UAB Cardiothoracic Surgery Annual Report 2015-16 UAB Medicine Cardiothoracic Surgery 2015/16 Annual | Page 52

EDUCATION, TRAINING, & RESEARCH

The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Registry for
Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (IMACS) is an international registry
aimed at enrolling and following patients who receive durable mechanically
assisted circulatory support devices (MCSD) in all countries and at all hospitals
that wish to participate. Durable devices are defined as those capable of allowing
patient discharge with the device in place. Devices are defined on a countryby-country basis. The registry records pre-implant patient information and
device data, and it tracks the major post-implant clinical events. The primary
goal of IMACS is to create, implement, and analyze a registry that features high
standards for complete enrollment of patients and accurate submission of MCSD
data, which helps participating centers engage in important outcomes research
about mechanical support devices.
The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) awarded
a three-year contract to the UAB Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, under the
direction of James K. Kirklin, MD. UAB serves as the Data Coordinating and
Analysis Center (DCAC). For more information on the IMACS registry, please visit
ishlt.org/registries/mcsdDatabase.asp

Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society (CHSS)
The Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society (CHSS) is a group of 100 pediatric heart
surgeons representing 65 institutions that specialize in the treatment of patients
with congenital heart defects. The CHSS was established at UAB in 1985, when
John Kirklin, MD, proposed that surgeons could improve their ability to determine
the best treatment methods by pooling their experiences and data. In 1997, the
CHSS data center moved from UAB to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
The mission of CHSS is to improve care for patients with congenital heart disease
through collaborative research on behalf of the CHSS and patients. James K.
Kirklin, MD, is the current CHSS research committee chair. CHSS studies include
infants with pulmonary atresia intact septum, pulmonary stenosis, interrupted
aortic arch, coarctation, critical aortic stenosis, aortic atresia, tricuspid atresia,
pulmonary valve conduits, and, most recently, unbalanced atrioventricular septal
defects and anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery. For more information,
please visit chss.org

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Cardiothoracic Surgery Annual Report