UB professor is co-author on new sudden cardiac death guideline

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A professor and cardiologist in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo is a member of the committee that has issued a new practice guideline for treating sudden cardiac death (SCD).

Anne B. Curtis, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Charles and Mary Bauer Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, was among the nation’s top cardiologists who worked on developing the 2017 AHA/ACC/HRS Guideline for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death.

The guidelines were issued Oct. 30 by the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and the Heart Rhythm Society.

While researchers at UB and other institutions are working to screen and predict who is most at risk for SCD, the condition accounts for as many as 20 percent of all deaths.

“The new 2017 AHA/ACC/HRS Guideline for the Management of Patients with Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death is a comprehensive review of the findings from clinical trials that provide the most up-to-date and expert recommendations for the management of patients with these potentially life-threatening conditions,” Curtis said.

“I was fortunate to be a member of the writing committee, and I can attest to the rigor and thoroughness of the review of the medical literature to develop this new guideline. It will be helpful to all physicians who care for patients with these serious cardiac conditions.”

Curtis, among the world's leading clinical cardiac electrophysiologists, is vice president of UBMD Physicians’ Group and president of UBMD Internal Medicine.

Her pioneering research has helped transform the evaluation and treatment of heart disease, especially cardiac arrhythmias, worldwide and has significantly advanced knowledge of human cardiac electrophysiology and heart-rhythm abnormalities.

In addition to contributing to the 2017 guidelines on sudden cardiac death, Curtis has been a key contributor to guidelines on atrial fibrillation issued by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines.

Curtis is board certified in internal medicine with additional certification in cardiovascular diseases and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. She is widely published, with almost 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, abstracts, reviews and editorials, as well as a treatise on cardiac pacing.

She is the president of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Society and the Association of University Cardiologists.