Physician Update: AHA Special Edition
Read more articles from our most relevant research presented at the 2025 AHA Scientific Sessions.
Comprehensive Heart and Vascular Center
Pecha Kucha Says: It’s All About Managing Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health
By Mark H. Drazner, M.D., M.Sc.
Professor and Vice Chair of Internal Medicine-Clinical Affairs
I had the pleasure of moderating the seventh annual Pecha Kucha Session at #AHA25, a format I proposed years ago as a member of the AHA programming committee. Pecha Kucha is a specific style of presentation in which 20 slides are displayed, each for 20 seconds. Over the past seven years, the Pecha Kucha session has highlighted a different topic relevant to heart failure. At the conclusion of the session, the audience votes for their favorite Pecha Kucha presentation.
This year, the Pecha Kucha session focused on the Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) syndrome with presentations regarding risk prediction (PREVENT equation), the metabolic syndrome, the intersection of liver and CKM syndrome, and subclinical heart failure and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. As I was listening to the outstanding presentations in this session, I was struck by two observations.
“The CKM syndrome highlights that recognition and treatment of adiposity at its earliest stages may be an important measure to prevent the development of heart failure, a goal worthy of all clinicians.”
Mark Drazner, M.D., M.Sc.
First, of the eight presenters, four had strong UT Southwestern connections, a representation that highlights the role our Medical Center plays in studying obesity-related heart diseases. Session presenters included Ambarish Pandey, M.D., M.S. (current faculty member), Ian Neeland, M.D. (former cardiology fellow and faculty), Kershaw Patel, M.D. (former cardiology fellow), and Josephine Harrington, M.D. (former UTSW Internal Medicine resident – and the winner of this year’s competition).
The second observation was the overlap of the putative role that adiposity plays in the pathophysiology of both CKM and heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Earlier in #AHA25, I attended a lecture by Milton Packer, M.D. (former UTSW faculty), regarding his recently proposed Adipokine Hypothesis in HFpEF, which postulates that adiposity is the key mediator of HFpEF, analogous to the role that neurohormonal activation plays in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Likewise, adiposity is viewed as the key mediator of the CKM syndrome; indeed, excess/dysfunctional adipose tissue defines CKM stage 1 (of four stages).
The CKM syndrome highlights that recognition and treatment of adiposity at its earliest stages may be an important measure to prevent the development of heart failure, a goal worthy of all clinicians.
