28 May 2021
MMCTS Residents’ Tutorial Competition
An EACTS & TSRA collaboration: Celebrating excellence in online surgical education
28 May 2021
MMCTS Residents’ Tutorial Competition
An EACTS & TSRA collaboration: Celebrating excellence in online surgical education
6 October 2020: The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery (EACTS) have released a joint statement on the revision of the Guidelines on Myocardial Revascularization
23rd September 2020
European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
Dear Member,
In October this year European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EJCTS) will be joining Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery (ICVTS) to become an online-only publication. Times are changing and so are we! We now live in a digital world where both researchers and readers expect information to be easy to find and fast to access – from any device in any location – and online journals fulfill this need.
We understand that some of you may miss receiving your monthly copy of EJCTS, but after much debate we have decided that moving to online-only is the right thing to do, for EACTS and for our readers all over the world.
Here is a summary of our thinking, for your convenience:
We hope you will support us in this decision and we look forward to announcing the launch of our new online journal homepages and improved functionality very soon.
With best wishes,
Friedhelm Beyersdorf Matthias Siepe
Editor-in-Chief Incoming Editor-in-Chief
3 August 2020
Dear Colleagues,
We have made the difficult decision to postpone the “live in person” part of the Annual Meeting in Barcelona and transition to a virtual format through the EACTS Portal only. The decision was made due to the escalating uncertainty related to the Coronavirus outbreak and to safeguard the safety of our members and the broader community we serve.
The innovative EACTS Portal will continue to provide an opportunity to attend the Annual Meeting sessions and connect with friends and colleagues, all in a safe learning environment with an inspiring scientific programme as well as a fully featured virtual exhibition hall where you can talk with exhibitors, see their latest products, and download information.
With this new technology, it is just like being right there in person.
If you are a Physician or Industry representative , there are 3 options to attend:
All Nurses will receive complimentary registration.
If you are a Resident, Perfusionist, or other Allied Health professional , there are 3 options to attend:
Disclaimer: This year, EACTS are piloting an Artificial Intelligence translation tool and as this is new for us all, there may be some mistakes. Please help us to improve and share your feedback.
Updated: 24 July 2020
We would like to acknowledge and pay tribute to so many EACTS members and others in the wider cardiothoracic community who are selflessly supporting COVID-19 patients. People are making significant personal sacrifices to support the global effort to combat the pandemic and we salute you.
This unique period in our lives demonstrates not only the importance of world class clinical expertise but also the role that solidarity, friendship and collegiate team working play to protect and save lives. We recognise the very challenging circumstances that many EACTS members are working in and we thank you for your professionalism and dedication.
34th Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting in Barcelona has been adapted for our times. This year you can attend in person and also, amazingly, through a revolutionary new online experience, THE EACTS PORTAL – suddenly Zoom is obsolete!
Registration is now open! Please note that there will not be an on-site registration desk, you must register online via our membership and registration system. If you need any assistance, please contact [email protected] (registration process not supported on ‘phones or tablets).
EACTS Academy Programme
In order to protect the health and safety of our delegates, faculty and Industry partners, the EACTS Council has taken the difficult decision to cancel all planned Academy courses for the remainder of 2020. We plan to resume our Academy programme in 2021.
Online training
While we pause EACTS Academy courses, there is a wealth of online content to supplement your education and training requirements during this period.
Contacting EACTS
We have also taken action to support the health and safety of EACTS staff. We are encouraging colleagues to work from home. Our Windsor office in the UK is closed until further notice to EACTS members and visitors. You can continue to contact the office about EACTS related queries by emailing: [email protected].
Hope for the future
Across the globe health professionals are working together to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, helping patients and saving lives. Our thoughts are with all those supporting patients. We will of course emerge from this global crisis and, when we do, we hope the world remembers the importance of expert healthcare and friendship.
Stay safe and follow official advice.
Update: The 34th Annual Meeting will be virtual only – learn more…
Join us in Barcelona for the 34th EACTS Annual Meeting
2020 is a year like no other. The cardiothoracic community has played an important part in tackling COVID-19 and many of you have made personal sacrifices in order to support patients on the frontline. This year – more than ever – the EACTS Annual Meeting is an opportunity for the cardiothoracic community to come together in friendship, solidarity and collaboration.
The EACTS Annual Meeting provides the very latest developments from industry and research, coupled with opportunities for hands-on training and skills development. It offers a year’s worth of world-class education in three days!
