INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS “CARDIOLOGY AT A CROSSROAD OF SCIENCES”: RESULTS, OPINIONS, FINDINGS

The main objective of the congress was an exchange of experience between Russian doctors and their foreign colleagues. The congress was visited by more than 400 participants, among them – cardiologists, general practitioners and other specialists from Tyumen, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Omsk regions and other areas of Russia. The attendees had an opportunity to listen to the lectures of leading Russian scientists and clinicians from research centers of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Ekaterinburg, and Kemerovo. Advances of foreign cardiology were introduced by faculties from USA, Germany, Poland, Israel, Portugal, Greece, Latvia and Armenia. Director of the Cardiology Center, Professor Vadim A. Kuznetsov said, “In the first place we organize the congress for our doctors. That is why we are very interested in what faculties from abroad will tell and teach. However our foreign guests say that they also learn a lot in Tyumen. So this is a mutual educational process.”
During three days fruitful scientific work went on. Scientists and clinicians discussed pressing issues of modern cardiology, including invasive and conservative treatment of cardiovascular diseases, new capabilities of treating patients with acute coronary syndrome, congestive heart failure and other heart diseases. Special attention was given to the modern methods for prevention of sudden cardiac death. A lot of presentations were concerned with the problem of diagnostics in cardiology, in particular with the method of echocardiography. These topics and many others were discussed at V International Symposium of Echocardiography and Cardiovascular Ultrasound and XVII Annual Conference “Cardiology Update” held within the congress.

12 foreign specialists, world-famous scientists delivered oral presentations at the congress. This year the congress was visited by one of the leading specialists on ultrasound diagnostics in Europe – Professor Fausto Pinto, Director of Lisbon Cardiovascular Institute; Chairman of Congress Program Committee of ESC (2008-10); Past President of European Association of Echocardiography – ESC; Editor in Chief of Portuguese Journal of Cardiology (Lisbon, Portugal). On May 19 in his lecture he talked about the role of imaging in cardiology. This year it was the fourth time when Professor Navin Nanda, President of International Society of Cardiovascular Ultrasound, Director of Heart Station/ Echocardiography Laboratories at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL, USA) came to Tyumen. Prof. Nanda co-chaired the International Symposium of Echocardiography and Cardiovascular Ultrasound. In his presentation he shared new results of real time transesophageal echocardiography. Dr. Lee Frazin, Professor of Clinical Medicine from University of Illinois at Chicago, Director of Echocardiography Laboratory at Jesse Brown VA Hospital (Chicago, IL, USA) traditionally takes part in scientific meetings held by Tyumen Cardiology Center. For many years of cooperation Dr. Frazin has become a good friend of the Cardiology Center.

It should be noted that one of the founding fathers of the Cardiology Center, Presidium member of Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Director of Institute of Cardiology of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Rostislav S. Karpov participated in the meeting. Rostislav Sergeevich presided at the congress as an honorable chairman. He also delivered a lecture on modern medical technologies for early diagnosis of target organ damage in high-risk arterial hypertension.

At the close of the congress the participants and organizers agreed that the meeting was successful and fruitful for everybody. Physicians are sure that what they learned at the congress in Tyumen will be useful in clinical practice and will enable to improve the quality of cardiac care. Dr. Artem Kalinin, Chief of Functional Diagnostics of Cardiology Department in MFD Kardiocentrs, Deputy-President of the Latvian Society of Echocardiography (Riga, Latvia) said, “Participation in the congress for me is, in the first place, communication and sharing experience with my colleagues. This is my fourth visit to Tyumen. In Tyumen Cardiology Center everything is always well-organized. The level of the congress is comparable with any of European meetings. And this makes one to come here again and again. The program of the congress is always interesting and intensive. Three days fly as one!”

It should be mentioned that during three days an exhibition of pharmaceutical companies and companies producing medical supplies took place. This year 19 companies took part in the exhibition.

Within the congress there was also a poster competition where over 50 scientists participated. The first place was given to the authors of the poster “Comparison of the degree of cerebral venous disorders with structural signs of hypertensive angioencephalopathy in patients with hypertension” – Afanasieva NL, Mordovin VF, Lukiyanenok PI (Institute of Cardiology, Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Tomsk, Russia).

For the faculties and guests an interesting cultural exchange program was also organized. The guests visited the exposition “Siberian farm” in Nizhniaya Tavda, the archeological museum on the Andreevskoye Lake, had several topic city tours of Tyumen. As a special surprise for the congress participants there was a ship trip on the Tura River.

The congress came to an end on May 21. While saying good-bye to each other, the colleagues expressed hope to meet in Tyumen Cardiology Center in a year – at the congress-2011!