Fred Kusumoto, M.D.

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SUMMARY

Fred Kusumoto, M.D., studies arrhythmia treatment at multiple levels: from searching for specific mechanisms of arrhythmias in patients that will translate into an optimal treatment strategy for an individual, to evaluating the use of large databases and registries to develop systems of care for identifying best practices in large populations.

Pacemakers and defibrillators have lifelong implications for a patient once implanted. Dr. Kusumoto is interested in the impact of decisions made at time of initial implant of these devices, and during follow-up over a patient's lifetime.

Focus areas

• Atrial fibrillation. Identification of optimal ablation and drug strategies for individual patients with atrial fibrillation rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Evaluation of the impact of atrial fibrillation on quality of life and health care-related outcomes.
• Quality. Using registries and databases for identifying best practices and the systems and strategies needed to allow diffusion of best practices to larger groups of health care professionals.
• Pacemakers and defibrillators. Identifying the best management strategies for cardiac implantable electronic devices over a lifetime. Evaluating how decisions made at implant and during follow-up impact patient care and well-being over a patient's lifetime.
• Medical education. Studying how to provide best medical education in a rapidly changing environment with new technologies and relationships between teachers and learners.

Significance to patient care

Dr. Kusumoto hopes that a combination of individualized care within an effective system of care will result in the best outcome for each patient and larger populations. By understanding the strengths and shortcomings of quality indices, outcomes measures, and the translation of data from large databases to the single patient, Dr. Kusumoto believes that arrhythmia care can be improved for all patients.

Professional highlights

• President-elect, Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), 2020
• Associate editor, Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology, 2014-2019
• Chair, Expert consensus statement: "Guideline on the Evaluation and Management of Patients With Bradycardia and Cardiac Conduction Delay," American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA)/HRS, 2018
• Chair, Evidence Review Committee, "Guideline for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death," ACC/AHA/HRS, 2017
• Chair, Expert consensus statement: "Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Device Lead Management and Extraction," HRS, 2017
• Chair, Expert consensus statement: "The Use of Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Therapy in Patients Who Are Not Included or Not Well-Represented in Clinical Trials," ACC/AHA/HRS, 2014