JACC This Week

In this episode, Dr. Carolyn Lam and Dr. Harlan Krumholz break down key studies from this week's JACC issue, including new evidence on Chagas‑related heart failure, updated diastolic function guidelines, and the connection between cardiomyopathy gene variants and atrial fibrillation. They also discuss findings on racial and ethnic disparities in England's universal health system and reflect on how emerging AI tools could transform cardiovascular care. A concise, insightful look at major advances shaping modern cardiology and global heart‑health practice.

Dr. Carolyn Lam and Dr. Harlan Krumholz sit down with Dr. Rishi Wadhera to unpack the first-ever JACC Cardiovascular Statistics issue. They explore why this annual report matters, the key trends in U.S. cardiovascular health, and what clinicians should take away about hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and heart‑failure patterns. The discussion highlights implementation gaps, disparities, and how data can guide action in heart health.

In this episode of JACC This Week, Dr. Carolyn Lam and Dr. Harlan Krumholz spotlight a mini-focus issue on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a field undergoing rapid transformation.
The discussion centers on the MAPLE-HCM trial comparing aficamten and metoprolol in symptomatic obstructive HCM, highlighting multidomain response analysis and what it means to measure meaningful improvement. Beyond gradients and biomarkers, the conversation explores a critical question: when physiologic surrogates improve, how should we interpret patient-centered outcomes?
Framed by the Editor's Page, "What Does Improvement Mean?", this episode examines the evolving role of myosin inhibitors, disease modification, and the tension between surrogate markers and real-world clinical benefit.
Additional highlights include disaggregation of Asian ethnicities in heart failure quality-of-care research and emerging evidence on AI-driven ECG models to predict incident heart failure—underscoring JACC's commitment to precision, equity, and innovation.
This issue reflects a broader shift across cardiology: transforming once-static diseases into treatable chronic conditions guided by rigorous evidence.

In this episode of JACC This Week, Dr. Carolyn Lam and Dr. Harlan Krumholz spotlight the 2025 Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Guidelines and explore what they signal for the future of cardiovascular care. Framed by Dr. Krumholz's Editor's Page, "From Survival to Stewardship," this discussion highlights a broader transformation in cardiology: advances that once turned fatal conditions into survivable ones now demand lifelong, structured, and hyper-specialized care. The conversation examines how ACHD exemplifies the shift from episodic survival to coordinated stewardship—where surveillance, systems design, and scalable expertise are essential. The episode also reviews key updates from the guidelines, including risk-based classification, lifelong monitoring, ACHD center collaboration, and global and early-career perspectives. Additional highlights from the issue include cardiac screening in the young, cardio-renal trial insights from CONFIDENCE, wildfire-related cardiovascular risk, and emerging cardiometabolic intersections. This mini-spotlight issue challenges clinicians to rethink how specialized cardiovascular care can be delivered effectively at scale.

This bonus episode continues the conversation from the JACC Women's Cardiovascular Health Issue, moving from science to systems. In this extended discussion, Drs. Carolyn Lam and Harlan Krumholz are joined by Sarah Krumholz to reflect on how the culture and structure of cardiology shape the experiences of women in training and practice.