As a structural intervention faculty at @uabmedicine , education of fellows is one of my favorite parts of the job. Having recently completed fellowship with @PhillipASmithMD under the mentorship of @MustafaAhmedMD at UAB one of the key points was that we never want to do things the same every year and we should always question why or how we do the things when it comes to workflow. When learning transseptal puncture we alternate between standard needle and radiofrequency needle without obvious reason. We had not made the full jump at UAB to the radiofrequency needle at this point. We decided to help answer our question through data to influence our practice. During my fellowship we conducted a study to collect this data and outline our experience. The findings were as follows. 87 patients evaluated, all comers of transseptal procedures (LAAO, mitral TEER and ViV, mitral PVL and PBMV). Our data showed shorter procedure times for both crossing transseptal (204 seconds vs 282 seconds) and sheath placement (82 seconds vs 124 seconds) with the radiofrequency needle. Attending involvement was significantly less with the radiofrequency needle (28% vs 7%). Importantly, there was exceptional safety and no adverse events. Here in the Department of Interventional and structural cardiology at UAB, our main priority is to advance patient care safely while fostering trainee development and contributing data to advance technical proficiency. longdom.org/open-access/effe… @MouhamedAmr1 @HassanAlkhawam @AshleyReed_RT @Dr_AbuDaya @dprime45 @DocEBROhimi @MadhuraMyla @MarkLaw80307275 @GarimaAroraMD @pannvar @KyleEudaileyMD @RaeganWhite6 @Katie_Evatt @Skmcelwee @RootGal210

Welcomed the new year at @STVHealth with a ECMO Thrombectomy case of a massive PE presenting peri-arrest, lactic 10, maxed out on all pressors. Had to act immediately. Alongside @HassanAlkhawam efficient procedure and incredibly discharged on POD4. Great skills learned with the PERT team, @Skmcelwee @MustafaAhmedMD who was pivotal in developing such a streamlined infrastructure to help even the sickest and complex of patients.