A record number of 4047 participants attended the “silver jubilee” Congress and among them were 139 participants from abroad (Europe, USA and Asia). Forty of the 383 invited speakers and chairpersons were international guests from several countries, including among others ESC President-Elect Prof. Michael Komajda and several other members of the ESC Board, WHF past President Prof. Shahriyar Sheikh, as well as a large number of Presidents and Secretaries of other European and international national societies.
In national focus
On 23 October the congress was inaugurated by the President of the Republic of Turkey, His Excellency Abdullah Gül. The President presented commemorative plaques to the living four founders of the TSC, the first president of the Turkish Board of Cardiology Prof. Dr. Faruk Erzengin, and the Young Investigators Awards named after the two honorary presidents of the TSC, Prof. Dr. M. Esat Güçhan and Prof. Dr. Remzi Ozcan.
The president’s speech was live cast by the national TV channels, and 15 national newspapers and 14 news portals provided news from the congress from start to end. A prominent national TV channel, SkyTV realised 9 live transmissions during the 3 days of the Congress, providing information to the general audience about the recent developments in cardiology as they were presented at the congress.
Joint sessions
The traditional Joint Session of the ESC and the TSC was dedicated to the topic “From recent ESC Guidelines to practice” under the moderation of TSC President Prof. Dr. Çetin Erol and Prof. Dr. Fausto Pinto, Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee of the ESC Congress. ESC President Prof. Dr. Roberto Ferrari presented philosophical approaches to the concepts “death and necrosis” as borrowed from the oncologists. The most recent gold medallist of the ESC and former editor of the EHJ Prof. Dr. Frans van de Werf reviewed the new STEMI Guidelines of the ESC. One of the two Turkish speakers, Prof. Dr. Lale Tokgozoglu (vice president of the TSC), revealed the Turkish data of the EUROASPIRE III and indicated the similarities and differences of the Turkish results with those of the Europe in general. Second Turkish speaker, Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Degertekin (secretary of the TSC and the director of the HAPPY Study of the TSC) provided the first results of the most comprehensive Heart Failure study in Turkey.
The international perspective was also reflected in the traditional joint session with the Polish Cardiac Society. TSC persistently carries on these joint sessions with the members of the ESC sharing the same approach in reciprocity. In future, joint sessions will also be made with the German and Bosnia & Herzegovina Societies.
Special sessions
Turkish Society of Cardiology made a great effort in the area of research projects in heart failure in recent years. HAPPY, TAKTIK and Beta-GENTURK studies were all presented in the 25th Congress. A training meeting of the Valvular Heart Diseases Database Project and a full-day training program of the HitPOinT Project (Post-discharge Heart Failure Monitorization Program in Turkey) were also part of the Congress. A special session was dedicated to the “Stent for Life” Project where the European context and the Turkish applications were discussed by Turkish and Czech cardiologists.
Another traditional aspect of the Turkish Congress was the special line including 11 sessions meticulously designed especially for “First Step” doctors in cardiovascular treatment, including family doctors and general physicians as well as internal medicine specialists. As during previous congresses, these sessions were well attended by first step doctors, especially the actors of the recently imposed health service organisation of the Turkish Ministry.
As in previous years, the Turkish Society of Cardiology invited the ESC to hold a stand in the Main Hall foyer, where delegates and members were informed about their ESC membership advantages and ways to participate on the European scene.
Key numbers:
114 sessions were held in the 9 lecture rooms, including abstract sessions with 164 abstracts. In addition 237 abstracts were presented as posters, the 15 best in moderated sessions. In total 15% of the abstracts were presented by non-Turkish cardiologists.