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Robert Lederman, M.D.

Cardiovascular Intervention Program

Scientific Focus Area(s): Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics, Cell Biology, Computational Biology

Background

Robert Lederman received his B.S. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University in 1986 and his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in 1990. He was a resident, including serving as chief resident, at CWRU until joining the University of California, San Francisco as a cardiology fellow in 1994. In 1996 he spent a year as an interventional cardiology fellow at the University of Michigan, followed by a year at Duke University as a fellow focusing on peripheral vascular and advanced coronary interventions. In 1998, Dr. Lederman joined the faculty at the University of Michigan as an assistant professor of interventional cardiology. He joined the NHLBI as an Investigator in the Cardiovascular Branch in 2000 and was named a Senior Investigator in 2008. He has authored or coauthored more than 115 papers or book chapters. Dr. Lederman is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association. He is also a member of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging. He currently holds seven patents from his work.

Research Interests

Through increasingly sophisticated combinations of catheter probes that can maneuver in the vasculature and imaging technologies that track them, catheterization is becoming ever more prominent as a non-surgical alternative for a wide range of cardiovascular procedures. Dr. Lederman’s goal is to increase the potential applications of catheterization even more by using real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to enable non-surgical catheter-based treatments for adults and children.

Unlike currently available x-ray technologies, MRI offers the ability to visualize soft tissues and avoids potentially harmful radiation, an especially important consideration for procedures in children or for very complicated procedures. Dr. Lederman’s research has benefited from the expertise of NIH scientists who developed cardiac MRI technology. His team also works with industry collaborators to adapt their commercially available MRI scanners for real-time procedures.

Working in an MRI environment poses multiple challenges—for example the catheter tools need to be redesigned to resist the effects of high intensity magnets. Guidewires, for example, are a fundamental tool in catheterization—a flexible guidewire including an electronic “antenna” is inserted into blood vessels to serve as both scout and delivery system for more rigid devices. In one of the few facilities in the world equipped with real-time MRI for clinical interventions, Dr. Lederman works with a talented interdisciplinary team of scientists, clinicians, and engineers to develop the hardware, software, and clinical solutions required to perform safe cardiovascular interventions.

Dr. Lederman and his colleagues work with animal models to develop advanced procedures and have done proof of concept by demonstrating the repair of complex congenital defects in the heart using MRI guidance. They are also exploring their ability to deliver larger devices directly through the chest wall under MRI guidance. Clinical trials have been initiated wherein Dr. Lederman is doing simple procedures in patients. His team has performed diagnostic catheterization in adults and will extend this technology to children in a new facility at the Children’s National Medical Center.

Dr. Lederman’s goals are to develop more complex diagnostic and interventional catheterization procedures to treat conditions ranging from peripheral artery disease in adults to congenital coarctation of the aorta in children. He and his colleagues also welcome the opportunity to work with external collaborators to bring innovative cardiovascular devices to the clinic through the unique resources of the NIH Clinical Center. His group has recently developed a novel non-surgical catheter-based approach to repair leaky mitral valves in the heart known as “cerclage annuloplasty,” and he is currently exploring technology transfer opportunities to develop this technique for widespread use.

Selected Publications

Real-time MRI-guided right heart catheterization in adults using passive catheters.
Ratnayaka K, Faranesh AZ, Hansen MS, Stine AM, Halabi M, Barbash IM, Schenke WH, Wright VJ, Grant LP, Kellman P, Kocaturk O, Lederman RJ.
Eur. Heart J.. 2012 Aug 1;.
[Text Abstract on PubMed]

Closed-chest transthoracic magnetic resonance imaging-guided ventricular septal defect closure in swine.
Ratnayaka K, Saikus CE, Faranesh AZ, Bell JA, Barbash IM, Kocaturk O, Reyes CA, Sonmez M, Schenke WH, Wright VJ, Hansen MS, Slack MC, Lederman RJ.
JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2011 Dec;4:1326-34.
[Text Abstract on PubMed]

Direct percutaneous left ventricular access and port closure: pre-clinical feasibility.
Barbash IM, Saikus CE, Faranesh AZ, Ratnayaka K, Kocaturk O, Chen MY, Bell JA, Virmani R, Schenke WH, Hansen MS, Slack MC, Lederman RJ.
JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2011 Dec;4:1318-25.
[Text Abstract on PubMed]

Interventional cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging: a new opportunity for image-guided interventions.
Saikus CE, Lederman RJ.
JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2009 Nov;2:1321-31.
[Text Abstract on PubMed]

Mitral cerclage annuloplasty, a novel transcatheter treatment for secondary mitral valve regurgitation: initial results in swine.
Kim JH, Kocaturk O, Ozturk C, Faranesh AZ, Sonmez M, Sampath S, Saikus CE, Kim AH, Raman VK, Derbyshire JA, Schenke WH, Wright VJ, Berry C, McVeigh ER, Lederman RJ.
J. Am. Coll. Cardiol.. 2009 Aug 11;54:638-51.
[Text Abstract on PubMed]

Robert Lederman's Full List of Publications