Vascular disease is inherently a three-dimensional problem; the clinical advent of computed tomography angiography (CTA) has literally brought a new dimension to vascular diagnosis and management. Vascular diseases such as peripheral artery disease (PAD), abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), and cerebrovascular disease are under-diagnosed and under-treated conditions affecting millions of Americans. CTA is an accurate and cost-effective noninvasive tool for diagnosing patients with these pathologies. This case-based, interactive symposium will develop clinicians' skills in both vascular disease and the use of CTA to augment vascular patient care. Our vascular all-star team will compete in interpreting CTA cases and attendees will judge the veracity of their answers.

By attending this symposium, participants will be better able to:

1.     Identify patients with PAD, AAA, and cerebrovascular disease who can be effectively evaluated by CTA.

2.     Describe the benefit of CTA in the evaluation and treatment of a wide variety of vascular pathology.

3.     Define the indications and limitations of CTA in the vascular patient.

Accreditation

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. The University of Minnesota is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The University of Minnesota designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, and other health care professionals who participate in this CME activity may submit their Statements of Attendance to their appropriate accrediting organizations or state boards for consideration of credit. The participant is responsible for determining whether this activity meets the requirements for acceptable continuing education.

About the Sponsors

The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF) is the research, education, and philanthropic arm of the Minneapolis Heart Institute, and is an independent, not-for-profit, community-based foundation. Among the top 10 clinical cardiovascular research and education institutions in the country, we conduct more than 100 clinical research studies in the course of a year. Locally, we have reduced the 30-day heart attack mortality rate by more than 50% for individuals within a 210-mile radius of Minneapolis. Building upon this protocol, our therapeutic hypothermia trial is further advancing emergency cardiac care services and has improved survival rate by 28%.

Minneapolis Heart Institute's Advanced Imaging Group has one of the largest CTA experiences worldwide. Sheer volume has helped these physicians hone the accuracy of their scan readings and has put them in demand as international CTA expert resources, especially when establishing new CTA labs. They are intimately involved in setting the national standards for coronary CT lab accreditation and physician credentialing, and in developing an international board exam to ensure that reading physicians are appropriately trained to interpret coronary CT angiography. They also serve as hardware and software consultants to help design future applications.

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Course Directors

John R. Lesser, MD, FACC 
Interventional Cardiology 
Director of Cardiovascular MRI and CT, Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital 
Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota 
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dr. Lesser is an interventional cardiologist and director of cardiovascular MRI and CT at the Minneapolis Heart Institute. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Lesser is on the Society of Cardiovascular CT’s (SCCT) Board of Directors where he serves as Chairman of the Accreditation, Certification, and Guidelines Committee.

He holds professional memberships as a fellow with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and as a member of the American Heart Association (AHA), The Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention (SCAI), and the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR). He has previously served on the Board of Directors with the Intersocietal Commission for CT Accreditation of Laboratories as well as the Credentialing and Certification Board for Cardiovascular CT.

Dr. Lesser has experience interpreting more than 4,500 MRI cardiovascular studies and more than 3,000 coronary and peripheral CT angiogram cases. He has reached Level III competency in Cardiac MRI. Dr. Lesser received his M.D. from University of Florida and his B.A. from University of Pennsylvania.

Robert S. Schwartz, MD, FACC 
Cardiology 
Medical Director, Minnesota Cardiovascular Research Institute 
Senior Consulting Cardiologist, Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital

Dr. Schwartz is a Professor of Medicine at University of Minnesota Medical School, Medical Director at the Minnesota Cardiovascular Research Institute, and Cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute. His clinical and research interests include interventional cardiology, imaging, clinical information processing and clinical medical care.

He was previously Director at the Center for Applied Vascular Biology and Interventions, Mayo Foundation. Dr. Schwartz has also served as Professor and Associate Professor at the Mayo Medical School. He holds Board Certifications on: the National Board of Medical Examiners; American Board of Internal Medicine; and the American Board of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases. He has published numerous articles in peer review journals, dealing with interventional cardiology.

