Register Today for STS 2021—Early Bird Prices Expire in 4 Days

Don’t miss out on The Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ first-ever interactive, fully digital annual meeting—STS 2021. Registration is open, with early bird rates available through December 15, 2020.

The Friday–Sunday meeting, January 29-31, is expected to be unlike anything that the specialty has experienced to date. It will offer a state-of-the-art virtual conference platform with an innovative learning environment, reliable functionality, and intuitive navigation.

Educational Sessions
The rich and diverse educational program—which is the foundation of STS 2021—will showcase the latest research, hot topics, and practice-changing science from adult cardiac, general thoracic, congenital, critical care, health policy, ethics, and patient safety.

The meeting includes 70 hours of thought-provoking content that highlights approximately 475 high-scoring abstracts across various oral, video, and e-poster presentations.

With content designed for the entire specialty, as well as targeted sessions by discipline and career level, physicians, residents, and other members of the cardiothoracic surgery team will find topics that resonate with them. Sessions that are expected to draw large audiences include updates and reflections on the EXCEL trial, the impact of COVID-19 on the specialty, the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), ERAS controversies, the heart team approach, and the growing emphasis on and importance of patient-reported outcomes.

In addition, STS 2021 will feature joint sessions with the Society for Vascular Surgery, the American Heart Association, the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons, and the Asian Society for Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.

In order to accommodate busy schedules, as well as a global audience, live sessions will be offered after the fact in an on-demand program library. Importantly, STS 2021 will be available with real-time translation in multiple different languages performed by artificial intelligence-based software.

Top Research
The J. Maxwell Chamberlain Memorial Papers, which represent some of the top-rated abstracts at the meeting, will be presented on Saturday morning during specialty-specific parallel sessions. Topics include transcatheter versus surgical approaches in the management of aortic stenosis and coronary artery disease, the impact of center volume on readmissions and mortality after congenital cardiac surgery, and lung transplant recipients who have a survival benefit after fundoplication.

The Richard E. Clark Memorial Papers highlight research utilizing data from the STS National Database. These papers, also featured on Saturday, include presentations on anticoagulation in new onset postoperative atrial fibrillation, utilization and outcomes of the Nikaidoh, Rastelli, and REV procedures, and national trends and outcomes of segmentectomy.

Another first for STS 2021—the program will include Chamberlain and Clark papers for critical care. The Chamberlain paper will explore failure to rescue as a new STS quality metric for cardiac surgery, and the Clark paper, using data from the Intermacs component of the STS National Database, will analyze failed bridge to transplant.

Must-See Keynote Lectures
Following the Chamberlain and Clark papers on Saturday, Joseph A. Dearani, MD, will deliver his Presidential Address at 1:00 p.m. ET, which he promises will be a “very different experience.”

Other keynotes include the innovation-focused C. Walton Lillehei Lecture, by Paul Yock, MD, from Stanford University in California (Friday); the Vivien T. Thomas Lecture on diversity and inclusion, by Quinn Capers, MD, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas (Friday); and the Thomas B. Ferguson Lecture (Sunday), which will be an international roundtable discussion. The panelists are Enrico Ruffini, MD, from the University of Torino in Italy and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons; Craig R. Smith Jr., MD, from Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City; and STS International Director Alan D.L. Sihoe, MD, MA, FRCSEd, from Gleneagles Hospital in Hong Kong. The worldwide panel will discuss the present and future impacts of COVID-19 on medicine and cardiothoracic surgery.

New! Immersive Video Experiences
Also a first for the STS Annual Meeting will be “Immersive Video Experiences.”

The exciting new course series, scheduled for Friday morning of STS 2021, will open with visits to the operating rooms of five different surgeon luminaries. These “In the OR” sessions will offer an interactive and visceral way to experience a robotic lobectomy, a congenital heart surgery, a valve-sparing aortic root procedure (reimplantation), a video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy, a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and a transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve replacement.

Alongside world-class surgeons—Robert J. Cerfolio, MD, MBA, from NYU Langone Health in New York City; Joseph A. Dearani, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; Joseph E. Bavaria, MD, from Penn Medicine in Philadelphia; Shanda H. Blackmon, MD, MPH, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; and Vinod H. Thourani, MD, from Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta, Georgia—attendees will experience 360° views of these procedures from start to finish and be able to take in the entire operating room environment in a way that they’ve never been able to do before—at least from behind a computer screen.

Also part of the series are sessions in which expert surgeons will take attendees on deep dives into 11 different procedures, using a combination of video segments and group discussions.

This optional programming is considered a special ticketed event that requires a separate fee.

Ask the Experts
Another interactive experience with master surgeons will be the “Ask the Experts" chats on Sunday morning, which will allow for direct peer-to-peer conversations in a non-presentation style.

These sessions—more than 20 of them—will feature a diverse group of leaders in cardiothoracic surgery discussing various topics on wellness, physician reimbursement, health care disparities, lung cancer screening, and much more.

Social Events
On Friday and throughout the weekend, several fun social events will be available, including an STS-customized comedy sketch from Second City, a Mindfulness Lounge, a hands-on cooking demonstration, a family-friendly trivia competition, and two group Peloton rides—all complimentary.

If you haven’t registered yet, there is still time to secure your spot; and the first 1,000 registrants will receive an STS-branded fitness cooling towel. More information is available at sts.org/annualmeeting.