HJBR Nov/Dec 2022

28 NOV / DEC 2022 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE  THE DRUG EPIDEMIC According to the Centers of Disease Con- trol and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1 million people have died from drug overdose in the United States since the beginning of the century, and synthetic opioids are the leading drug responsible for overdosing. Although rates of drug overdose deaths increased for all race groups, the largest percentage increases from 2019 to 2020 were seen in non-Hispan- ic Black (from 24.8 to 35.8/100,000 standard population — an increase of 44%). Zach Rozenbaum, MD Director of the Structural Heart Disease Program Tulane Medical Center Concurrent to the nation’s data, in Loui- siana, the number of drug overdose deaths was 1,896 in 2020 — an increase by 53% from 2019, and further increased to 2,511 during a 12-month period in 2022. Moreover, these numbers are probably an underestimation due to underreporting. Notably, Eemergency department visits for nonfatal overdose rates due to opioids increased, while other drug- related visits remained relatively constant be- tween 2019 and 2020. Similarly, in the New Orleans (NO) area, the NO Parish coroner reported a steady rise of 241 deaths from drug overdose in 2019, to 365 in 2020, and 492 in 2021 — 35% increase from 2020 and over double compared to 2019. Most of the mortality cases (77%) in 2021 were males, 62% were black, and 33% white. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, was the leading cause of death (positive in 94% of cases), fol- lowed by cocaine, which was found positive in 60% of tested cases. These data reveal that 2 or more drugs are frequently used simulta- neously. While not a leading cause of death, Zach Rozenbaum, MD, joined Tulane University’s Section of Cardiology as the director of the Structural Heart Disease Program and an interventional cardiologist. He has published over 70 scientific papers, presented at national and international conferences, and received several awards for his research. He completed internal medicine residency and general cardiology fellowship before specializing in interventional cardiology at Montefiore Medical Center, New York, and structural heart disease at Lankenau Medical Center, Pennsylvania. In addition to treating coronary disease including chronic occlusions and heart attacks (acute coronary syndrome), Rozenbaum treats valve diseases such as aortic stenosis with TAVR, valvular regurgitation including mitral regurgitation for MitraClip, as well as PFOs/ASDs and left atrial appendage for closure, septal hypertrophy for ablation, pulmonary embolism with embolectomy, peripheral vascular disease, and aspirate heart masses.