ACCEL Lite: ESC Late-Breaker: MTT:Assessing the Effects of ARBs and Beta-Blockers in Marfan Syndrome

Marfan Syndrome is a rare genetic heart disease, but still affects over a million people worldwide. It causes swelling of the main blood vessel of the heart, which can even tear if major surgery is not performed - usually when the patient is in their 20s or 30s. Researchers form Oxford University worked with teams all over the world to combine results from several trials involving almost 1500 patients - the most powerful study of its kind - and found that two widely available medicines, angiotensin receptor blockers and beta-blockers, work both separately and in combination to slow the rate of expansion of the blood vessel, potentially delaying the need for surgery and the risk of tearing by a decade or more if the drugs are taken together long term. In this interview, Alex Pitcher, MD and William E. Boden MD, FACC, FAHA, with Sun Moon Kim MD FSCAI FACC, discuss the ESC Late-Breaker: MTT: Assessing the Effects of ARBs and Beta-Blockers in Marfan Syndrome.