|
European Association
for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery |
NEWSLETTER |
Dear
Colleagues,
The following matters occupied
the attention of the Council in the last months:
1. Joint meeting with the ESTS in 2003 in Vienna
The ESTS made a formal request
to hold another joint meeting with EACTS in 2003. The matter was discussed in
the Council. A joint meeting is an obvious way to increase cooperation with the
majority of thoracic surgeons in Europe; it increases the attendance at the
meeting and attracts larger amount of scientific material from the field of
thoracic surgery than the isolated EACTS meeting. There are also drawbacks,
which were observed during the joint meeting in Lisbon. A back-back meeting
like the one in Lisbon, with totally separate activities of both societies, two
Presidential Addresses, two Presidential Dinners, and two General Assemblies was a step forward but, really did not represent a
joint meeting, but two separate meetings occurring at the same venue.
Furthermore, the differences between the meetings of both societies are
substantial, and many of the principles which EACTS is rigorously observing
(all papers presented must be submitted to our journal for publication;
speaking times are strictly adhered to; discussion is closely moderated,
recorded and published; the duration of the session is carefully observed) are
less important in the ESTS. Therefore, the quality of the sessions varied, and
several EACTS members (and some Past Presidents) expressed their disapproval of
such a meeting. The Council decided to discuss the matter with the
representatives of the ESTS during their Council meeting in February.
2.
Relations with ESTS
The discussion about periodic
joint meetings, evaluation of the Lisbon
meeting, and formation of the Section of Cardio-thoracic Surgery within UEMS
(Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes) has provided a welcome opportunity
to reassess the relations between the two associations. EACTS would be happy
to provide the thoracic surgeons with a
stable forum for scientific exchange, a permanent organizational secretariat,
and a solid financial basis for future activities; but some basic principles
will have to be agreed upon. EACTS would have to change its structure to
accommodate a section of thoracic surgery and by analogy it might admit also
a section of pediatric heart surgery - with well-defined responsibilities of
each section. There would be only one major annual meeting, organized along
very successful outlines of EACTS, but another, less formal meeting of the
thoracic and congenital sections might be envisioned, with various discussion
forums being the mainstay of such a conference, with only limited publication
of papers, and much lower conference budget. Both sections could be given a
degree of autonomy. The EACTS would represent a true majority of European
cardio-thoracic surgery. Further talks with ESTS officers are planned early in
May, and our members will be fully informed about the results in the next
Newsletter.
3.
EACTS membership requirements
The growth of our association is
necessary, in order to become the voice of European cardio-thoracic surgery,
but EACTS constitution specifies (Article IV, Section 5) that The Active
membership of the Association shall be confined to those surgeons whose
practice is entirely or substantially concerned with cardiac and/or thoracic
surgery, and who have achieved distinction in the field. The exact
interpretation of this clause was the subject of a conference between the
Officers of the Association and the members of Membership Committee. The Secretary General will distribute the new guidelines
for the assessment of candidates for membership after finalization of the
corresponding document.
4.
Technology Conference
Successful format of CTT
conference (Cardio-Thoracic Technology) in USA has shown that substantial
interest exists for a conduct of a satellite meeting taking place prior to our
annual conference, addressing predominantly technical problems of our
profession: new devices and technologies, surgical techniques, live
tele-conferences etc. EACTS has accepted Hugo Vane mans proposal to organize
such a conference on behalf of our Association in Monaco prior to our meeting.
Dr. Vanermen has had substantial experience with previous, similar conferences;
our membership will be informed in due course about the program of this event,
which will take place on Friday and Saturday, September 20/21.
Marko Turina, MD
President of EACTS
Newsletter gradually switching over to
www.eacts.org
As announced at General
Assemblies in the past, the transitional period of the Newsletter being
published on our Homepage has started, so this is one of the last issues to be
mailed to you. Our aim is to make the Newsletter an electronic journal only and
the reasons for this are the rather tedious procedures of printing the
Newsletter as well as the costs of mailing it. We now feel that the vast
majority of the membership has access to a computer and regularly visit our
homepage as illustrated by the excellent statistics of CTSNet. However, a
simple printed copy will be sent to those who want only the mailed version.
This time, the Newsletter is printed in this simple paper format as well as on
the internet at http://www.ctsnet.org/doc/6524
(also accessible directly via the frontpage
).
MyCTSNet
Great News! CTSNet is unveiling
its new personalisation tool, "MyCTSNet", which allows you to
customize your view of new content on CTSNet. Using the personalisation tool,
you can define the clinical areas and contents sections you want to track, add
hyperlinks that give you ready access to your favourite areas within and
outside CTSNet, and more. You can request a monthly e-mail notification of new
content that falls within your areas of interest. This means that if you are
especially interested in valves and want to be alerted each time there is
something new about valves, you will automatically be informed about it. See
also Paul Sergeants description of the MyCTSNet feature. In the future, you
will also be able to access the Newsletter via MyCTSNet. This feature will be
available probably next autumn.