Work is already underway to develop an exciting programme and further details will be issued by the EACTS Programme Committee shortly. With so many of our members on the front line of this pandemic, there will be important stories to tell, valuable data to analyse and information to share. The meeting is an opportunity to explore the lessons learnt from COVID-19.
The impact of COVID-19 has changed our world considerably. Our primary concern throughout the meeting will be the health and safety of all delegates and exhibitors. We will be adapting the way we run the event so that important measures such as social distancing can be practised. Although some countries are slowly emerging from lockdown, the situation is changing regularly and we will remain watchful. We are monitoring international best practice and will of course observe official Spanish guidance. We will provide more detailed guidance for delegates nearer the time.
We are working very hard to ensure the EACTS Annual Meeting can be run as planned, but please be assured if the pandemic means that the EACTS Annual Meeting has to be cancelled, we will refund your booking fee.
We all look forward to the EACTS Annual Meeting but we do recognise that some heart teams may be particularly busy this autumn because so many procedures have been deferred during the height of the pandemic. We are exploring ways to ensure that more elements of the EACTS Annual Meeting will be available digitally this year. So if you are unable to travel to Barcelona, you will be able to tap into some elements online. We will provide more information about this in due course.
We are encouraging abstracts for the EACTS Annual Meeting. Given the coronavirus pandemic, we are naturally respectful that many people will have significant commitments to patients and families, and therefore we have given more time for people to prepare submissions.
The extended deadline for Annual Meeting abstracts is 31st May 2020.
The EACTS Annual Meeting provides us all with hope for the future: hope that we can meet friends and colleagues again, and share our combined experiences. The EACTS Annual Meeting also serves an educational purpose and it is only through groundbreaking science and education that we will continue to protect our populations and save lives.
We would love to see you in Barcelona.
We strongly encourage all visitors to register online in order to take advantage of our early registration rates. The early registration discount is available until 1st July 2020. Don’t miss out!
Dear Member,
During these unique and uncertain times, we are working hard to minimise the impact of the coronavirus on our publications and resources, particularly your subscriptions to the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EJCTS) and Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery (ICVTS).
All EACTS members have subscriptions to these publications and we are taking steps to ensure you can always access EJCTS and ICVTS content. Both publications are available digitally through your Oxford University Press online account and – although we are working hard to reduce disruption to print copies of EJCTS – we are encouraging all our members to take advantage of the online materials, which include back issues and archive content.
The publications are also available via the EACTS mobile app, which can be downloaded via The App Store or Google Play. If you require any assistance logging in or have questions on how to access EJCTS online please contact [email protected] directly or Elvira Lewis: [email protected]
Kind regards,
Prof Dr Friedhelm Beyersdorf Prof Dr Matthias Siepe
Editor-in-Chief EJCTS Editor-in-Chief ICVTS
Updated: 20th March 2020
In light of the spread of the coronavirus, EACTS is taking the following action.
• All courses are cancelled until the end of September 2020.
• The Francis Fontan Fund Fellowships are being paused until the end of September 2020.
• Staff will be working remotely. The Windsor office is closed to visitors and EACTS members until further notice.
• We continue to plan for the 34th EACTS Annual Meeting to take place in Barcelona from 8-10 October 2020. We expect EACTS Academy courses to resume from October 2020.
EACTS Academy courses
We have regrettably cancelled the following courses:
• Thoracic Surgery: Part I, 26-28 March, Windsor, UK
• Cell and secretome-based therapies: Translating science into clinical practice, 23-24 April,
Pavia, Italy
• Endovascular Skills Programme, Part I (8-9 May), Part II (3-4 July), Part III (11-12 December), Windsor, UK
• Endoscopic Port-Access Mitral Valve Repair Drylab Training, 18-19 May, Maastricht, the Netherlands
• Fundamentals in Cardiac Surgery: Part II, 1-5 June, Windsor, UK
• EACTS Aortic Valve Repair Summit, 8-9 June, Rome, Italy
• Minimally Invasive Techniques in Adult Cardiac Surgery (MITACS), 18-19 June, Leipzig, Germany
• Endoscopic Port-Access Mitral Valve Repair Drylab Training, 31 August – 1 September, Maastricht, The Netherlands
• Reconstruction of the Aortic Valve and Root: A practical approach, 16-18 September, Homburg Saar, Germany
If you have registered to attend one of the cancelled courses, a member of EACTS staff will be in contact with you. Refunds for registration fees for EACTS Academy courses will be provided.
