LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Colleagues,

Our Lisbon meeting - in spite of terrorist attack on September 11^th and all the disturbances which followed - was a great success. During the telephone conference on Wednesday, September 12^th, the Council of the Association decided to hold the meeting as planned, to demonstrate that our work will not be interrupted by senseless terrorism. As a sign of respect for innocent victims, we decided to reduce the social program, but to continue with our scientific meeting. In spite of difficulties in transatlantic air travel and cancellation of several satellite events, we had a record-breaking attendance.  There is no doubt that the first joint meeting between ESTS and EACTS had a positive effect on participation of cardio-thoracic surgeons throughout Europe. Our thanks go to Manuel Antunes and Vitor Sá Vieira for their successful organisation of this congress.

Our future meetings are becoming exceedingly difficult to organise, due to the need for specialised venues and necessity for a large number of hotel rooms. The Secretary General touches upon this subject in his report; nevertheless we are interested in analysing any proposal for future venues in other European countries. One of the goals of the Association is to promote co-operation between cardio-thoracic surgeons throughout Europe; rotating the venue of our annual meeting is one of the popular means of achieving this purpose.

European Society of Thoracic Surgeons has expressed interest to organise another joint meeting within two years. Some other Associations have also expressed their interest in such a joint meeting. The Council will perform a careful evaluation of the Lisbon event to assess all aspects of such meetings, which represent a certain deviation from our present practice.

The major task of the EACTS is the promotion of scientific exchange and education, presently exemplified by our annual meeting and in the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. Both activities have undergone a tremendous growth and we are approaching the limits of a conventional scientific exchange. The Council is exploring two new possibilities. Ludwig von Segesser, Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, proposed a new web strategy entitled Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. It is intended not as the extension of our Journal, but as a new means of scientific communications, taking advantage of the new possibilities on the web and providing an interactive platform for new ideas, institutional reviews, how to do it articles, case reports, short communications and even negative experiences. The Editor jointly with Elsevier is developing this project; I hope that we will be able to inform the Association about the launching of this new vehicle next year. The other project is E-Manual of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, which is intended not as textbook in a conventional sense (nobody can read the book from the PC screen!), but as a web platform, utilising all possibilities of this new medium like animation, video clips, colour and sound; incorporating critical assessment of present and new technologies; and using only short text segments. This is a major effort, which is again planned conjointly with Elsevier. Our E-Manual is intended both as a teaching tool for cardio-thoracic surgeons in training, as well as an advanced educational tool for established surgeons when seeking information and critical assessment of new technologies and surgical techniques. This is a major organisational effort needing substantial support of the information technology specialists, and employing a group of highly qualified Associate Editors; it also involves an initial investment and organisational support on part of the EACTS.

Medical profession in common, and particularly cardio-thoracic surgeons, has come under increased public scrutiny. In spite of some negative effects and overreaction in the media, this process has been helpful in identifying poorly performing units and setting the standards for our profession. The Audit and Guidelines Committee, ably guided by Samer Nashef, represents an important initiative of the Association; it is fully supported by the Council in establishing a program for quality assurance and good practise accreditation.

Postgraduate education is one of major goals of the EACTS. Until recently, we were able to offer only postgraduate courses and various breakfast meetings, held during our annual congress. Through the activities of Lucio Parenzan, and due to the generous financial support by private sponsors, we will now be able to give formal cardiosurgical education in Villa Elios in Bergamo. Ottavio Alfieri, chairman of the Postgraduate Education Committee, will be in overall charge.

Our constitution is now 16 years old; like many older structures it is in need of modernisation. Following proposal by Toni Lerut, a Committee on the Constitution has met in Lisbon and identified a series of necessary changes, to be brought to the attention of the EACTS membership after discussion in the Council. This represents another effort to bring our Association up-to-date in the rapidly changing world; this particular committee is scheduled to meet at least every two years, to assess if our Constitution is adequate to the changing activities of the Association.

