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European Society of Cardiology Congress 2002 |
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The
XXIVth Congress of the European Society of Cardiology was held
on 31 August – 4 September, 2002 in Berlin. The following members of the
Georgian Society of Cardiology attended this Congress: President of
Georgian Sociaty of Cardiology, Prof. V. Chumburidze, Past-President –
Prof. B. Kobulia, General Secretary/Treasurer – Dr. I. Jashi, the
members of the Board – Prof. B. Tsinamdzgvrishvili, Prof. G. Tsintsadze,
Prof. I. Megreladze, Prof. G. Simonia, Prof. N. Burkadze, Dr. K.
Paposhvili, Physicians – A. Melia, Z. Chapichadze, T. Kikalishvili, N.
Gvanceladze, N. Putkaradze, Z. Kipiani. The
main mission of the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology was the
presentation of innovative research. The number of abstracts submitted for
the review had reached a plateau at about 7500-7800 in the last years.
This high number of submissions underscores the strength of basic,
epidemiological and clinical science in Europe and abroad, as well as the
attractiveness of the European Congress as a whole. After vigorous
reviewing by more than 780 graders a total of 2739 abstracts had been
accepted for oral or poster presentation. The
abstract review procedure had basically remained unchanged. However,
reviewers were now grading the abstracts on-line. The average grade given
by 8 experts was used to select the best abstracts for further evaluation
(oral or poster presentation) by members of the Congress Programme
Committee. Only
one Georgian abstract out of 10 was accepted. Prof. G. Simonia had poster
presentation of the abstract: “Endothelial function in salt-sensitive
healthy subjects with parental hypertension: strategies of pharmacological
correction”. The
abstracts accepted for oral and poster presentation covered major areas of
cardiovascular medicine among them arrhythmias and cardiac pacing (14%),
myocardial infarction and angina (10%), myocardial function and heart
failure (11%) and interventional cardiology (7%). The molecular and
cellular mechanisms always were an important aspect of the programme;
indeed about a quarter of the abstracts were from basic science, which is
a steep increase from the past. This year, however, they
made it a focus by introducing the Basic Science Track. This new
feature led to special sessions and lectures on the hottest topics in
cardiovascular research. The initiative is a joint venture of the European
Society of Cardiology and other professional groups interested in this
field, such as the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR), the
European Vascular Biology Assotiation (EVBA) and the European
Atherosclerosis Society (EAS). The
scientific programme of the 2002 Congress offered a large variety of
symposia, debates as well as interactive sessions on imaging, intervention
and problems of practical cardiology (FOCUS Imaging and Intervention;
FOCUS Cardiology Practice) organized by the Congress Programme Committee
and the Working Groups, as well as 126 sessions with 826 oral
presentations based on the submitted abstracts. In addition abstracts were
presented as posters and 12 abstracts were scheduled as computer
demonstration sessions. These abstracts came from 47 member countries of
the ESC (86%) and from 54 other countries (14%) from all over the world. As
in previous years, several sessions were organized in close co-operation
with the American College of Cardiology (ACC), with the American Heart
Assotiation (AHA), with the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), with the
European Heart Network (EHN), with the World Heart Foundation (WHF), with
the Union of European Medical Specialists (UEMS). The traditional ESC
Lectures were held on Clinical Cardiology (2), Basic Sciences (1) and
Population Sciences (1). This year there were three Hot Line Sessions,
presenting results of the newest clinical trials focusing on acute
myocardial infarction, heart failure and hypertension. As a new feature
two sessions devoted on “Recent Clinical Trial Updates”, for example
additional analyses of large clinical trials which have already been
presented recently, were part of the programme. This
year there were three abstract sessions in which the best science from
young investigators under the age of 35 years were competitively
presented. Attractive prizes for the three winning abstracts in each of
the three sessions were given by the Society, at the Awards Ceremony. The
ESC Congress 2002 was accredited by the European Board for Accreditation
in Cardiology (EBAC) for a maximum of 18 hours of External CME credits. Many
Pharmacological companies participated in ESC Congress 2002.
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