Cardiac caregivers prep for St. Francis Heart Center symposium

INDIANAPOLIS – More than 300 cardiac care professionals are expected to attend the second annual St. Francis Cardiovascular Symposium on Friday, Sept. 18.

Hosted by the St. Francis Heart Center, participants will join nationally and internationally recognized physicians as they discuss the latest cardiac surgical procedures and interventions.

Marc Gerdisch, M.D., director of cardiothoracic surgery at St. Francis, will be one of the key presenters. Gerdisch, co-director of the St. Francis Midwest Heart Valve Center, is the first in the world to use tissue regeneration technology that allows patients to rebuild their own cardiovascular tissue.

He will discuss how the revolutionary technology can be used to modify and repair cardiac structures, allowing heart tissue to re-grow inside the beating hearts of heart surgery patients.

Other topics include surgical treatments for heart valve disease, current treatment options for heart failure patients and the challenges of treating our octogenarian patients. Experts also will discuss treatment options for obesity, one of the major risk factors for heart disease.

Presenters include the physicians and surgeons of Indiana Heart Physicians, Cardiac Surgery Associates and the St. Francis Weight Loss Center.
The symposium will be from 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza at Historic Union Station in downtown Indianapolis.

To register for the symposium, visit StFrancisHospitals.org/heart and click on the “CME (SYMPOSIUM) 2009” tab. For more information, 317-893-1870.