Finally, permit me a personal statement. I strongly believe that the EACTS, as a leading European professional organisation in the field of cardio-thoracic surgery, should clearly reaffirm its major goals. There is a considerable variability in the scope and art of practice of our profession among various European countries. Some units and surgeons are involved either in cardiac or in thoracic work, some are cardio-thoracic and cardiovascular; some work in National Health Service, others in private practice, some in a mixture of both. Therefore it is difficult for EACTS to become the political voice of our profession in each country, the way the Society of Thoracic Surgeons is able to do in the USA.  Presently, EACTS should concentrate on

Marko Turina, MD
President, EACTS

Report of the Secretary General

The following members were elected to Council duty during the General Assembly:
As President Marko Turina;
As Secretary General Torkel Åberg, re-elected;
As Vice President Walter Klepetko, Vienna;
As Councillors, Leo Bokeria, Moscow, Francois Lacour-Gayet, Hamburg, Erino Rendina, Rome, and William Walker, Edinburgh.

The Association is indepted to a large number of hard working colleagues.  Some of them have been closely engaged in the EACTS in Council or in Committees.  Their terms have now ended and I would like to officially thank the following members for their excellent work:
Joachim Hasse, Willem Daenen, Giuliano Maggi, Jan Pirk and Deirdre Watson who are all leaving the Council.
Giuliano Maggi, Bohdan Maruszewski, Bruno Messmer, Keyvan Moghissi and Pascal Vouhé leaving the Programme Committee.
Leo Bockeria, Thierry Carrel and James Thorpe ending their terms in the Membership Committee.
Claes Arén leaving the Industry Relations Committee.
Siegfried Hagl, Axel Haverich and David Wheatley leaving the Research and Research Funding Committee.
Mogens Bugge and Zbigniew Religa leaving the East European Committee.

The Joint Meeting

The Lisbon Meeting was the first Joint Meeting co-arranged with ESTS. Preparations had been easy and the collaboration between the two societies had gone smoothly. Several General Thoracic Surgeons had expressed their satisfaction and appreciation with the arrangements and the programme. The ESTS Council had conveyed a message that they were very pleased with the Joint Meeting in all respects. ESTS was putting forward an official proposal that we arrange a Joint Meeting in Vienna in 2003.  Our Vice President, Walter Klepetko supported the idea of re-arranging a Joint Meeting with the ESTS already in 2003.

Council decided to consider this suggestion after a thorough analysis of this year’s meeting.

Steadily Growing Association and Annual Meeting

The development of the EACTS and its Annual meeting continues its up going trend in all aspects.
See diagrams :

Prizes and Awards

Qin Yan from Shanghai Children’s Medical Center was selected to receive the Fontan Prize 2001. Her field of interest in research will be addressed to perioperative myocardial preservation in neonate and perioperative cerebral protection in DHCA.  Qin Yan will spend her Prize Winning Year at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children under the guidance of Marc de Leval.

The EACTS Young Investigator Award was given to Alexander Kadner, Zurich, for his presentation ‘A new source for cardiovascular tissue engineering: Human bone marrow stromal cells’.

The newly introduced Hans G. Borst Award for Thoracic Aortic Surgery was won by Marc Schepens, Nieuwegein, after addressing the topic ‘The elephant trunk technique in the repair of the mega-aorta: Results in 95 consecutive patients’.

For the recipient of the 2001 Lillehei Award Simon Philip Hoerstrup, Zurich, was chosen for his presentation entitled ‘Application of human marrow stromal cells for tissue engineering of heart valves’.

The Association congratulates the winners of the above awards wishing them all a successful future.

Postgraduate Education at Villa Elios, Bergamo

Lucio Parenzan, wellknown, now retired congenital heart surgeon, has over the last ten years maintained a Heart School for young doctors mostly from underdeveloped countries. These activities are conducted in a large house in Bergamo, the Villa Elios. Through the owners, the Gavazzeni Clinic, he has offered the EACTS the use of this Villa. After deliberation and an overview of the finances and the necessary organisation, Council decided to accept the generous offer. Thus the Villa Elios will become a venue for educational and other activities of the EACTS for the foreseeable future.
The primary education to be arranged at the Villa Elios is the theoretical education necessary for a young doctor to take the European Board Examinations. It will be arranged in 5 courses of one week each and encompassing a curriculum that has not yet been decided. The courses will be arranged several times per year.