Evaluation of the Joint Meeting in Lisbon and
further collaboration with ESTS
Following the agreement with
ESTS to evaluate the Joint Meeting, Council members met with the ESTS Council
15 February 2002. It was decided in principle to intensify the collaboration
between the two societies with the view to a repeated Joint Meeting and other
forms of collaboration. A small ad hoc committee was entrusted to work out the
details. For practical purposes, this means that the Annual Meeting in Vienna
2003 in all probability will be a Joint Meeting between EACTS and ESTS. See
also Presidents letter.
Improvements of Working Conditions for
Committees
The EACTS has few possibilities
to finance large meetings of committees. The Council has been discussing the
merits of the new system put in place by the STS, and have decided to try it
out. The STS have created so called
work forces consisting of a small committee with a larger Resource Group. The
relevant Committees will consist of rather small groups of people, which could
meet in person and larger Resource Groups of people who have access to the same
information as regards minutes etc. and who are invited to the major committee
meetings during our Annual Meeting. This means that more people can participate
and the task of the chairman of a committee would be to focus on creating new
ideas and co-ordinating efforts and informing everybody.
The committees will also have a
budget for meetings in person. The normal way of working for the committees
would then be a major meeting where everybody (Committee and Resource Group)
are invited, work and correspondence during the year via e-mail and a meeting
in person for the Committee. In the past, we have been hampered by our
inability to give the committees a budget. The Council hopes that these
measures will help the Committees to work.
The aim of keeping both
Committee and Resource group together is of course facilitated by working via
CTSNet, where all infrastructures will be provided.
Possible Investment of EACTS Funds
New Legislation has been
introduced in the UK, called the Trustees Act 2000. This law requires that trustees of charities and trusts
constantly review their aims and objectives to ensure the best use are made of
all funds and assets. In order to o comply with this new legislation Council
has to establish a procedure to invest money.
To date we have kept our assets
in bank accounts in order to be able to financially survive two bad years. This
principle has stood us in good stead in the past. In order to comply with the
new law, Council decided to invest our safety money in medium yielding,
medium risk type of papers. Advice from several investment experts will be evaluated
before the final decision is taken.
Back Issues of the EJCTS to be
Available on CTSNet
The issues of the EJCTS from
1998 May 1999 (17 issues) do not so far appear as full text on CTSNet. For
technical reasons they cannot be uploaded without making a conversion, which
Elsevier could do at the price of $5,000. CTSNet would cover remaining costs at
some $13,500. The Council realised that this was a wonderful opportunity to
improve upon the availability of our Journal and decided to invest the money.
Revision of the Constitution
The task of revising our Bylaws
is well under way by the standing Committee on the Constitution. The proposals
on revisions will be published in the summer Newsletter in order for everybody
to read, judge and comment on them. They will be voted upon during the General
Assembly in Monaco. The procedure for changing the constitution is well
delineated. The amendments are posted under the public pages of the
Constitution Committee at http://www.ctsnet.org/doc/6064.
Fontan Prize Application
It is time to apply for the
Fontan Prize. The Fontan Prize is the major award given by the EACTS. It is given
to promising surgeons who want to have a years study in another unit. For
particulars on eligibility and procedure see www.eacts.org/doc/5328.
It is important that all members
help their junior colleagues who may be interested in applying for the Fontan
Prize. Please inform them and encourage them to apply prior to the 15th
of April 2002.
Call for Abstracts
A kindly reminder that the last
day for submitting abstracts is the 1st of April. The submission can only be made electronically on our own system.
Go to the frontpage of our homepage
(www.eacts.org).
The judging of the abstracts
will be done as last year. Briefly, there is a first stage of reviewing where
experts (five to ten in each) of the 14 categories judge the abstracts on a
scale of 1-10. The mean scores are calculated and the abstracts with the 40%
best scores in each category are taken to the second stage. The second stage
consists of the entire Programme Committee. All members of the Programme
Committee are given the opportunity to judge all abstracts although some judge
only their specific field of expertise (for instance thoracic and congenital
representatives). Judges are not allowed to pass an opinion about work from
their own department.
All the abstract judging is done
anonymously. The reviewers know neither the name of the author, the department,
nor the country of origin.
At the Programme Committee the
scientific programme is arranged primarily on the merits of the two stages of
judging. A thorough search for double submissions is made in order not to
include material that is already known to the scientific world.
e-Manual
Council decided in principle to
go on with the project of the e-manual.
The financial contribution from the EACTS of 200,000 per year during a
two-year period provided that all negotiations with Elsevier are finalised.
