title: Report of the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2012, Los Angeles.
abstract: The American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions were held for the first time in Los Angeles in 2012, with the most up-to-date basic and clinical science in the field presented and heard by physicians, research scientists, students, and paramedical personnel from 100 countries. Japan accounted for the second highest number of submitted abstracts and the Japanese Circulation Society actively contributed to the success of the AHA Scientific Sessions this year. The Late-Breaking Clinical Trial sessions comprised 27 clinical studies presented in the main hall. The FREEDOM study revealed the superiority of using a coronary artery bypass graft for diabetic multivessel coronary artery diseases over percutaneous coronary intervention using a drug-eluting stent. A new peptide hormone, serelaxin, improved dyspnea in heart failure patients and significantly reduced mortality rates according to the RELAX-AHF study. In the basic sciences, primary necrosis in mitochondria was the hot topic, while genetics, including genome-wide association studies, and epigenetics were strong features of the basic and clinical cardiovascular (CV) science. It was also clear that regenerative medicine is now part of mainstream CV research, with several clinical trials underway and many basic research projects ongoing around the world. Induced pluripotent stem cells in particular have the potential to change CV medicine, and will underpin the next era of regenerative medicine and personal therapies for heart diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. jfujita@a6.keio.jp
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujita
mesh_terms: D000572:American Heart Association; D035843:Biomedical Research; D002309:Cardiology / Q000379:methods; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy*; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy*; D054855:Drug-Eluting Stents; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D015141:Los Angeles; D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States