We continue to plan for the 34th EACTS Annual Meeting to take place in Barcelona from 8-10 October 2020, providing a year’s worth of education in three days. Our EACTS Academy courses will also resume from October 2020.
Francis Fontan Fund Fellowships
With immediate effect we are temporarily pausing the Francis Fontan Fund Fellowships until 30 September 2020. Fellows will not be attending any EACTS related courses, surgical placements or other learning opportunities. We are in touch with fellows to discuss the implications and all Fellowships will be extended. For further information, please visit the Francis Fontan Fund Fellowships https://www.eacts.org/the-association/francisfontanfund/.
Warning: Marketing Scam
Please be aware of marketing scams linked to the coronavirus. We understand that a phishing email has been received by several people purporting to be from the EACTS President. The initial emails invite a response and a follow up email then requests money, citing travel issues due to the coronavirus.
EACTS has nothing to do with any such emails. The emails have not come from EACTS email accounts. We are alerting you to this marketing scam as the emails have been received by some people closely connected with EACTS.
Please refer to official advice in your country on reducing the risk of receiving marketing scams and how to report them.
Contacting EACTS
We have also taken action to support the health and safety of EACTS staff. We are encouraging colleagues to work from home. Our Windsor office in the UK is closed until further notice to EACTS members and visitors. You can continue to contact the office about EACTS related queries by emailing staff direct or using the generic email address: [email protected]
Stay safe and follow official advice
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
8 March 2020
We’re delighted to announce that Dr Jolanda Kluin has been appointed Chair of the EACTS Women in Cardiothoracic Surgery Committee. In this blog, Dr Kluin outlines her plans for the Committee and how it will help inspire and encourage women to fulfil their surgical career ambitions.
Dr Jolanda Kluin, Chair, EACTS Women in Cardiothoracic Surgery Committee
I was very pleased last year when seven women students from Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland, UK, received awards on behalf of the Edinburgh Seven, a group of women who enrolled to study medicine in 1869. 150 years ago those women faced substantial resistance and were ultimately prevented from graduating and qualifying as doctors.
Today things are of course very different. It’s great news that in some countries the proportion of women medical students is now over 50% and in the cardiothoracic surgery field the number of women surgeons is increasing. But, the numbers don’t lie: there remains a gender imbalance among cardiothoracic surgeons.
A new women’s committee
That’s why I am delighted to have been appointed as Chair of the newly formed Women in Cardiothoracic Surgery Committee at EACTS. EACTS promotes diversity and equality, and has recognised that our Association can play a leading role to inspire more women to fulfil their surgical ambitions. I am approaching this role with sense of pride, purpose and, above all, optimism. Our committee will be focused on what we can do, rather than talk about what we can’t.
Like so many women, I’ve faced gender bias: suggestions that my pregnancy might hinder my ability to head up a department and negative attitudes towards my personal career ambitions. But I’ve also seized fantastic opportunities, for example participating in the Steyn Parvé programme, a renowned leadership course for women with potential.
Today, I am equally proud to call myself a cardiothoracic surgeon, a wife, a professor, a mother, a mentor, a researcher, an author…and there are many other hats that I wear. I’m as passionate about finding the best new technology and treatments for patients, as I am about paving the way for future surgeons through training or mentoring.
Visible women leaders in surgery
I’m a firm believer that you cannot be what you cannot see. So, as Chair of this important new committee, my plan is to be a positive role model and work alongside my esteemed colleagues to ensure that more women surgeons become leaders in the field of cardiothoracic surgery. Our committee will be a source of leadership, help create valuable connections and provide visibility for women surgeons.
I’m under no illusions – this is no easy task and there are no quick fixes. It will take time. We will actively encourage women in cardiothoracic surgery by enhancing the educational development opportunities through the EACTS Annual Meeting, Academy, research opportunities and fellowships. We will also identify professional opportunities for women in both training and leadership roles. We are planning the first meeting of the new committee for March 2020. If you’d like to know more about the committee or are interested in joining us or sharing new ideas, please contact [email protected]
For me, awarding the Edinburgh Seven posthumous medical degrees served a dual purpose. It was certainly right to recognise those incredible women and their struggle 150 years ago, but it also serves as a reminder that we must inspire the brightest and the best women to choose a career in cardiothoracic surgery. Our new EACTS committee will help inspire and encourage women to fulfil their surgical career ambitions. By addressing the gender gap for female surgeons today, just imagine what the women surgeons of tomorrow can achieve.
#ILookLikeASurgeon #WomeninSurgery