UEMS
Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes
Nothing much has happened in this
area since the previous Newsletter. For further details see http://www.uems.be/ and http://www.ests.org/ where a good FAQ is
published.
The European Journal of
Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
NEW: EJCTS
launch full on-line Manuscript Processing System (designed by HighWire Press at
Stanford University)
The European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery is open
again to complete electronic submissions via the www with links available from
the Journal and society homepages:
http://submit-ejcts.ctsnetjournals.org/
Electronic manuscripts must be uploaded via the
submissions web page only and go directly to the journal's on-line database. They
should NOT be sent to the journal's e-mail address. Whilst there is still demand, conventional paper submissions will
still be welcomed via the usual address but all reviews will now be carried out
on-line. Other features available include on-line submission of revised
manuscripts, referee and editor review on-line, address changes and manuscript
status enquiries. The system works with
PDF files (requiring Adobe Acrobat Reader - free software) and links references
directly to the CTSNet database.
To participate in this new system you must first register
'Create a new account' with the e-mail address, which has been used in your
previous correspondence with the journal - and then follow the instructions on
screen. If you wish to change your username/e-mail, please do so only AFTER
registration - otherwise you will create a duplicate record for yourself - not
tied to your existing transactions. If
in doubt, e-mail us and we will check this out before you register. IMPORTANT:
your CTSNet username and password are NOT valid for this secure area.
We look forward to receiving on-line submissions to
EJCTS. Please give your full support to
this initiative, which we firmly believe is in the best long-term interests of
the EACTS and the efficient dissemination of surgical information to the modern
world.
We welcome your comments and suggestions at: info@ejcts.ch
Ludwig von Segesser, MD, Editor-in-Chief
Ian
Beecroft - Managing Editor EJCTS
European
Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery
Editorial
Office
av. Grand-St.-Bernard
69A (app. 25)
CH-1920 Martigny (VS)
Switzerland
Tel: +41
27 7236171
Fax: +41
27 7236173
Interactive Cardiovascular
and Thoracic Surgery
Editor-in-chief
Ludwig K. von Segesser, Lausanne, Switzerland
Associate editors
Friedhelm Beyersdorf, Freiburg, Germany (Coronary)
Ray Chu-Jeng Chiu, Montreal, Canada (Experimental)
Steven Large, Cambridge, United Kingdom (Transplantation)
Carlos Mestres, Barcelona, Spain (Valves)
Yutaka Okita, Kobe, Japan, (Thoracic Vascular)
Anthony P.C. Yim, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong (Thoracic)
Assistant editors
Antonio Corno, Lausanne, Switzerland
Michele Genoni, Zürich, Switzerland
Xavier Mueller, Lausanne,
Switzerland
Ralph Schmid, Berne, Switzerland
Burkhardt Seifert, Zürich, Switzerland (statistical
consultant)
Managing editor
Ian Beecroft, Martigny, Switzerland
Aims and Scope
Interactive
Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery (ICVTS) provides a new platform
for publication of short reports in the field. Basically ICVTS is conceived as
virtual conference relying on both modern media and open discussion. For this
purpose, all accepted reports will be posted immediately online on
http://www.ICVTS.org. An electronic, moderated discussion will be open for 30
days through a corresponding e-mail box. After closure of the discussion
period, the reports pre-published on the web, as well as a selection of the
contributions for the moderated discussion, will be published in the ICVTS
quarterly with traditional paper format.
ICVTS welcomes reports on all
aspects of surgery of the heart, great vessels and the chest, including new
ideas, short communications, work in progress, follow-up studies, research
protocols, registry information, nomenclature, case reports, images, videos,
and last but not least, reports on negative experiences. A complete list of
acceptable types of reports can be found in the Instructions for Authors at
www.ICVTS.org.
Reports should be submitted to:
Ludwig K. von Segesser, MD,
FETCS, FACS
Editor-in-Chief Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic
Surgery
Editorial Office
Ave Grand-St.-Bernard 69A
(app.25).
CH-1920
Martigny (VS)
Switzerland
Tel +41 27 723 61 71
Fax +41 27
723 61 73
e-mail info@ejcts.ch
website http://www.ICVTS.org
Membership to the European
Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery and the European Society of Thoracic
Surgeons includes subscription to Interactive
Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.
Ludwig K. von Segesser, Editor
The introduction of new
technological devices comes in four steps:
1. Engineers from the industry
come up with novel technology. Hence, we have to create a forum for them
to show their new devices. Obviously, there is a lot to come: automated
anastomoses, arrhythmia-probes and a lot of endo-vascular procedures. The
implementation of new technology may be the biggest task of surgeons in the
21st Century. We have to strive for innovation because innovation is likely to be the only true solution for high
quality health care in the future!
