Jae K. Oh, M.D.

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SUMMARY

Jae K. Oh, M.D., has a special research interest in all aspects of echocardiography and its use in clinical trials as well as in clinical diagnoses. He runs Mayo Clinic's Echocardiography (Echo) Core Lab, which collaborates with trial investigators and analyzes echocardiography studies performed for clinical trials. The Echo Core Lab has been involved in more than 20 clinical trials, many of which — such as the Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure (STICH) trial and the Heart Failure Clinical Research Network trials — are sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Another major trial he is involved in is transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) investigations.

Dr. Oh is also researching diastolic function, heart failure related to diastolic dysfunction, valvular heart diseases and pericardial diseases. He has established a noninvasive Mayo Clinic diagnostic criteria for constrictive pericarditis and the concept for transient constriction. He is in the process of creating the international consortium for the pericardial disease to understand the natural history and scope of diagnostic and management challenges in patients with pericardial diseases.

Dr. Oh is also passionate about pursuing multimodality imaging in cardiovascular diseases.

Focus areas

• Impact of TAVR on cardiac structure, function (systolic and diastolic) and hemodynamics. As the leader of the Echo Core Lab work with the Medtronic CoreValve bioprosthesis, Dr. Oh has a unique opportunity to analyze serial echocardiography studies in more than 3,000 patients of various populations (extreme-risk group, high-risk group and intermediate-risk group) who undergo TAVR with the self-expanding CoreValve. Studying the natural history of the CoreValve in echocardiography will facilitate the understanding and advances in this extraordinary therapeutic procedure.
• Ischemic cardiomyopathy. With his work in the Echo Core Lab for the STICH trial, Dr. Oh has a vast number of serial echocardiography data in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy randomized to medical therapy or coronary artery bypass surgery. The STICH database provides the natural history of ischemic cardiomyopathy and the impact of an assigned therapy on structure, function and hemodynamics as well as clinical outcomes of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.
• Diastolic function at rest and with exercise. Dr. Oh has been involved from early on in echocardiography assessment of diastolic dysfunction and its clinical application in diagnosis, prognosis and management. There is still a significant debate as to what is the best way to assess diastolic dysfunction, and there is much more to do to incorporate this important assessment into clinical practice, not only at resting stage but also with exercise.
• Constrictive pericarditis. Constrictive pericarditis is often missed or misdiagnosed, although it is curable if detected in time. Dr. Oh has established the echocardiography diagnostic criteria for constrictive pericarditis, which needs to be implemented more widely. Constrictive pericarditis is most often caused by a cardiac surgery, and Dr. Oh wishes to identify a way to identify and prevent constrictive pericarditis after a cardiac surgery. Dr. Oh also identified a condition termed transient constriction, which can be managed medically. He wishes to establish a firm diagnostic criteria for transient constriction.

Significance to patient care

Dr. Oh hopes that his clinical investigations improve the diagnosis of diastolic dysfunction, constrictive pericarditis, heart failure and valvular heart diseases. He also hopes that correct and timely diagnosis will improve the outcome of appropriate treatment for the above disorders. His Echo Core Lab work will help understand the natural history and the impact of various therapeutic options in ischemic cardiomyopathy, heart failure, valvular heart diseases and pericardial diseases.

Professional highlights

• Member, publication committee, CoreValve, 2013-present
• President, Asian-Pacific Association of Echocardiography, 2012-present
• Editorial board, Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging journal, 2008-present
• Member, executive committee and publication committee, STICH trial, 2001-present
• Samsung Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases, 2015
• The William H. Gaasch Lectureship, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 2008