May 31, 2024 — In the United States there are over 8 million active athletes. Given the rapid expansion of sports cardiology, cardiovascular care teams must understand contemporary care and practice management strategies for all athletes—from the elite to the exercise enthusiast. The ACC Care of the Athletic Heart conference, taking place in Washington, on June 6-8, aims to provide clinicians with guideline-driven, practical, cardiovascular care strategies to improve the care of athlete patients and will showcase the latest data and research from the field.
“Our educational focus is on the clinical cardiovascular care of athletes and highly active individuals, ranging in age from youth to masters and including recreational, competitive and tactical athletes. In this regard, the course content is highly relevant not just to sports cardiologists, but also a range of clinicians who see athletic patients in their practice, including general cardiologists, other cardiology subspecialists, cardiovascular care team members and sports medicine clinicians,” said Meagan Wasfy, MD, MPH, FACC, course chair and sports cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “Uniquely, sports cardiology as a field relies on shared decision-making and expert opinion more so than randomized trials. Therefore, the course content is structured to give attendees opportunities to see how expert clinicians approach real cases ranging from simple to highly complex. Building on prior successful years, we will knit together introductory and advanced content to provide a comprehensive toolkit for the care of the athlete patient.”
Must-see sessions include:
- Understanding Social Determinants of Athlete Health
- How to Engage Your Community: Practical Aspects of Screening and Emergency Action Planning
- Shared Decision-Making: The Athlete’s Perspective
- Fuel to the Fire: Diet, Supplements and Performance Enhancing Drugs
“Sports cardiology has emerged as a subspecialty over the last decade, and cardiologists are increasingly aware of the specialized care and nuanced decision-making that this population requires. High profile cases of sudden cardiac arrest in elite athletes in recent years has reminded the cardiology community of the challenging questions posed to cardiologists in these settings. Questions like: How do we prevent cardiac arrest in athletes? Can an athlete return to play after cardiac arrest? Who should be making this decision and what is the evidence guiding recommendations,” said Jeffrey Hsu, MD, PhD, FACC, course vice chair and sports cardiologist at UCLA Health in Los Angeles. “Sports cardiologists have paved the way to provide more data and better answers to such questions, equipping clinicians with the information to approach these complex cases. Yet, as with everything worthwhile, it takes dedicated practice to develop expertise in the care of athletes, and we aim to give attendees opportunities to learn these skills directly from leaders in the field.”
Clinical Cases and Poster Presentations
The following list provides a brief look at the clinical cases and posters to be presented during the ACC Care of the Athletic Heart 2024 conference. All clinical cases and poster abstracts are embargoed until Thursday, June 6, 2024, at 1 p.m. ET.
- The Prevalence of Hypertension in Young Athletes: A Community-Based Screening Analysis
- Social Disparities, Experiences with Discrimination, and Cardiovascular Phenotypes in Black and White Collegiate American-Style Football Players
- Exercise-Induced Ventricular Fibrillation Cardiac Arrest in a Firefighter Using Intramuscular Testosterone with Segmental Pulmonary Embolism and Coronary Arterial Thrombosis
- Heart Paradox: A Case of Ventricular Fibrillation in Prescence of Commotio Cordis and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
ACC Care of the Athletic Heart 2024 will be available for virtual attendance and part of the ACC Anywhere platform.
For more information: www.acc.org
August 08, 2024 