2. The second step is to go trough the difficult process of
procedural development i.e. to create new
techniques as to have patients benefit from the new technology. This is
difficult, as we are not allowed to offer additional risk or suboptimal
quality. On the other hand: it offers a huge opportunity: The biggest risk is probably not taking one!
3. Once new techniques have
proven their value, the next step is to teach
these new standard procedures so that other centres and younger surgeons
can introduce the novel interventions in their daily practice with respect for
the gold standard of what has been achieved in the past. Repetition is the mother of skills!
4. New technology might increase
the in-hospital cost. Therefore new technology should contribute to decreasing
the rehabilitation cost and to reintegrate patients as soon as possible in
their daily habits.
This new annual feature of EACTS
will have three chapters, to present innovations, to watch the procedural
development and to teach new procedures. All other aspects in the development,
especially formal evaluations of new inventions and procedures will be covered
in the main programme of the EACTS.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it!
Hugo Vanermen
Chairman New Technology
Committee
Application
for Membership
As an Active or International member of
the EACTS you will be asked to sign application forms, maybe quite frequently
these days as we are coming close to the deadline for receipt of membership
applications which is the 30th of April. Before signing applications, please ensure that the applicant
has ticked the right box for membership category. (Active for European independently operating cardio-thoracic surgeons,
International for non-European independently operating cardio-thoracic
surgeons, and Junior for any surgeon in training). Application forms are available at http://www.ctsnet.org/doc/416.
Junior members who have changed
working position to an independently operating surgeon can have the category changed to Active membership
by filling out the form http://www.eacts.org/file/JuniorActiveMemb.doc and send it to the Executive Secretariat.
Torkel Åberg, MD, FETCS
Secretary General of EACTS
MyCSTNet
CTSNet
has finally become a mature interactive project. The initiative of My CTSNet
updates this website to your private domain. It will ask you what your
interests are, clinical as well as scientific or organisational. Once it has
adapted itself to you and not the inverse, you will start saving time visiting
the different sites. You will even be warned (if that is your request) via
e-mail about news in your domains of interest.
Here is how to get started:
1.
Access your MyCTSNet Home Page by entering the following web
address (URL) into the address window of your browser: http://www.ctsnet.org/personalization/
2. The
first time that you access the site, you will be guided through a series of
instructional web pages.
3. Enter
your CTSNet User ID and Password.
4. Review
the content and links currently selected for your MyCTSNet Home Page.
5. Go
to the My Profile section in the upper left side of the page and click on
Customize Your Profile.
6. Follow
the instructions and complete the forms within each tab.
7. Make
sure to SAVE YOUR WORK at each step.
8. After
you have made all of your selections, click on Save & Close and view your
revised page.
9. Do
you need to access the regular CTSNet Home Page? No worries! Just click on the
CTSNet Home tab in the upper right side of your MyCTSNet Page.
Paul
Sergeant
Information Officer
The Transitions Section of
CTSNet (http://www.ctsnet.org/)
gives continuous information about events in the cardio-thoracic world, e.g.
significant moves or promotions, new society officers or the death of a
colleague. If you have an interesting event to share with your colleagues,
please send your message to Gerald Rainer, Editor of this Section. Your
contribution to this web column would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance
for your participation.
Maud Zingmark
European
Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons Examination dates
The cardiovascular
examinations will be organized in Helsinki, preceding the 2002 ESCVS annual
meeting. The dates are Thursday 27th June 2002 (late afternoon) and Friday 28th
June 2002 (all day).
The thoracic examinations
will be organized in Istanbul, immediately following the 2002 ESTS annual
meeting. The dates are Monday 28th October 2002 (late afternoon) and Tuesday
29th October 2002 (all day).
Candidates for examination
have to send their complete applications to the office of the Board (see
address below) before the 1st of June 2002. For the cardiovascular examinations this year the applications should be sent as soon as possible.
Application forms and
information can be obtained from:
EBTCS office, P.O. Box
2023, 1990 AA Velserbroek, the Netherlands,
tel.: + 31 255- 520 950,
fax: + 31 255- 523 353, e-mail: ebtcs@wxs.nl
Hans Huysmans
Chairman of the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons
N.B! The future of cardio-thoracic
surgery lies in the hands of the young generation. It is our task to encourage
surgeons in training to take the exams to ensure that the quality of our
profession is maintained. The Council
of EACTS strongly advises surgeons to undergo examinations and that respective
heads of departments allow them required leave of absence for this purpose.
|
Important deadlines:
|
2002 April
17-19 Jeju
Islands, Korea ASCVS
May 4-8 Washington DC AATS
September
22-25 Monte Carlo, Monaco EACTS
October
26 - 28 Istanbul, Turkey ESTS
2003 January 31 2 February San Diego, CA STS
February 12-14 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ASCVS
May 37 Boston, MA AATS
October 12-15 Vienna, Austria EACTS
