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Dear Colleagues,
The syndrome of advanced heart failure is
still difficult to manage despite advances in knowledge and
treatment. As millions of people suffer from advanced heart
failure and both mortality and morbidity are extremely high, this
results in a yearly growing socio-economic problem asking for a
structured and aggressive screening and treatment approach.
Recent
years, new treatment modalities have been introduced. For example
a number of randomized trials have demonstrated a positive effect
of resynchronization therapy on mortality and functional status in
patients already treated with optimal pharmaceutical therapy.
Furthermore, new surgical techniques have been developed to
improve left ventricular function and heart failure status. In
addition, new cardiac imaging techniques, like tissue doppler
imaging, have been become available to improve screening and
follow-up of patients.
To improve the outcome of patients with
advanced heart failure, it will be necessary to implement all
different treatment options in a standardized screening and
treatment program. Furthermore it will be necessary to familiarize
with some of the new techniques.
The program of the 2005 meeting
will therefore not only include presentations by an international
faculty about a number of interesting topics but also includes
hands-on echo training, CRT training using realistic simulators
and life surgical cases. Case discussions will be used to
illustrate the 2005 state of the art in advanced heart failure
management. The meeting will be held in Leiden at the
well-equipped Leiden University Medical Center. During the meeting
Dr. W. Wijns, Cardiovascular Center, Aalst, Belgium, will give the
key-note lecture 2005 entitled: "Stem cell therapy of
patients with end stage heart failure".
We look forward to
meeting you in Leiden in January 2005.
Jeroen J. Bax
Robert A.E.
Dion
Martin J. Schalij
Ernst E. van der Wall
Michel I.M. Versteegh
Departments of Cardiology and Thoracic Surgery,
Leiden University
Medical Center, Leiden The Netherlands |
