Cardiology

Diastolic function recovery post heart transplantation

Faculty Mentor’s Name: Dr. Mohammad Al-Ani
Email: mohammad.alani@medicine.ufl.edu
Phone Number: (619) 277-3186
Project Category: Clinical
International Component or Travel: No

Project Description:
Post cardiac transplantation, our heart failure patient’s life dramatically change to the better with near resolution of heart failure syndrome. However, the donor hearts usually have varying degrees of stiffness that tend to slowly resolve in days to months. This clinical phenomenon is important in post transplant management and has not been well studied in the literature. At our institution, we routinely perform cardiac catheterization and echocardiograms at the same day post heart transplant and we would like to gather, analyze, and report these data to identify opportunities to further improve post transplant care.

An Evaluation of Low Value Care: Appropriateness of Inpatient Echocardiograms, Clinically Relevant Findings, and Cardiology Consultation

Faculty Mentor’s Name: Dr. David Winchester
Email: david.winchester@medicine.ufl.edu
Phone Number: (352) 273-9076
Project Category: Clinical
International Component or Travel: No

Research Project Description:
Multiple estimates suggest that 20-30% of medical tests are unnecessary and do not benefit the patient. Echocardiograms are frequently ordered for inpatients to evaluate a variety of signs and symptoms, the benefit of these tests to patients is poorly described. This project will consist of identifying patients who underwent echocardiography during a recent hospitalization and reviewing charts to determine the appropriateness of those tests. The team will also evaluate the downstream results of those tests including the findings of the test and whether or not they resulted in any change in patient management. Students will assist in data gathering and entry with the expectation of presenting aspects of the research and participating in publishing a manuscript on the results.

Selected Readings:
1. Bhatia RS et al. Improving the Appropriate Use of Transthoracic Echocardiography: The Echo WISELY Trial. J Am Coll Cardiol 2017;70(9):1135-44. https://www.jacc.org/doi/full/10.1016/j.jacc.2017.06.065
2. Gupta et al. Impact of appropriate use criteria for transesophageal echocardiograms on clinically meaningful care Echocardiography 2018. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/echo.14189
3. Banihashemi B et al. ADHERENCE TO APPROPRIATE USE CRITERIA FOR TRANSTHORACIC ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN A CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN COHORT Can J Cardiol 2018 https://www.onlinecjc.ca/article/S0828-282X(14)00918-0/fulltext
4. ACCF/ASE/AHA/ASNC/HFSA/HRS/SCAI/SCCM/SCCT/SCMR 2011 Appropriate Use Criteria for Echocardiography https://www.asecho.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Appropriate-Use-Criteria-for-Echo_2011.pdf

The Effect of Gestational Age and Blood Pressure on Maternal Inferior Vena Cava Diameter During Pregnancy

Faculty Mentor’s Name: Dr. Ki Park
Email: ki.park@medicine.ufl.edu
Phone Number: (352) 548-6000
Project Category: Clinical
International Component or Travel: No

Research Project Description:
Volume status is altered early in pregnancy primarily through hormonal mechanisms. As volume expansion progresses there is concomitant vascular relaxation effecting both preload and afterload with a net effect in the second trimester of a decrease in maternal blood pressure. As one enters the third trimester, blood pressure increases up to and potentially, slightly beyond the patient’s baseline. Challenging to clinical assessment is the cause of hypertension during the third trimester and its subsequent management. Increased volume or preload, increased afterload from vascular tonicity locally or centrally, and increased cardiac output may individually or collectively contribute to third trimester hypertension. Our purpose is to explore the relationship between maternal inferior vena cava [IVC] diameter and maternal blood pressure during pregnancy and postpartum. This project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between cardiology and obstetrics/maternal fetal medicine. The medical student would assist with data collection, organization, analysis and manuscript preparation. The student may also have other opportunities to engage with the interdisciplinary group on projects related to cardio-obstetrics.