reha-bilitation therapy at home.

Aaron Waxman, MD, PhDDirector of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program,Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program – Contact UsThe Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program at BWH provideshighly-specialized, multidisciplinary evaluation and care forpatients with complex pulmonary vascular conditions, including unexplained dyspnea, pulmonary arterial hyper-tension, and pulmonary hypertension associated with heartdisease, COPD, chronic thromboembolic disease, liver disease, and other conditions.

Contact our experts at (857) 307-4000 for more informationor to refer a patient to our Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program.

Michael J. Landzberg, MDDirector, Boston Adult Congenital Heart (BACH) and PulmonaryHypertension Group,Brigham and Women’s Hospital

75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 021151-800-MD-TO-BWHbrighamandwomens.org

With Implanted Hemodynamic Monitor, Heart Failure Specialists Are Able to Reduce Hospitalizations andImprove Patient Care at Home… continued from page 6

patients in the trial were unaware of their monitoring. “Whenwe tell our patients that their pressures are rising, they oftenremember what they did wrong in the last 48 hours. For ex-ample, they often describe eating very salty foods or forget-ting to take their medications,” explained Irene Cooper, RN,an experienced coronary care unit nurse now monitoring theCardioMEMS patients.

“When patients receive direct feedback in real time abouttheir heart pressures, they are empowered to change their be-havior, resulting in better pressures and better heart function,”explained Eldrin F. Lewis, MD, MPH, Director of the Cardio-vascular Clerkship Program. “Some patients make importantchanges like reducing their salt and fluid intake, and thenmake the connection over time to feeling better with morenormal pressures and less shortness of breath.”

“Obviously, we hoped that the data from the device wouldhelp us as physicians manage heart failure more effectivelyand keep patients out of the hospital,” said Dr. Stevenson.“What we did not anticipate was that patients would, in turn,give us important clues about what had caused their pressuresto rise, and how to improve their own health.”

Dr. Stevenson and her colleagues are now leading a Master’sProgram on hemodynamically-guided heart failure manage-ment, where BWH physicians and expert monitoring nursesshare their experience with CardioMEMS to help cliniciansfrom around the world utilize this new strategy to help theirpatients feel better and stay out of the hospital.

Interventional Cardiology – Learn More from Our SpecialistsContact our experts at (857) 307-4000 to learn more aboutthe latest interventional cardiology treatments for heartfailure patients.

Lynne Stevenson, MDDirector, Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure Program,Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Akshay Desai, MD, MPHDirector of the Heart Failure Disease Management Program,Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Eldrin F. Lewis, MD, MPHDirector, Cardiovascular Clerkship Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPHExecutive Director, Interventional Cardiovascular Programs,Brigham and Women’s Hospital