Tag Archive for: Annette Ansong

American Heart Association Scientific Sessions logo

Children’s National Hospital at American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2024

American Heart Association Scientific Sessions logoExperts from Children’s National Heart Center presented and shared their latest research findings at this year’s American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions, held in Chicago, Illinois, in mid-November.

The annual AHA Scientific Sessions are attended by scientists, clinicians, researchers and other health care professionals from around the globe who have an interest in cardiovascular disease. Children’s National Hospital experts highlighted work focused on caring for the full spectrum of people who live with congenital heart disease — from tiny neonates through adulthood.

Presentations

  • Transvenous cardiac re-synchronization: When is it effective in CHD? Charles Berul, M.D.
  • Leveling the Playing Field: Creating Equity within Pediatric Cardiology Leadership and Salary, Wayne Franklin, M.D.
  • Debate: Patients with small coronary artery aneurysms SHOULD be discharged – US experience, Ashraf Harahsheh, M.D.
  • Science of Engagement: Inclusion of Adults with Congenital Heart Disease Living with Neurodevelopmental Disability in PCOR, Anitha John, M.D., Ph.D.
  • 100 Years of AHA Leading Global Health, Craig Sable, M.D.
  • Best Oral Abstract: Safety of Discontinuing Secondary Antibiotic Prophylaxis After Echocardiographic Normalization in Early Rheumatic Heart Disease, GOAL-Post Study, Craig Sable, M.D., co-author
  • Su2032│CMR can discriminate need for biopsy and rejection therapy in children post heart transplant, Ravi Vamsee Vegulla, M.D.

Posters and poster presentations

  • Minimally-Invasive Intrapericardial Injections under Direct Visualization via Thoracic Cavity Access in Infant and Pediatric-sized Pre-clinical Model, Charles Berul, M.D., Ryan O’Hara, Ph.D.
  • Early total cfDNA, but not donor fraction, predicts late events after heart transplantation, Shriprasad Deshpande, M.D.
  • Impact of Angiotensin Receptor Neprilysin Inhibitor on Chronic Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection, Shriprasad Deshpande, M.D.
  • Fraction in Adult Congenital Heart Disease Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, Shriprasad Deshpande, M.D.
  • Trough Level Prediction of Major Adverse Transplant Events: A Report from the TEAMMATE Trial, Shriprasad Deshpande, M.D.
  • Thrombocytosis is Prevalent and Associated with Greater Inflammation and Coronary Artery Involvement in Both Kawasaki Disease and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Associated with COVID-19, Ashraf Harahsheh, M.D.
  • Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Delivery through Cardiopulmonary Bypass in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery – MeDCaP Phase I Trial, Nobuyuki Ishibashi, M.D., Shriprasad Deshpande, M.D., et. al.
  • Social Determinants of Health: Impact on Mortality and Care Status for Adults with CHD, Jamie Jackson, Ph.D.; Anitha John, M.D., Ph.D., co-author
  • Loss to Follow-Up Among Adults with Congenital Heart Defects: A Report from Congenital Heart Disease Project to Understand Lifelong Survivor Experience (CHD PULSE), Anitha John, M.D., Ph.D., co-author
  • The Burden of Adult Congenital Heart Disease in the United States, Vasupradha Suresh Kumar, M.D.
  • Determining the Physiologic Effect of the Cavopulmonary Connection on Caval Flows Using 4D Flow MRI , Vasupradha Suresh Kumar, M.D.
  • Shape Variations in Right Ventricular 3D Geometry are associated with adverse outcomes in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome Patients: A Fontan Outcomes Registry using CMR Examination (FORCE) Study, Yue-Hin Loke, M.D.
  • Matrix Metalloproteinases and Tissue Inhibitors of Metalloproteinases as Biomarkers in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Cardiomyopathy, Christopher Spurney, M.D., co-author
  • Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Boys Have Diastolic Dysfunction Based on Cardiac Magnetic Resonance, Christopher Spurney, M.D., co-author

Read more about these presentations and posters on the AHA’s meeting website: Programming – Scientific Sessions 2024.

pregnant woman on couch

The role of pediatric cardiologists in addressing maternal health disparities

pregnant woman on couch

Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications. Most of the risk factors for these complications are cardiac in origin and preventable.

