Dear Friends,
Letter from the president
The EACTS has had the extreme privilege to host in Geneva one of the most successful meetings in cardio-thoracic surgery ever organised. The attendance (3616 delegates) was breathtaking even to up to Wednesday, when at noon more than 500 delegates were still discussing cardio-thoracic re-interventions.
The Techno-College identified an unprecedented 1000 scholars, interested in the more technical novelties of cardio-thoracic surgery. The overall success of the meeting was based on the considerable effort of thousands of delegates to come to the venue from all corners of the world, even as far away as Hawaii and New-Zealand.
The programme committee has listened to earlier comments and has enhanced the educational power of the meeting by creating a fair balance between selected abstracts and invited lectures.
The EACTS will continue to explore these educational pathways and will try to make an even better meeting next year in Portugal. Save the dates 13-17 September 2008 of the 22nd EACTS Annual Meeting in Lisbon.
Finally, special thanks to the local organising committee and the EACTS staff for streamlining the meeting and for their professionalism in solving every possible problem.
Paul Sergeant, M.D.
EACTS President
Search for a new Secretary General
Sir Bruce Keogh has been elected Medical Director of the UK National Health Service and will reduce his activities as the Secretary General. EACTS is searching for his successor.
Walter Klepetko
Chairman of the Nominating Committee
Ending terms of council and committee members
EACTS Council is most grateful to the following members who have served the Association during the previous three years in important tasks:
Council: Tom Treasure, who continues his strong engagement in EACTS as the chairman of the Thoracic Surgery Committee.
Congenital Heart Disease Committee: Thomas Spray and Victor Tsang.
Constitution Committee: Walter Klepetko and Willem Daenen.
Programme Committee: Daniel Loisance, Uwe Mehlhorn, Carlos Mestres and Dominique Metras.
MMCTS moves into Podcasting
The Multimedia Manual of Cardiothoracic Surgery is now Podcasting. Listen to Marko Turina interviewing Antonio Calafiore, Ottavio Alfieri and David Wheatley about their MMCTS procedures.
| Fontan Prize Michael Chu, Ontario, Canada |  F Fontan & M Chu |
| Lillehei Award Feyzan Ozaslan, Frankfurt, Germany LONG-TERM FOLLOW UP AFTER PULMONARY AUTOGRAFT AORTIC ROOT REPLACEMENT IN BICUSPID AORTIC VALVES |
 S Hagl, K Engels (Marketing Manager, Bioprosthetic Heart Valves-EMEAC, St Jude Medical), F Ozaslan & B Keogh |
| YIA Cardiac – Heyman Luckraz, Cardiff, UK PREOPERATIVE LONG SAPHENOUS VEIN MAPPING PREDICTS VEIN QUALITY AND ANATOMY LEADING TO IMPROVED POSTOPERATIVE LEG MORBIDITY |
 H Luckraz & S Hagl |
| YIA Thoracic - Hyun-Sung Lee, Goyang, South Korea BALLOON DILATATION OF PYLORUS FOR DELAYED GASTRIC EMPTYING AFTER OESOPHAGECTOMY |
 H-S Lee |
| YIA Congenital - Edward J Hickey, Toronto, Canada DOES CONTEGRA MATCH ALLOGRAFT PERFORMANCE IN INFANT TRUNCUS ARTERIOSUS REPAIR? |
 E J Hickey, S Hagl & B Keogh |
| YIA Experimental - Marcin Malinowski, Katowice, Poland PERIVASCULAR TISSUE OF INTERNAL THORACIC ARTERY RELEASES POTENT NITRIC OXIDE AND PROSTACYCLINE INDEPENDENT ANTICONTRACTILE FACTOR |
 M Malinowski, S Hagl & B Keogh |
| New Technology Award Professor Milo Simcha, Rehovot, Israel |
 S Hagl & M Simcha |
A list of all previous award winners is available here
Thoracic Courses
Last chance to book your place on EACTS Thoracic Course: Thoracic “Toolkit” on Lung cancer staging, Pleural disease, Prague, 1-3 November 2007. Further information and on-line registration available here
Focus on Adenocarcinoma of the Lung, Pisa, 7-8 December 2007. Register here
EACTS Executive Secretariat
3 Park Street, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1LU, UK
Tel: +44 1753 832166, Fax: +44 1753 620407
Email: info@eacts.co.uk
Website: www.eacts.org