Activities will start in May 2002 after the Villa has been refurbished. They will be organised through the Postgraduate Education Committee under its chairman, Ottavio Alfieri. A small ad hoc committee (consisting of Ottavio Alfieri, Hans Borst, Lucio Parenzan, José Revuelta and Pieter Kappetein with Hans Huysmans and Torkel Åberg as ex officio members) has been entrusted with getting it all started. The curriculum itself will be decided by a separate group of active, mainly academic surgeons. There will be a local secretariat in Bergamo. This secretariat will be integrated into the EACTS supportive organisation.

A local bank family has given us a promise of a one-time grant of 450.000 USD for three years. It is foreseen that the financial burden of maintaining this activity will in the end have to be taken by the departments sending their apprentices to a good education. For the time being, we will be able to support not only the activities but also to some degree the participants themselves. Therefore, please help us establishing this activity by sending your juniors to the courses.

There will be further information in the February Newsletter. We will also keep you informed by using the Homepage and the first courses will be announced through separate mailings. However, if you are interested already now and would like to reserve a seat, please contact the Secretary General’s Office (E-mail: secretary@eacts.norrnod.se) or our Windsor Secretariat (E-mail: info@eacts.co.uk).

We will also need teachers. Please contact any of the above mentioned names in the ad hoc Committee if you are interested in participating.

Quality Assurance System

Council has supported a future system for Quality Assurance including a Good Practice Accreditation. Council gave instructions to the chairman of the Audit and Guidelines Committee, Samer Nashef, to further describe details of the programme with by-laws of the inspecting body. An independent legal body is foreseen. Contact would be made with ESTS in this matter according to the Structure in General Thoracic Surgery Document. It was foreseen that the necessary workforce would probably mainly consist of recently retired surgeons. All interested members can inquire about possibly participating to Secretary General’s office or Samer Nashef (E-mail: sam.nashef@papworth-tr.anglox.nhs.uk)

New IT policy

As many technical developments have occurred during the last years and as CTSNet is giving us a firm ground to stand on, it was decided to make a new IT strategy encompassing the tools to communicate and our plans for Registries and Quality Assurance. The task was given to the Information Officer Paul Sergeant and the chairmen of the Committees of the InformationTechnology and Database, Alessandro Fabbri and Bruce Keogh. They are also entrusted with formulating a business plan for how to make this financially viable in the long run. In the mean time, the Congenital Registry was given a one time grant of 50 000 Euros.

Comment: The EACTS cannot take on the responsibility to financially support registries. We can help by investing into tools and start-up costs. The registries are part of our Quality Assurance programme and have to be created, maintained and developed. It was felt that we have to go back to the starting point in order to have a comprehensive plan that is also financially viable.

Standing Committee on the Constitution

Council decided that there is a need of having a standing Committee on the Constitution that may be consulted when constitutional matters are being discussed. As members of this Committee the following were appointed: Francis Fontan, Keyvan Moghissi, Hans Borst, Deirdre Watson, Jan Pirk with the President and the Secretary General as non-voting ex officio members.

Perfusionist Meeting

Through Dietrich Birnbaum, a request had been made from the perfusionists to be allowed to arrange their meeting in conjunction with (prior to) our Annual Meeting. Council supported this idea as it would strengthen the bonds between surgeons and perfusionists.

