Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program

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Faculty

Our outstanding faculty members are among the nation’s leaders in bringing the latest advances in interventional cardiology into clinical practice.  All are on the academic staff of Tufts University School of Medicine.

Laurence C. Conway, MD

Jean-Pierre Geagea, MD

Navin K. Kapur, MD

Carey D. Kimmelstiel, MD

Henry P. Lyle, MD

Anthony Marks, MD

Syed Tahir, MD

Andrew R. Weintraub, MD

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Goals

The specific goals of the interventional cardiology fellowship at Tufts Medical Center are as follows:

• Understand the indications and contraindications of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), including optimal management of the patient prior to and following PCI: to understand the administration and monitoring of conscious sedation
• To understand the principles of radiological imaging of the heart and lungs, including radiation safety
• To acquire sufficient skill to perform PCI in both major coronary arteries and their branches
• To be skilled in the interpretation of images and hemodynamic tracings obtained in the course of PCI; participate in the multidisciplinary decision making process based on those images and patient assessment
• Recognize and manage the common and uncommon complications of PCI; understand the principles of peer review of adverse outcomes
• Understand the utility of the various interventional devices, including but not limited to: balloons, stents, atherectomy devices, intracoronary brachytherapy, distal protection devices, intravascular ultrasound, percutaneous thrombectomy, laser, etc.
• Understand the appropriate application of interventional techniques to valvular heart disease especially percutaneous valvuloplasty for mitral and aortic stenosis
• Understand the appropriate application of interventional techniques to congenital heart disease especially percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale and atrial septal defect
• Understand the appropriate application of interventional techniques for the therapy of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, i.e., when to perform percutaneous transeptal myocardial ablation
• Develop an understanding and methodology in the evaluation and treatment of the patient with peripheral vascular disease
• Understand and gain expertise in endomyocardial biopsy, invasive management of decompensated heart failure, vasodilator and inotrope hemodynamic studies, IVUS interrogation for transplant arteriopathy, high risk PCI in advanced ischemic cardiomyopathy patients, use of percutaneous ventricular assist devices either for left or right ventricular support and in combination with surgical LVADs

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Research Opportunities

The Interventional Cardiology Training program at Tufts Medical Center offers several unique research opportunities. Our fellows are provided with access to a highly enriched scientific environment for clinical and translational studies. All fellows in the Interventional Cardiology Training program actively participate in clinical research studies and are strongly encouraged and mentored in the process of submitting abstracts and manuscripts. Drs. Kimmelstiel, Weintraub and Kapur mentor fellows in participation in large, randomized clinical trials. Our laboratory has a long history of participation in multicenter device trials having participated in virtually all the major drug-eluting stenting trials.

Our multicenter clinical trial work extends beyond coronary trials to the realm of peripheral and structural heart disease where we are one of the leading centers nationally in enrollment in the RESPECT trial, which is investigating the effect of PFO device closure in secondary stroke prevention. Interventional fellows actively participate in these important clinical trials. Our program actively pursues investigator-initiated, single-center studies. An example of such investigations include the effect of pharmacologic adjuncts to PCI on platelet function, the effect of nesiritide on renal function in patients with severe renal insufficiency undergoing contrast angiographic procedures, and many other ongoing and planned projects which are fertile ground for collaboration with interventional cardiology trainees. Our Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center provides a high number of physiologic studies for HCM and alcohol septal ablation. Several research studies involving alcohol septal ablation are currently underway and involve interventional fellows directly and allow them to collaborate with colleagues in the heart failure arena. As an Investigator at the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center, Dr. Kapur’s basic science laboratory provides a unique opportunity for translational and molecular research within the catheterization laboratory.

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