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The Montreal Heart Institute’s Interventional Cardiology Symposium: An Annual Event That Draws International Interest
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Montreal, July 16, 2009 - From June 18 to 20, 2009, the 18th Interventional Cardiology Symposium was held at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal under the aegis of the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI). Taking part in the event were more than 600 cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, family physicians, nurses, technicians, students and administrators from Québec and elsewhere in Canada, and from South America, Europe and Asia.
The event’s organizers, Drs. Serge Doucet and Jean-François Tanguay, both cardiologists at the MHI, noted that attendance increased by 40% this year. The surge of interest in interventional cardiology, they said, attests to the diversity of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches as well as the promise offered by the discipline. Just a few days after the 2009 Interventional Cardiology Symposium was held, Drs. Doucet and Tanguay were already working with national co-directors in preparation for the next event on the medical community calendar, slated for June 17, 18 and 19, 2010 (www.mhi.interv.org).
A Leader in Interventional Cardiology
Considered the most important interventional cardiology congress in Canada, the Interventional Cardiology Symposium offered participants conferences, workshops, discussion forums and live retransmissions of interventional cardiology procedures.
“Major topics on the 2009 program included stem cells, vulnerable plaque and pharmacological stents, as well as percutaneous valves, an increasingly promising treatment for aortic valve stenosis in a context where our ageing population presents high surgical risks and where progress is extremely rapid,” said Drs. Doucet and Tanguay.
Several conference speakers discussed the use of stem cells and active research that will serve to shape treatment for post-infarct myocardial muscle loss. More specifically, these studies concern the identification of the best type of stem cells, the best injection route and the conditions under which this therapy has been performed.
Other presentations confirmed that drug-eluting stents, which have raised certain concerns on the medical level and on the part of patients, now enjoy renewed favour. An increasing number of studies show that these stents are safe and offer good long-term outcomes. The efforts of Dr. Laura Mauri of Harvard University and those of Dr. Thierry Lefevre, one of the lead investigators of the RAVEL study on the role of Sirolimus-eluting stents versus bare metal stents, bear eloquent testimony to this renewed interest.
Dr. Doucet also mentioned that participants had a chance to discuss the initial results of the SYNTAX (Synergy between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) study, which compares cardiac surgery with the use of medication-releasing stents in patients with several affected vessels. According to Dr. Tanguay, a better understanding of the complementarity of pharmacological interventions and revascularization methods will lead to historic changes in the treatment of coronary artery disease.
As well, while we are currently in the midst of a radioisotope shortage, Dr. Doucet insisted on the importance of the medical community working to identify other diagnostic imaging approaches. “Magnetic resonance and PET Scanners are the obvious choice for stemming the shortage of radioisotopes and developing new non-invasive technologies of investigation in interventional cardiology,” he said.
A Component Specially Geared to the Needs of Family Physicians
The component for family physicians, organized in collaboration with the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), welcomed several practitioners working in private practice and in Family Medicine Groups in Québec. In a context where patients with acute coronary syndrome are dilated more rapidly and returned to their referring hospitals, it is that much more important to give tools to health professionals in these areas. The conference speakers reviewed various facets of the preventive and therapeutic approach with post-infarct and post-dilatation patients, including the psychological facet intended to determine pharmacological compliance, compliance with medicinal indications in the short, medium and long term, monitoring, and risk factor identification.
The Event’s International Stature
The MHI’s Interventional Cardiology Symposium paves the way for numerous international collaborations. Dr. Shamir Mehta of the Hamilton Health Center, McMaster University, is currently working on a study involving 25,000 patients in 250 countries. One of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Tanguay, notes that these collaborations are not altogether unrelated to discussions made possible by the Interventional Cardiology Symposium.
“This international exposure also allows the Montreal Heart Institute to train university fellows from other countries, and this, in turn, has led to collaborations that have been consolidated over the years,” says Dr. Tanguay. Dr. Thierry Lefevre was one such fellow. Among the conference speakers at the 18th Symposium, this physician was trained 20 years ago at the MHI, and thanks to his talent, dedication and hard work, he now enjoys international renown.
A Place for Important Exchanges
In the past 18 years, the MHI’s Interventional Cardiology Symposium has consistently grown in stature and importance in the medical community. It has given rise to numerous collaborations, having moved beyond simple technical discussions to cover all of the therapeutic problems related to cardiovascular pathologies. It also gives the medical and para-medical community a chance to carry out a complete review of interventional cardiology on a yearly basis – precisely what makes this event so important.
A New Reference and Pedagogical Work
Finally, as part of the activities offered at the Symposium, Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal (PUM) launched a new reference work and pedagogical tool titled Le bilan hémodynamique par cathétérisme cardiaque : approche systématique. This manual is geared to residents in medicine and fellows in cardiology, cardiologists, staff in hemodynamics laboratories, internists as well as all medical professionals interested in invasive hemodynamic investigation. With the use of a multitude of non-invasive investigation techniques, cardiac catheterization has become less frequent. Yet hemodynamic monitoring remains an irreplaceable tool for assessing several cardiac pathologies. In this manual, the authors (Dr. Reda Ibrahim, interventional cardiologist at the MHI, Dr. Alexis Matteau, a resident physician in his final year at the MHI, and Dr. Nicolo Piazza, a fellow in interventional cardiology at the Erasmus Medical Center of Rotterdam’s Thoraxcenter) present a rigorous method for approaching hemodynamic tracing based on the category of the pathology: stenosing valvular lesions, regurgitating valvular lesions, cardiomyopathies, pathologies of the pericardium and arterial tracing. An English version of this manual will be available soon.
For More Information Contact :
Doris Prince
Head, Communications and Public Relations
Montreal Heart Institute
514 376-3330, extension 3074
www.icm-mhi.org
doris.prince@icm-mhi.org
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