STATELINE, Nev. – Lake Tahoe resident Steve Kaplan is releasing his book, The Stents I Didn’t Get: How AI Made Me CEO of My Heart, this week. His book shares how he became the CEO of his heart health.
“I put stents in for a living, and I still think every cardiologist should read this book,” writes interventional cardiologist Tarpan R. Patel, MD, in his endorsement of Kaplan’s book.
Launching October 28, Kaplan’s account follows how a high coronary calcium score led him to investigate his options using AI, advanced testing, and medical expertise.
An active Lake Tahoe hiker, mountain biker, and snowboarder, Kaplan felt well when a January 2024 coronary calcium scan revealed a score of 641 (a score of 0 means no calcified plaque is detected in the heart’s arteries). His account describes nearly two years of consultations with ten cardiologists, the first eight of whom recommended a stent or bypass. He wanted to understand whether those procedures were right for him.
AI helped Steve connect scans, lab results, medical studies, and different specialist opinions; locate advanced CT technology at UC Davis; and test arguments about medication against published research. He also consulted interventional cardiologist and coronary stent innovator Tim A. Fischell, MD, who reviewed his case and recommended continued medical therapy with monitoring.
“What makes this book genuinely valuable is not the conclusion he reached—it is the process he used to reach it,” writes Dr. Fischell in the foreword.
After another cardiologist recommended PET imaging, Kaplan used AI to investigate whether the proposed protocol would measure blood flow to the particular area of his heart under investigation.
He checked with the testing team and pursued a different protocol at Cedars-Sinai. He says the results showed normal blood flow to every area of his heart, including the territory downstream of a 72 percent narrowing in his main coronary artery, supporting medication and monitoring without immediate stenting or bypass surgery. He continued physician follow-up; the test did not rule out the need for future procedures.
The account follows Kaplan’s changing views on medication, errors he and AI made, and the physicians who helped him correct his understanding. He credits clinical lipidologist Thomas Dayspring, MD, with helping improve the manuscript’s lipid sections. Other chapters address women’s cardiovascular risks and patients who benefited from stents or bypass surgery.
Readers can also visit heartceo.ai/ai-tools/ for free, copy-and-use prompts based on the questions that helped Kaplan understand test results, investigate conflicting advice, find technology or specialists, and prepare for medical appointments.
Published by HeartCEO Media with a foreword by Dr. Fischell, The Stents I Didn’t Get has physician endorsements spanning cardiology, cardiovascular imaging, and lipid medicine. Book information and continuing updates are available at heartceo.ai.
Kaplan’s experience is personal and is not a substitute for individual medical care.
“This is a very valuable, impressively well-researched book,” writes Frederick St. Goar, MD, interventional cardiologist and founder of Evalve, the company that developed MitraClip. He describes its discussion of coronary disease and treatment as “both credible and remarkably understandable for a lay audience.”
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. and in Nevada.
The Stents I Didn’t Get is available October 28 in paperback ($16.99), hardcover ($29.99), and Kindle editions on Amazon. An audiobook narrated by the
author is expected in mid-November.
Steve Kaplan is a technology executive and entrepreneur based in Stateline, Nevada. With over four decades in technology, he cofounded and sold companies, led them through acquisitions, and advised startups. He is the author or coauthor of nine previous technology and business books. Steve lives with his wife, Wendy, and enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and snowboarding around Lake Tahoe. His Chihuahua, Piper, whose own heart condition is managed with daily medication,
often joins him on hikes.