Guest: Atul Jain, M.D., M.S.

Episode 1:  Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Disease Edition: Interplay Between Cholesterol, Inflammation and Thrombosis

November 2, 2024

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women and it’s responsible for 1 in every 5 deaths. It’s estimated to cost over $250 billion a year, which includes the cost of medical services, medications and lost productivity. Patients with cardiovascular disease are commonly seen in a general medical practice and since it’s such a common health problem, we’re all pretty comfortable managing these patients. But do we know what’s happening pathologically? What’s the role of cholesterol and inflammation in cardiovascular disease?  What causes the inflammation? How do we measure it and most importantly, can we do anything about it? I’ll be asking these questions of our guest, internist Atul Jain, M.D., M.S., from the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic as we discuss the interplay between cholesterol, inflammation and thrombosis in cardiovascular disease.

Guest: Vinaya Simha, M.B.B.S., M.D.

Episode 2:  Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Disease Edition: Type 2 Diabetes as an Inflammatory Disease

November 7, 2024

Type 2 Diabetes is a commonly seen condition in a general medical practice. It’s estimated that over 38 million adults have the disease. When we think of diabetes, we think of a metabolic condition with patients who have hyperglycemia, often overweight, and occasionally have renal, eye and/or neurologic complications. But, do we ever think of diabetes as an inflammatory disease? How is inflammation associated with diabetes? What are the mediators of inflammation in diabetics and when we treat diabetes, are we reducing the associated inflammation in addition to lowering blood glucose? These are questions I’ll be asking our guest, Vinaya Simha, M.B.B.S., M.D., from the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolic Disease at the Mayo Clinic as we discuss “Type 2 Diabetes as an Inflammatory Disease”.

Guest: Regis I. Fernandes, M.D.

Episode 3:  Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Disease Edition: hs-CRP and Cardiovascular Disease

November 12, 2024

Inflammation commonly occurs as a response to injury or infection but can lead to damage when it develops in healthy tissue. It’s now known that inflammation plays a key role in the development of cardiovascular disease. It produces damage to the endovascular arterial cells allowing plaque to form within the artery leading to stenosis, thereby reducing coronary blood flow. What initiates the inflammatory response as it develops in otherwise healthy arteries? How should we use the hs-CRP in measuring inflammation in cardiovascular disease? Does our management of cardiovascular disease result in a decrease in hs-CRP? These are some of the questions I’ll be asking my guest, Regis I. Fernandes, M.D., a preventive cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic as we discuss “hs-CRP and Cardiovascular Disease”.

Guest: Alina M. Allen, M.D., M.S.

Episode 4:  Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Disease Edition: Hepatic Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH)

November 14, 2024

Fat deposits in the liver are quite common and many individuals have no idea they have the condition. A minority of those individuals will develop an associated hepatic inflammation. It’s not entirely clear why some progress to this state, although there are some known risk factors. Steatohepatitis is a potentially serious health problem and can lead to end-stage liver disease. It’s also associated with cardiovascular disease and all of its complications. The topic for today’s podcast is Hepatic Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis. My guest is Alina M. Allen, M.D., M.S., from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic. What are the risk factors for this health problem? Should we be screening patients for its presence and how should it be managed. These are just some of the topics we’ll discuss in this podcast.

 ​​​​​Guest: Maria L. Collazo-Clavell, M.D.

Episode 5:  Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Disease Edition: Obesity - The Linking Pathology

November 19, 2024

It's common knowledge that those who are obese are at greater risk for developing metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, the reason for this association has not always been clear. It does appear that systemic inflammation plays a major role and obesity triggers this inflammation. But what specifically initiates the inflammation? How can we measure it? Most importantly, can we reduce or eliminate this inflammation and prevent the progression to these cardiometabolic states? My guest for this podcast is Maria L. Collazo-Clavell, M.D., from the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Mayo Clinic and we’ll discuss “Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Disease: Obesity- The Linking Pathology”.

Guest: Aleksandra Kukla, M.D.

Episode 6:  Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Disease: Chronic Kidney Disease as a Systemic Inflammatory Syndrome

November 21, 2024

In 2023, an estimated 14% of all adults in the U.S. or just over 35 million individuals had chronic kidney disease and it’s even more common in the elderly population affecting over 1/3 of those over the age of 65. It represents the 8^th leading cause of death in the U.S. It’s now known that chronic kidney disease is associated with systemic inflammation, which is responsible for a variety of complications including atherosclerosis and subsequent cardiovascular disease. Does kidney disease result in inflammation or does inflammation produce renal dysfunction? Are there inflammatory markers we could measure to assess this inflammation? Can we do anything to reduce the inflammation and if so, does it improve patient outcome? These are just some of the questions I’ll be asking my guest, Aleksandra Kukla, M.D., from the Division of Nephrology at the Mayo Clinic as we discuss “Chronic Kidney Disease as a Systemic Inflammatory Syndrome”.