Dr. Schwartz is the recipient of various awards, including the Andreas Gruentzig Award for Basic Research in Coronary Restenosis from the Thoraxcenter/European Society of Cardiology. He holds professional memberships as Fellow of American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions. Dr. Schwartz is also a founding member of the Society for Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. Dr. Schwartz received a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and an M.D. from the University of Colorado-Denver.

Timothy M. Sullivan, MD, FACS, FSVM, FACC 
Vascular Surgery 
Chairman, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery 
Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital 

Dr. Sullivan is Chairman of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and Co-director of the Vascular Center at Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. He graduated from medical school at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown, in 1983 and was general surgery resident from 1983-1988 at Wright State University. He then completed special fellowships in Vascular Surgery at St. Vincent Medical Center in 1989, and at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1990.

Dr. Sullivan’s research interests include endovascular aortic aneurysm repair, carotid stenting, surgical reconstruction of the carotid and vertebral arteries, aortic dissection, complex aortic and thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair, and renal/mesenteric arterial disease. Dr. Sullivan has published more than 150 manuscripts, book chapters and abstracts.

He previously held the position of Director of Endovascular Practice, Mayo Clinic, Rochester and was Co-director of the Peripheral Vascular Interventional Lab at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Vascular Surgery, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), and holds membership in the following professional societies: Midwest Vascular Surgical Society, Society for Vascular Medicine, the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery, the Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society, the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery, and the International Andreas Gruntzig Society. He is a founding member of the Vascular Interventional Advances (VIVA) Group, and serves as Associate Editor for Endovascular Technologies, Annals of Vascular Surgery.

Andrew Cragg, MD, FSIR, FCIRSCE 
Interventional Radiology 
Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital 

Dr. Cragg is the Director of Endovascular Research at Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, as well as Clinical Professor of Radiology at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

He graduated from medical school at University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, in 1982. He remained at the University of Minnesota Medical School as a research fellow for cardiovascular and interventional radiology from 1982-1983; he then was resident of general radiology from 1983-1986 and completed his training as a cardiovascular and interventional radiology clinical fellow in 1987.

Dr. Cragg’s research interests include aortic aneurysms and peripheral arterial disease. He has published over 170 manuscripts, book chapters and abstracts, and has over 130 issued and published patents for novel medical devices. He has served as a manuscript reviewer for five publications and has served on the Fairview Southdale Vascular Services Committee, Committee on Research and Technology Assessment of the Commission on Interventional and Cardiovascular Radiology and the Endovascular Graft Committee, SCVIR. He is an elected Fellow of the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology, and a Fellow of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE).

Peter S. Fail, MD, FACC, FACP, FSCAI 
Director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, Interventional Research and Computed Tomography 
Cardiovascular Institute of the South-Houma 
Houma, LA

Dr. Fail received his undergraduate degree at the University of South Florida in Tampa and his medical degree from American University of the Caribbean in Montserrat, British Indies. In addition to an internship and residency in internal medicine, he also served as chief fellow in interventional cardiology at the Episcopal Heart Institute in Philadelphia. He later became director of the institute's cardiac catheterization laboratory. Dr. Fail was a clinical assistant professor of medicine at both Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine and the Allegheny Health Science School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Fail is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Medical Association. He has written or co-authored numerous research papers, abstracts, book chapters and medical presentations in his specialty. Dr. Fail is the director of cardiac catheterization laboratories, interventional research and CT imaging for Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS) and medical director of interventional trials for the CIS Clinical Research Corporation in Houma, Louisiana.

Adnan Z. Rizvi, MD, FACS 
Vascular Surgery 
Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital 

Dr. Rizvi is a vascular and endovascular surgeon at the Minneapolis Heart Institute/Abbott Northwestern Hospital. He graduated from medical school at New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York in 2000. He was a general surgery resident from 2001-2006 at Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR. He completed a fellowship in vascular surgery at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN in 2008.

Dr. Rizvi’s research interests include the use of biological matrix for arterial substitutes, outcomes from carotid surgery, and outcomes after thoracic endovascular aortic repair. He has published several manuscripts, book chapters, and abstracts. Dr. Rizvi is member of Midwestern Vascular Surgery Society, the Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society, Society for Vascular Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, and Alpha Omega Alpha. He is board-certified in General Surgery, Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons

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