AsianScientist (Jan. 17, 2014) – Hundreds of practicing cardiologists worldwide gathered at the opening ceremony of the fifth edition of AsiaPCR/SingLIVE 2014. The three-day medical conference was held this week from Jan 16 to 18 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Center.
The event kicked off with an onscreen one-hour live demonstration of a cardiac angioplasty procedure by interventional cardiologists from the National Heart Center Singapore. Coronary angioplasty is a procedure where a stent is inserted to open a blocked coronary artery.
Moderated by Dr. Patrick Serruys, department head of interventional cardiology at the University Hospital Rotterdam, a panel of eight cardiologists discussed safe stenting techniques and advances in the application of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). One such innovation is the use of bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS), a device that performs similarly to stainless steel stents but is fully absorbed by the body as the vessel heals.
“I believe that BVS is a good technology to use because it would avoid a long-term implant but if we are going to restore the vascular functions, we are not sure if we can achieve this,” said Dr. Christoph Naber, panelist and professor of medicine at the University Hospital of Essen, Germany.
The panelists discussed how to reduce cardiac complications during surgery. For example, choosing the right wire is an important consideration as the flexibility or stiffness of a wire varies and could determine the success of the surgery.
The 2014 program, which included live surgical demonstrations and interactive learning sessions, featured the latest in stent development and stenting techniques. This year’s conference featured greater collaboration between regional PCI communities, and specialists from India, China and Thailand shared their expertise on coronary interventions.
There were also training workshops on how to handle medical complications and discussions on the latest developments in renal denervation, surgery risk management, hypertension management and intracoronary imaging, targeted at fellow cardiologists who wanted a refresher on their domain knowledge.
“We are proud to see the number of participants increasing on a year to year basis and our common interest in the international cardiology field is growing and becoming more important. It’s a real pleasure that you all are able to be here in Singapore from all over the world to share your experience and practice with us,” said Professor Tian Hai Koh, course director and chairman of AsiaPCR/SingLIVE.
AsiaPCR/SingLIVE 2014 was organized in collaboration with the Cardiovascular Summit-TCTAP and National Heart Center Singapore. The mission of PCR is to contribute to the advancement of education and information in the field of cardiovascular intervention, and to serve the needs of each individual patient by helping the cardiovascular community to share knowledge, experience and practice.
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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine.
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