Conference season

So it’s March and conference season has begun.

In the world of cardiology there is a rhythm to the year with major announcements being made at the large American and European conferences, and smaller trials being flagged at the subspecialty conferences.

The American College of Cardiology meeting was earlier this month, with major news about the PCSK inhibitors (new fangled drugs for cholesterol) and news regarding His bundle pacing (see separate post).  I didn’t get to go, but kept up to date by the bloggers at the conference in particular Dr John Mandrola from the heart.org, as well as the ACC and ESC video coverage.

I did get to go the European Heart Rhythm Association meeting in Barcelona.  I was pleased to win a grant from the European Society of Cardiology to fund attendance.

It was a small meeting which meant is was easy to get around and go to interesting sessions by the greats in Electrophysiology.  Particularly good were the prize lectures by Dr Johnathan Kalman on atrial arrhythmias and Dr Josep Brugada of the eponymous Brugada syndrome about the genetic basis of rhythm disorders.

It’s a fantastic way of keeping uptodate with the latest developments in the specialty, and to network with colleagues across Europe – I met co-investigators for some of my research studies from Poland and the Czech republic as well as the UK.