Michael J. Bloch, MD, on a Preview of the Anticoagulation Sessions at CHEST 2021

In this video, Michael J. Bloch, MD, provides a preview of the virtual anticoagulation sessions at CHEST 2021, including an update on COVID-19 and venous thromboembolic disease challenges and clinical trial data, controversies in anticoagulation of venous thromboembolism, and controversies in the diagnosis and management of acute pulmonary embolism. 

Michael J. Bloch, MD, is an associate professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, the medical director of vascular care at the Renown Institute for Heart and Vascular Health, and the President of Blue Spruce Medical Consultants, PLLC in Reno, Nevada.

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TRANSCRIPTION: 

Dr Michael Bloch: Hello, my name's Dr Michael Bloch. I'm a hypertension and vascular medicine specialist from Reno, Nevada. I want to call your attention to a very exciting CME opportunity that's going to be happening in the next few weeks.

What we have in store is the Annual CHEST Meeting, which will take place October 17th to 20th. It is a virtual meeting with both live and some enduring materials that are going to be available. Normally, the CHEST Meeting was focused on the pulmonary and critical care audience.

Particularly this year, with everything that we're learning about COVID and the management of COVID, and particularly for myself as a vascular medicine physician, all the information is coming out around anticoagulation in VTE, DVTs, and pulmonary embolism, makes this a very important meeting, no matter what your specialty.

I can tell you a couple of sessions that I'm looking forward to as a vascular medicine doc. Probably, the one that jumps out at me the most is a live session, October 18th at 1:30 Central Daylight Time, that is an update on COVID and venous thromboembolic disease challenges and update in trials.

We have certainly known for some time that acute COVID infection leads to an increased risk of DVT and PE. In our anticoagulation clinic, we see these patients on a weekly basis. More and more are coming in to see us all the time.

We've had a lot of anecdotes about how to treat those patients and which patients to offer anticoagulation. Finally, in the last few months, we now have some clinical trial data to guide those decisions.

Which of our symptomatic hospitalized patients with COVID should be treated with prophylactic anticoagulation, and which anticoagulants should we be using? I'm looking forward to that session as a nice hour‑long binding together of all that information to make sure that we are all on the same page moving forward.

A couple of other sessions that I find are going to be personally very, very interesting are some enduring sessions on controversies in anticoagulation of venous thromboembolism and controversies in the diagnosis and management of acute pulmonary embolism.

Both of those sessions are going to feature not just information about the inpatient management of these patients, but also the outpatient management as well. Particularly, which of our patients with pulmonary embolism is it appropriate for us to be treating as outpatients?

Once again, if you look through the agenda of this meeting, you'll see all sorts of information around the treatment and management of venous thromboembolic disease, both with and without COVID infection.

A couple of other sessions that I find personally interesting. On a very personal note, having had acute COVID pneumonia earlier this year, I'm very interested in the October 17, 10:30 AM feature presentation on the evolution of COVID‑19 lung disease from acute lung injury to chronic fibrosing lung disease.

That's something that's going to be very important and setting the stage for how we're going to be managing patients who've had COVID infection in the years to come.

Finally, something that regardless of your specialty, the keynote address of this meeting, which will be delivered by Dr. Haines, is incredibly important after the year and a half we've all had as providers. Dr. Haines is going to speak about perseverance and motivation, empathetic medicine amidst COVID and beyond, something we can all learn from.

He's a fabulous speaker. I've heard him speak at other venues. It will be a real treat to be able to see him from the comfort of your own home in this remote session. Once again, I urge you all to take a look at the upcoming annual meeting from CHEST 2021.

That annual meeting takes place October 17 to 20, but we'll have enduring materials up on the web for review and for CME credit for the weeks to come. For more information, simply go to chestnet.org, and there, you'll see an entire schedule of the meeting and how you can register. Thank you very much.