Oksana Shlobin, MD, FCCP
Oksana Shlobin, MD, FCCP
The pulmonary vascular and cardiovascular program planners for CHEST 2026 have put together several exciting sessions for this year’s conference, taking place in Phoenix, October 18 to 21.
Sessions include talks on pulmonary hypertension (PH), pulmonary embolism (PE), interventional approaches to chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), artificial intelligence in cardiovascular and pulmonary vascular medicine, phenotyping and management of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and more.
More than just lectures
Several sessions will be presented in unique, interactive formats. “Intermediate-Risk PE Showdown: A Battle of Clinical Knowledge will be structured like a game show—live, interactive, and fast-paced—to give people a little bit of adrenaline rush,” said Oksana Shlobin, MD, FCCP, Chair of the CHEST 2026 Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Vascular Curriculum Group.
PE Pressure Cooker LIVE! High-Risk PE Pro-Con Debate With the Critical Care Time PERTs is a podcast-style session, using an innovative teaching approach that’s very different from a standard lecture structure. In Real-World Quandaries in Pulmonary Embolism: Rapid-Fire Clinical Dilemmas, the audience will walk through four real-life challenging venous thromboembolism cases alongside the experts.
Exploring multiple aspects of PH
During the session Pulmonary Hypertension Hemodynamics in the Wild West: Follow the Yellow Snake Trail, “we’ll cover the hemodynamic diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and take a deep dive into interpretation of hemodynamics,” Dr. Shlobin explained.
“We’ll also discuss the management of PH, especially in the gray areas of different subgroups, involving the audience and experts in a live conversation,” she said of Guidelines vs Real-Life Expert Decisions in Pulmonary Hypertension Treatment: A Conversation With Experts, Pulmonary Hypertension: From Accurate Diagnosis to Optimal Treatment, and Taking Your Breath Away: Interstitial Lung Disease and Pulmonary Hypertension.
When PAH Goes Off the Curve: Managing the Extreme Cases in the ICU will cover management of critically ill patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). “It is often a very scary scenario for a critical care doctor,” said Dr. Shlobin.
For those curious about the latest treatment updates in CTEPH, the interactive session Clots Be Gone: A Multidisciplinary Approach to CTEPH will simulate a multidisciplinary team conference for diagnosing and managing CTEPH.
Interventional radiologist Ihab Haddadin, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, will present on balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA).
“BPA is a technique that was pioneered in Japan and spread to Europe and more recently to the United States, specifically to address more distal clots and how they can be managed by an interventionalist in patients who are not candidates for surgery for one reason or another,” Dr. Shlobin said.
Advances in heart failure and cardiovascular critical care
Another not-to-be-missed session, HFpEF Broken Down: Advances in Management, will cover the latest in treating HFpEF. “As a pulmonologist, we see a lot of patients with HFpEF, and many of us would really benefit from understanding it better and knowing how to treat it,” Dr. Shlobin noted.
Another offering is a series of critical care lectures that offer a deep dive into the field of cardiovascular aspect of critical care medicine, including Complex Cardiovascular Decisions in the ICU, Practical Cardiology Updates for the ICU, Critical Problem Solving: Navigating Postcardiotomy Shock in the Cardiovascular ICU, Cardiopulmonary Skills for the Modern ICU: Game On, and Right Ventricular Failure: Spectrum of an Underrecognized Threat.
Overall, attendees can expect a mix of hands-on, practical knowledge along with the latest research.
“The PVD/CV curriculum this year is meant to help clinicians take better care of their patients, learn about new innovations, implement new treatments, and see what’s on the horizon in the field,” Dr. Shlobin said. “CHEST 2026 gives you an opportunity to do just that.”
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