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The XXVth Congress of the European Society of Cardiology
was held on 30 August – 3 September, 2003 in Vienna. 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. I.
Megreladze, Prof. G. Simonia, Prof. P. Machavariani, Dr. T. Areshidze,
Physicians – A. Melia, T. Kikalishvili, Z. Kipiani, Z. Lominadze.
A main mission of the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology was
the presentation of innovative research. This year, a record number of
abstracts were submitted for review. This high number of submissions
underscores the strength of basic, epidemiological and clinical sciences
in Europe and abroad, as well as the attractiveness of the European
Congress as a whole. Out of 8753 submitted abstracts, this year 4.9 %
came from Japan, 3.4 % from the USA and 2.7 % from Brazil, among other
non European countries. The abstracts covered all aspects of
cardiovascular medicine but the four main areas contributing each for 10
% or more of all abstracts were arrhythmias and pacing, heart failure
and myocardial function, coronary artery disease, epidemiology and
prevention. Across topics, Basic Science represented 14 % of all
submissions.
All abstracts were submitted to careful review and grading, resulting in
the final selection of 2652 abstracts to be included in one of the 117
oral sessions or 1861 poster presentations.
Abstracts grouped by topic are reviewed by expert colleagues from Europe
and abroad and graded on-line, with the help of customized web-based
tools. These abstracts are blinded for the author’s names, city and
country of origin. The average grade given by these experts was used to
select the best abstracts for further evaluation by members of the
Congress Programme Committee, the Science Council and the Working Group
chairs.
The scientific programme of the 2003 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 in previous years, several sessions have been 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.
This year there were four 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 four sessions were given by the Society, at the Awards Ceremony.
The ESC Congress 2003 was accredited by the European Board for
Accreditation in Cardiology (EBAC) for a maximum of 18 hours of External
CME credits.
Many Pharmacological companies had participated in ESC Congress 2003.
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