Dr. Eliot Peyster is a heart transplant surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania Cardiovascular Institute. He is a member of the primary cardiology treatment team that specializes in cardiovascular conditions. In addition to heart transplant as a tool for treating end stage heart disease, Dr. Peyster is interested in the possibilities of using tissue samples from heart biopsies to study the heart at a microscopic level.

Click on play to learn:

• What role inflammatory mediators plays in heart disease.
• How heart transplants and left ventricular assist devices are being used to treat people with severe heart disease.
• How computer vision analysis may be used to as a screening tool for high-risk heart disease in the future.

Dr. Peyster describes coronary vascular disease as a leading cause of death, a disease of aging. Ischemic myopathy is generally understood regarding what causes heart blockages and how they relate to heart failure. However, too little is known about the role genetic and environmental factors play in the development of heart disease.

Grading pathology slides from the biopsies of heart transplant patients has been somewhat problematic. A current concern is the grading criteria for tissue biopsies of the heart during the first year after a heart transplant. Rarely do the pathologists agree with each other when they assign a grade to this type of biopsy. The inconsistency of grading leads to confusion, making it more difficult to conduct multicenter research.

Dr. Peyster and his colleagues have found a way to digitize the pathology slides. They have programmed a Computer-Assisted Cardiac Histologic Evaluation Grader to read the slides of the tissue samples from transplant patients to further study CMD. The hope is that a preventative approach can be developed to prevent small vessel disease

To learn more visit: pennmedicine.org

Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/30PvU9C

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