Cardiovascular Journal of Africa: Vol 26 No 4 (July/August 2015)

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CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 26, No 4, July/August 2015 200 AFRICA
Cardio News
Cardiac surgery and intervention highlights at the SA Heart Congress 2015
Interventional procedures and cardio-
thoracic surgery feature prominently at the
SA Heart Congress 2015, to take place from
Sunday 25 to Wednesday 28 October at Sun
City in the North West province.
Cardiac intervention
Held under the auspices of the SA
Society of Cardiovascular Intervention
(SASCI), the adult interventional stream
at the congress features four prominent
international faculty, who include Drs
Robert Byrne (Germany), Jacek Legutko
(Poland), Ariel Roguin (Israel) and Ralf
Birkemeyer (Germany). Although Dr
Byrne is a newcomer to South Africa, he
is a stalwart of the PCR community and is
regularly featured on Medscape.
The interventional stream commences
with a half-day, post-graduate course on
Sunday 25 October, hosted by Terumo,
with the entire afternoon being dedicated
to the topic of radial intervention. Veteran
radialists will provide tips and tricks on all
aspects of radial angiography/intervention
that will prove to be useful for both novices
and established radialists alike.
At one of the opening plenary sessions
at the Congress, Dr Farrel Hellig will
be focusing on the results and future
developments pertaining to a fellowship
being offered by the South African
private sector in interventional cardiology.
Congress chairman, Prof Francis Smit will
complement this presentation by focusing
on the African cardiac interventionist of the
future from a public healthcare perspective.
During the Monday afternoon interven-
tional track, Dr Robert Byrne, a newcom-
er to South Africa but a stalwart of the
PCR community, who features regularly on
Medscape cardiology, will address the difficult
topic of triple anti-thrombotic therapy follow-
ing stent implantation. He will also provide
insights into technological developments with
newer drug-eluting stents and their impact
on clinical outcomes. Although the primary
focus during the interventional track will be
on improving patient care, a notable topic of
interest will be ‘Risks to the interventional
cardiologist in the cath lab’, to be addressed
by Prof Ariel Roguin from Israel.
A STEMI update will take place on
Tuesday morning, with Prof Bernard Gersh
(USA) focusing on reperfusion therapy
for STEMI in 2015, Prof Fausto Pinto
(Portugal) weighing up the best combi-
nation for the pharmaco-invasive strategy,
Dr Carlos Agular (Portugal) discussing the
management of cardiogenic shock, and Dr
Byrne (Germany) debating whether there
is consensus regarding the management of
multi-vessel disease in STEMI.
The cardiac surgery track
The cardiothoracic surgery track
commences with a pre-congress, post-
graduate course on Sunday afternoon, with
international faculty including Drs Carlos
Mestres (Spain), Volkmar Falk (Germany)
and Manuel Antunes (Portugal). Initial
presentations will focus on the future
challenges of coronary artery surgery and
whether off-pump CABG is a passing fad.
The diagnostic, surgical and peri-operative
challenges of constrictive pericarditis will be
examined by four speakers, with Dr Carlos
Mestres from Spain sharing perspectives on
pericarditis from the industrialised world.
Late-afternoon presentations will cover
minimally invasive mitral valve surgery by
Prof Volkmar Falk (Germany) and mitral
valve repair in 2015 by Dr Manuel Antunes
(Portugal).
During the first plenary session on
Monday 26 October, Prof Charles Yankah
(Germany) will discuss an approach to the
development of cardiac surgery in Africa.
This will be followed in the second plenary
session by Dr Martin Sussman discussing
the pros and cons of the development of
a surgical fellowship in the South African
private sector.
A two-hour session on TAVI takes
place on Tuesday morning, 27 October,
with Prof Volkmar Falk (Germany) sharing
perspectives on the development, results and
future of TAVI, and Prof Pascal Dohmen
(Germany) debating whether TAVR and
sutureless aortic valves are complementary
or competitive procedures. Dr Helmuth
Weich will discuss the long-term outcomes
of TAVI and TAVI in the young, with
Dr Farrel Hellig concluding the session by
discussing the management of para-valvular
leak and valve failure.
Half-day courses on Tuesday afternoon
include the options of a valvular mini
symposium or a special focus on perfusion.
The Congress concludes on Wednesday
28 October with a half-day course focusing
on heart failure in sight, with international
speakers featuring Drs Volkmar Falk, Charles
Yankah and Mattias Roser from Germany,
Alexandre Mebazaa (France), Bernard Gersh
(USA) and Manuel Antunes (Portugal).
For full-programme details, and to register
for the radial intervention or cardiac
surgery post-graduate courses, visit http://
For queries,
contact Europa Organisation Africa
on (011) 325-0020, or email enquiries@
.
Dr Robert Byrne Dr Volkmar Falk Prof Jacek Legutko Prof Ariel Roguin