Future venues

Council has repeatedly discussed the matter of venues. The present policy is to travel around Europe with new venues every year. Considering the growth of the Association it is not easy to predict three years in advance what we will need. Our needs are also rather special with four or five major meeting rooms together with a large exhibition space. Council has erected a checklist of all the features that are desirable when choosing a venue. Among these priorities are given to the following aspects: convenience of air travel, availability of hotel rooms in close proximity of the venue, costs, etc. etc. It has become evident that we will not be able to find the perfect venue every year. Council decided that we should alert members of this fact. Some years, air communications will be a bit difficult, some years hotel rooms will not be available close by the centre. It is the ambition of the Council that we continue to travel around Europe, but this is dependent on the points of views of the membership. If you insist on very stringent criteria for the perfect venue, there are only a few places to go.

Educational Courses Endorsed by the EACTS

Successful Meeting in Milan
The VII Annual Meeting for Residents in Thoracic and Cardiovascular was held in Milan 11-13 October 2001.  The Meeting was the largest Residents meeting ever organized in Europe with 185 attendees who among other things could enjoy live surgery of four cases.  Our sincere thanks go to José Revuelta and Ottavio Alfieri for a very well organized and successful meeting.

Sheffield Seminar approved
The arrangers of the Sheffield Seminar had applied for EACTS endorsement. Council decided to give the required endorsement. The Seminar will focus on Cardiac Surgery and be held 30-31 May 2002.

Call for candidates

In 2002 nominations shall be made for Vice President, President and one councillor. According to the Constitution the Nominating Committee “shall prepare a list of nominees for Officers and Councillors upon instruction from the Council as to the vacancies which are to be filled by election and shall present its report at the Annual Meeting (Article VI, section 4).  This is a task of great responsibility which can be done accurately only through the input of the membership.  I therefore urge each of you to help the Nominating Committee in the search for dynamic candidates, willing to work for the benefit and advancement of EACTS, cardio-thoracic surgery and our patients. By the constitution, nominations may also be made from the floor. You may contact any of the members of the Nominating committee listed below. They will be happy to hear your views.

Contact details of the Nominating Committee 2002:

Ernst Wolner
AK der Stadt Wien
Universitätsklinik Chirurgie, Herz- und Thoraxchirurgie
Währinger Gürtel 18-20
A-1090 Vienna, Austria
Tel +43 1 40 400 6966
Fax +43 1 40 400 6968
E-mail ernst.wolner@akh-wien.ac.at

Eugene Baudet
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery
Hôpital de Haut-Leveque
5 Avenue de Magellen
33604 Bordeaux-Pessac, France
Tel. +33 556 36 70 49
Fax +33 5 56 07 22 78
E-mail: baudet@francemultimedia.fr

David Wheatley
Cardiac Surgery
Royal Infirmary
10 Alexandra Parade
Glasgow G31 2ER, United Kingdom
Tel +44 141 211 4730
Fax +44 141 552 0987
E-mail d.j.wheatley@clinmed.gla.ac.uk

Joachim Hasse
Department of Thoracic Surgery
University Hospital
Hugstetter Strasse 55
79106 Freiburg, Germany
Tel 49 761 270 2455
Fax 49 761 270 2499
E-mail hasse@ch11.ukl.uni-freiburg.de

Marcos Murtra
Department of Cardiac Surgery
Hospital General Vall d’Hebron
Vall d’Hebron S/N
E-08035 Barcelona, Spain
Tel 34 93 274 61 60
Fax 34 93 274 60 52
E-mail mmurtra@hg.vhebron.es

Discussion forums on www.eacts.org

There are now three discussion fora on our homepage. One of these is on “Accidental Deep Hypothermia” initiated by Beat H Walpoth. All interested in this subject and all who have some experience with this treatment modality are encouraged to go to www.eacts.org (direct link http://www.eacts.org/doc/5116) and participate in the exchange.

Other subjects for discussion fora are development of democracy and “Towards a democratic and transparent EACTS” and “Paediatric Tracheo-bronchial Problems”.

Annals of Thoracic Surgery

St. Jude Medical will provide junior members of EACTS with complimentary copies of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.  Sincere thanks are extended to the company on behalf of EACTS.

Forthcoming Meetings of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), The Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery (ASCVS), The European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery (EACTS), The European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS), and The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)

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Last revised Nov-08-2001
© 2001 European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.