The Hungarian Society of Cardiology (HSC) organized its annual National Cardiology Congress between 11-14 May 2011 in Balatonfüred, by Lake Balaton. Among the attendees of this year’s congress the Hungarian organizers could also welcome the delegation of ESC, which was led by President Michel Komajda. Isabelle Collin, the Head of the National Cardiac Societies Department was also present at the congress as a member of the ESC delegation.
During the solemn opening ceremony the Hungarian Society inaugurated three renowned cardiologists as honorary members of HSC:
Michel Komajda (France) – researcher of the genetic background of heart failure, president of the European Society of Cardiology; Walter Paulus (the Netherlands) – researcher of the myocardial structural changes occurring at heart failure, and Norman Silverman (USA) – pediatric cardiologist, recognized for his work in the non-invasive diagnostics of congenital heart diseases.
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Prof. Komajda receiving his medal |
The congress moved on amidst immense interest: 1713 attendees and 40 exhibitors participated. The organizers did their best to feature all domains of cardiology with equal emphasis in the scientific program. The 217 lectures and the 47 posters presented a faithful picture of the current problems of Hungarian cardiology and provided opportunities to discuss scientific issues.
Besides the traditionally dominant subspecialties such as coronaria intervention and electrophysiology, heart failure and imaging methods were also vastly featured in the congress program. Such new ESC guiding threads as the atrial fibrillation and medical treatment possibilities of the antithrombotic therapy were also thoroughly discussed.
Regarding new treatment possibilities of heart failure, the presentations came to the conclusion that in spite of the fact that the acceptance and the efficacy of implantable devices in the treatment of heart failure and heart rhythm disturbances, especially that of ICD has increased enormously in recent years and we apply them widely, the use of these devices lags far behind the necessary. Many patients with high risk of SCD cannot receive these anti-arrhythmic treatments partly because of the low availability of these devices, and partly because of the lack of properly qualified specialists.
Concerning the national supply of ST elevation myocardial infarction, the speakers explained that it is because of a lack of knowledge of recommendations that the implementation of the recommendations in everyday practice is far from the 100% realization. Therefore, the Hungarian Society of Cardiology considers implementing European recommendations in everyday practice and getting colleagues as profoundly as possible acquainted with the recommendations on different levels, its main goals.
The Hungarian Society organized two scientific symposia jointly with ESC. After the ESC symposium that was chaired by Presidents Michel Komajda and Béla Merkely, the two chairmen gave an
interview in which they summarized the most important messages of the symposium.