COURSE DESCRIPTION (STATEMENT OF NEED)
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy including preeclampsia, chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension, and preeclampsia, superimposed upon chronic hypertension, represent the most common medical complications of pregnancy and early delivery due to hypertensive disorders is a leading cause of prematurity. Together, these disorders are a major cause of morbidity in the developed world and of mortality in the developing world. Women’s health care providers, including obstetric physicians, primary care physicians, and medical and obstetric subspecialists share responsibility for the diagnosis and care of these complex patients and for recognition and management of the long-term cardiovascular risks which follow hypertensive pregnancy. Dramatic advances in basic, translational, clinical and epidemiologic investigation during the past 2 years may have significant impact on clinical care of hypertensive pregnant women and will be discussed at this biennial meeting. This comprehensive international meeting is the only forum that assembles the leading investigators and clinicians in this field to share state of the art research findings with direct implications for clinical care and to review the state of the art and clinical controversies in the evaluation and care of these women. Key issues to be emphasized at the conference include the role of defective placentation in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia, mechanisms of normal and pathologic cardiovascular adaptation to pregnancy, results of recent clinical trials in hypertensive pregnancy, advances in prediction and diagnosis of hypertensive pregnancy, clinical implications of animal models of preeclampsia, relationships between obesity, metabolic syndrome diabetes, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, recognition and management of long term cardiovascular risk associated with hypertensive pregnancy, optimal management of hypertension comorbid conditions during pregnancy, epidemiologic insights into hypertensive pregnancy, and approaches to decreasing maternal morbidity due to these disorders in the developing world.

TARGET AUDIENCE
This educational program is designed for specialists and subspecialists in obstetrics and gynecology and internal medicine, and for practitioners who care for women at any stage of their reproductive life: obstetricians, gynecologists, primary care physicians, fellows, residents, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and nurses/midwives as well as nephrologists, endocrinologists, and cardiologists.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- Discuss findings from recently completed preeclampsia prevention trials.

- Discuss current standards for clinical management of blood pressure during pregnancy.

- Identify long-term cardiovascular risks to women whose pregnancies were complicated by
- hypertension and strategies to improve outcomes.

- Describe evolving strategies to predict and diagnose (or "rule out") preeclampsia in women at high
- risk.

CME ACCREDITATION
Washington Hospital Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

CREDIT DESIGNATION
Washington Hospital Center designates this educational activity for a maximum of 34 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)^TM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH ANY COMMERCIAL INTEREST
As a sponsor accredited by the ACCME, it is the policy of Washington Hospital Center to require that everyone who is in a position to control the content of an educational activity disclose all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest prior to the educational activity.

The ACCME considers relationships of the person involved in the CME activity to include financial relationships of a spouse or partner. Faculty and planners who refuse to disclose relevant financial relationships will be disqualified from participating in the CME activity. For an individual with no relevant financial relationship(s), the participants must be informed that no conflicts of interest or financial relationship(s) exist.

SPECIAL ASSISTANCE
Washington Hospital Center wishes to ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently from other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids or services identified in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Please contact 202-877-3200 to notify us of your needs.