HJBR Jul/Aug 2022

60 JUL / AUG 2022  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   Hospital Rounds from participating pregnant patients to try to find any links that would signal future complications. Finding an early link could result in preventative treatments for preg- nant patients. AAHRPP promotes high-quality, ethically sound research through an accreditation process that helps organizations worldwide strengthen their human research protection programs. To earn accreditation, organizations must provide tangi- ble evidence-through policies, procedures, and practices — of their commitment to scientifically and ethically sound research and to continuous improvement. AAHRPP has accredited research entities across the U.S. and in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Jordan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Ochsner Completes First Procedure withWiSE CRT System Ochsner Baton Rouge electrophysiologist Freddy Abi-Samra, MD, has successfully com- pleted a heart pacemaker procedure in a clin- ical trial involving a new technology that could make pacemaker surgery available to patients who may not benefit from traditional technology. This first-of-its-kind system is a leadless device that is implanted in the left ventricle of the heart to enable biventricular pacing without the need to attach wires to the heart muscles. Abi-Samra implanted the WiSE CRT System in a patient procedure at Ochsner Medical Center – Baton Rouge as part of a clinical study called SOLVE-CRT. “The traditional procedure for correcting heart synchronization problems doesn’t always work, even in patients where it is fully indicated, let alone in patients who may have mechanical access impediments to traditional lead implantation,” said Abi-Samra. “This new WiSE CRT technology is a potential game changer in resynchronization therapy, offering all candidates a theoretically more physiologic mode of pacing and, for some, new hope. I encourage anyone who has cardiac synchronization issues to talk to their doctor about this procedure and participating in this study.” “Ochsner’s success in bringing the WiSE CRT technology to Baton Rouge is a major step for- ward in our ability to care for heart patients Study Promotes Treating Mild Chronic Hypertension in Pregnancy A study published this month in the New Eng- land Journal of Medicine proves through a large clinical trial that treating high blood pressure — even mild cases — during pregnancy is safe and beneficial for both mother and developing baby. Ochsner Health was a site since 2014 for the study, which was led by University of Alabama at Birmingham. While medical professionals have long agreed that severe high blood pressure during pregnancy should be treated with medications, the medical community has been divided on how to treat mild forms of chronic hypertension in pregnant women. The groundbreaking results of the chronic hyper- tension and pregnancy trial, or CHAP trial, show evidence-based data that even mild forms of high blood pressure should be treated to improve maternal and fetal health outcomes. “Chronic hypertension causes serious and life- threatening complications for pregnant women and their babies,” said Alan Tita, MD, PhD, pro- fessor of obstetrics and gynecology in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, principal investigator for the CHAP trial, and lead author of the NEJM paper. “Between 70 and 80 per- cent of pregnant women with chronic hyperten- sion fall into the ‘mild’ category where there is not a medical consensus for treatment. In light of these new data, it is important that we reeval- uate current recommendations, update practice guidelines and begin treating most — if not all — pregnant women with chronic hypertension with medication.” Recommendations are already updating. Within three days of the study’s publication, the Ameri- can College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement of intention to update clini- cal guidance via a practice advisory. The Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine also issued a state- ment that they are reviewing the trial results and will issue revised clinical guidance as appropriate. “This study will change the way we’ve been treating pregnant mothers with mild hyperten- sion,” said Sherri Longo, MD, director of research for Women’s Services at Ochsner Health and one of the study authors. “With this publication, the recommendation is that we don’t wait for the severe range before we initiate medical therapy. Mild hypertensive patients should have blood pressures that are controlled.” The study authors recommend that blood pres- sure of 140/90 mmHg be the threshold for initia- tion of medical therapy for chronic hypertension in pregnancy, rather than the previously recom- mended threshold of blood pressure greater than 160/105 mmHg. The trial demonstrated that by treating women with even mild blood pres- sure with medications, there was an almost 20% decrease in pregnancy complications such as severe preeclampsia and preterm births before 35 weeks’ gestation. Woman’s Hospital Earns Research Accreditation Woman’s Hospital has been awarded full accred- itation by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAH- RPP) for its dedication to improving the health of patients and the community through research. Research at Woman’s helps providers learn new ways to promote healthy living, improve health during pregnancy, and prevent and treat illnesses. A few recent studies include: • SWEET Study: Women who have had ges- tational diabetes during pregnancy are 10 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes in the future. This study will help research- ers learn if a once-a-week, FDA-approved medication called semaglutide (Ozempic) can help postpartum women who have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes in the past have healthy blood sugar levels and fight pre-diabetes. • Pandemic Pregnancy Study: Using results collected through a comprehensive sur- vey, researchers are learning how preg- nant women in Louisiana felt during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the pandemic affected pregnancy outcomes for moms and babies. Woman’s is conducting this study in partnership with Pennington Biomedical Research Center and Tulane University. • Miracle of Life Study: This study aims to find a blood test that can predict preg- nancy complications, like having your baby too early, preeclampsia, and gestational dia- betes. Researchers study the blood drawn