Symposium ‘Heart for woman: About small vessels with big impacts

Over the past decades, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in ischemic heart disease have been primarily focused on obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). However, important gender differences exist in ischemic heart disease. The total burden of atherosclerosis is lower in women than in men, with a more diffuse, non-obstructive pattern of CAD. In the landmark Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) -study, it has been found that in more than 50% of middle-aged women with symptoms of chest pain vascular dysfunction in the microvascular coronary arteries is the main cause of recurrent angina.

While the microvasculature is too small to visualize with standard cardiology techniques like a coronary angiogram, coronary microvascular dysfunction is often underdiagnosed and undertreated leading to recurrent hospitalizations, second opinions, uncertain diagnoses, high treatment costs, diminished quality of life and a higher mortality. At the Radboudumc a value-based diagnostic and therapeutic approach has been initiated in 2015 to optimize health care for CMD patients.

It is a great pleasure to welcome several outstanding experts on CMD at our symposium in the Radboudumc. As a Keynote speaker and worldwide recognized expert in CMD, we are mostly obliged to welcome Prof Noel Bairey Merz, cardiologist and director of the Barbara Streisand Women’s Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai’s Heart Institute in Los Angeles. We invite you to take knowledge of the latest insights in the diagnosis and treatment of CMD and hope to welcome you on our CMD symposium on February 4th.

Klik hier om het programma te bekijken. Bent u arts of paramedici en wilt u bij het symposium aanwezig zijn? Dat kan! Meldt u dan door een e-mail te sturen naar naomi.klaassen@radboudumc.nl