By Nita Wilkinson

Staff Writer

There are some things you expect to find at a cardiac symposium: doctors, nurses, medical terminology that requires a second cup of coffee and a lot of discussion about procedures, medications and more.

What you might not expect is a room full of health-care professionals cutting into pig hearts. But that’s what happened at the 2026 Cardiology Symposium, sponsored by Mary Rutan Hospital and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Nurses, nurse practitioners, EMTs and even an IT guy had the opportunity to move from talking about the heart to actually holding one in their hands during the symposium at the Mary Rutan Crossroads Business Center, 21 Hunter Place, Bellefontaine.

Mahmoud Houmsse, MD; Chad Hyer, MD; and Stephen Stoychos, a biomedical engineer with Boston Scientific, led participants through the dissection. They began with a review of the parts of the heart before participants paired up and began making their way through 13 pig hearts.

Stoychos explained that a pig heart is remarkably similar to a human heart, making it one of the closest things medical professionals can use to study the actual anatomy of the human heart.

For the nurses and medical professionals in the room, it was an opportunity to see the structures they normally talk about and treat in a much more tangible way. They also discussed current cardiac procedures as well as new and improved treatments on the horizon.

For Landen Hunt, however, the experience was a little different. Hunt works in IT. He doesn't normally spend his day thinking about the parts of a heart, although he did have to update the cameras as part of his regular job during the symposium.

Paired with Joe Starlin, an ER medic, Hunt admitted he enjoyed his brief departure from the technology world.

“It's pretty cool, but I don't think I'll change professions,” he said.

Kayla Baker and Lorin Dahlfors, both nurses at OSU, also took part in the dissection. Dahlfors said she loved the opportunity.

“To see the actual anatomy and how all the parts fit in physically was awesome,” she said.

The hands-on experience was only one part of the symposium. Participants also learned about advances in cardiac care, including new treatment options and ongoing improvements in procedures.

There was particular excitement surrounding cryoablation, a technique that uses freezing rather than burning to treat certain heart rhythm problems. It isn't appropriate for every patient or every circumstance, but the advancement represents another example of how cardiac treatment continues to evolve.

There was also encouraging discussion about statins and the growing understanding of their safety and benefits.

Patty Reames, practice manager for the OSU Heart Center in Bellefontaine, organized the event and was pleased with how the day came together.

“It went really well,” she said. “People learned a lot.”

That's the real value of a symposium like this. Medical professionals spend their careers learning about the human body, but sometimes there is no substitute for seeing, and touching, the anatomy for yourself. Thirteen pig hearts provided a pretty memorable classroom. ■