Target Audience

This activity is intended for Cardiologists, Internists, Pharmacists, Clinical Investigators, Research Nurses and those with particular interest in heart failure.

Description

Afflicting 5 million Americans, heart failure is the #1 cause of hospital admissions in the U.S. with most due to fluid accumulation in the thoracic cavity. It is estimated that heart failure is responsible for $40 billion in direct and indirect healthcare costs in the U.S. alone. The number of Americans with heart failure is expected to double in the next five years as the Boomer population ages. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that complications brought on by this chronic syndrome cost the U.S. healthcare system more than any other illness.

The webcast provides the following sequence of talks derived from the live symposium held on November 12, 2005:

Congestion is the Main Cause for Heart Failure Hospitalizations
Mihai Gheorghiade, MD

Emerging Need for Aquaretic, Naturetic and Diuretic Therapies for the Treatment of Heart Failure
John Burnett, MD
 
The Potential Dark Side of Chronic Diuretic Therapy
W.H. Wilson Tang, MD, FACC
 
Cardio Renal Syndrome
Gary Francis, MD, FACC, FAHA, FACP
 
Physiology and Patho-Physiology of AVP
Steven Goldsmith, MD
 
The Potential Role of Aquaretic Therapy for Treatment of Heart Failure
James Udelson, MD, FACC

Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, the participant will be able to:

1. Discuss the fundamental physiology of arginine vasopressin (AVP) with particular reference to water control.
2. Describe the role of arginine vasopressin in the pathophysiology of disease with emphasis on congestive heart failure.
3. Recognize the Cardio-Renal Syndrome in heart failure - epidemiology, pathogenesis and treatment.
4. Identify the potential role of blocking AVP receptors in edematous, hyponatremic states.

Activity Director

Gary Francis, MD, FACC, FAHA, FACP
Head, Clinical Cardiology Section
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine
Professor of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner
College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University
The Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, OH

Author / Faculty

John C. Burnett, Jr., MD;
Mihai Gheorghiade, MD;
Steven R. Goldsmith, MD;
W.H. Wilson Tang, MD, FACC ;
James E. Udelson, MD, FACC;

Faculty Disclosure

In accordance with the Standards for Commercial Support issued by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Center for Continuing Education requires resolution of all faculty conflicts of interest to ensure CME activities are free of commercial bias.

The following faculty have indicated that they may have a relationship, which in the context of their presentation(s), could be perceived as a potential conflict of interest:

Mihai Gheorghiade, MD - Consultant: GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Otsuka, PDLL, Pfizer, Sigma Tau

Stephen Goldsmith, MD - Consultant: Astellas Pharma

Gary Francis, MD, FACC, FAHA, FACP - Grant: Pfizer; Consultant: Amgen, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic Inc, Merck, Novartis, PDLL, Pfizer

W.H. Tang, MD, FACC - Consultant, Medtronic, Inc., Neurocrine Biosciences. Speaker, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Inc.

The following faculty has indicated he/she has no relationship which, in the context of their presentation(s), could be perceived as a potential conflict of interest:

John C. Burnett, Jr., MD
James E. Udelson, MD, FACC