Pediatric cardiologists can and should work alongside other specialties to address the epidemic of maternal mortality that disproportionately affects Black women in the United States, says Annette Ansong, M.D., medical director of outpatient cardiology at Children’s National Hospital.

As co-chair of the Women and Children Committee of the Association of Black Cardiologists Inc., (ABC) Ansong says that cardiologists, especially pediatric cardiologists, have a role to play because “before they are Black women, they are Black girls.”

She talked about the impact of these health disparities and how cardiologists can play a role in addressing them at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in November 2022.

Why it matters

Dr. Ansong says that Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications. Most of the risk factors for these complications are cardiac in origin and preventable. Furthermore, many of these cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, start in youth and some even before birth. For example, children of pre-eclamptic moms have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in the future, too.

How cardiologists can help

Pediatric cardiologists can be more proactive at helping Black girls grow up into strong, healthy Black women by making sure they are heart-healthy from a young age. That includes advocating for exercise, eating well and exploring innovative ways to encourage those habits.

Dr. Ansong says she makes a point to closely follow children based on the heart health history of their mothers—for example, “if mom had pre-eclampsia, I need to be keeping a closer eye on that child’s blood pressure” —to allow for early intervention and potentially prevent some devastating negative outcomes later in life.

Pediatricians and other specialists can also work with maternal-fetal medicine and other specialties to advocate for better tools to monitor women with pre-existing heart-related risk factors. This might include supporting efforts to enhance technology that makes self-monitoring easier, so women can keep closer eyes on their own blood pressure and share it with doctors in between appointments.

Most important, clinicians of all stripes should try to connect with patients to understand who they are, where they come from and how their stories impact their risk factors for health conditions.

The Women and Children’s Committee of the ABC launched the “We Are the Faces of Black Maternal Health” campaign in February 2022. The first-of-its-kind effort featured the stories of ABC members who had direct or indirect experiences with the impacts of maternal health on themselves, their children or someone they knew.

What’s next

The ABC “We Are the Faces of Black Maternal Health” re-launches this February to continue raising awareness but will also emphasize the need for investments in research about the causes of these disparities and possible prevention strategies to protect Black women.

Crowded makeshift buildings of a shantytown

Calling greater attention to sub-Saharan Africa’s pressing challenges in pediatric cardiac care

Crowded makeshift buildings of a shantytown

Sub-Saharan Africa has only 0.19 pediatric cardiac surgeons per million children — nowhere near enough surgeons to care for all the pediatric congenital heart disease and acquired heart disease present in the people who live there.

A literature review in the journal Current Opinion in Cardiology draws further attention to the pressing needs for better pediatric cardiac care in regions of the world where the population continues to grow, but the development of specialty care for children continues to lag. The article focuses specifically on sub-Saharan Africa.

“If 40% of live births occur in Africa by 2050 as the projections suggest, congenital heart disease may well become the most important contributor to infant mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa in the next three decades,” stated the authors, including Annette Ansong, M.D., who recently joined Children’s National Hospital as medical director of outpatient cardiology.

As highlighted previously by other authors within the Global Health Initiative at Children’s National and through the work of the American Heart Association, the region’s needs are already significant in  tackling the impacts of existing congenital heart disease and rheumatic heart disease. Rheumatic heart disease is a devastating long-term outcome of rheumatic fever caused by untreated streptococcus infections.

Annette Ansong

“If 40% of live births occur in Africa by 2050 as the projections suggest, congenital heart disease may well become the most important contributor to infant mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa in the next three decades,” stated the authors, including Annette Ansong, M.D., who recently joined Children’s National Hospital as medical director of outpatient cardiology.

Dr. Ansong and colleagues reiterate the point that today, “whereas one cardiac center caters to approximately 120,000 people in North America, 33 million people in sub-Saharan Africa must depend on one center for care.” They also note that this region of Africa has only 0.19 pediatric cardiac surgeons per million children compared with more than 58 times as many in North America.

Changing the trajectory of pediatric cardiac care in sub-Saharan Africa will take motivation on several fronts, the authors write. Dedication to early detection and intervention (medical or surgical), an emphasis on building an in-country pipeline of human resources and skills’ sets are needed to tackle the increasing numbers of children requiring this specialty care. Political will and better financial resources can also support the training and development of centers that specialize in these capabilities.