NEWSLETTER
February 2001

European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
The Cottage, 16 High Street
Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 1LD, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1753 832 166
Fax: +44 (0)1753 620 407
E-mail: info@eacts.co.uk
Web: http://www.eacts.org

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear members and friends

The Preliminary programme for our next 15^th Annual Meeting, which will be an EACTS / ESTS Joint Meeting in Lisbon, 16-19 September 2001, has already been sent out. The deadline for submission of abstracts will be 1st April 2001. I hope we will reach the outstanding figures of well over 1000 abstracts submitted in each of the last two Annual Meetings, again ensuring, a high level of the scientific programme. The Postgraduate Education Committee in conjunction with the Local Organising Committee has arranged, on Sunday 16^th September, four full-day Postgraduate Courses in Adult and Congenital Heart Surgery, Thoracic Surgery and in Perfusion. Please note that this year, besides the Francis Fontan Prize, the EACTS Young Investigator’s Award, the C. Walton Lillehei Investigator’s Award and the Young Surgeon’s Congenital Heart Disease Award, we have a new Award created in honour of Professor H.G. Borst and also the Bromptom Prize, offered for the best Thoracic presentation by an ESTS member at the Presidential session.

It is worth remembering that the meeting fees are free for the members who register before 1st July 2001 and have previously paid their annual membership fee. So please do not forget to register on time to avoid inconvenience. I am encouraging and inviting you all to attend our Annual Meeting which is one of the most important activities of our Association and especially this year being an EACTS / EST Joint Meeting.

As far as applications for membership of the EACTS is concerned, completed applications must be received by the Executive Secretarial no later than 30^th April 2001, to be able to forward them to the Membership Committee for consideration and then to this year’s Annual Meeting General Assembly for approval. The application form can be printed from the homepage

The three existing Societies for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Europe, the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS), The European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) and the European Society for Cardio-Vascular Surgery (ESCVS), have decided to apply together for an independent Speciality Section of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in the European Union of Medical Specialists. The Section will have two Divisions: a Division of Thoracic Surgery and a Division of Cardiovascular Surgery. In the application process the thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons will be represented by the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons. After founding the new Section, the existing Board will be transformed into a European Board in accordance with the rules of UEMS (Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes). I would like to thank Hans A. Huysmans, chairman of the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons, for all his work and dedication in this respect and hope and wish that all his efforts will soon be a great success and a very important achievement.

I would like to finish with good news about the financial situation of our Association, especially after the very positive results of the Frankfurt Meeting. Definitive results and figures will be presented in the next Newsletter, but meanwhile I would like to congratulate once again Siegfried Hagl and our Executive Secretaries. Also I would like to confirm the good move made by us concerning the new management of the Association with a clear control of our accounting and administration. The future structure and finances of the EACTS will be one of the important subjects in the working groups during the Symposium for the Future, organised in Umea 7-8 June 2001, which will be followed by the Third Management Course.

Marcos Murtra, MD, PhD, FETCS

From the Nominating Committee

Call for candidate councillors – officers.

This year not only a Vice President, the Secretary General but also as many as 4 councilors are to be nominated for election by the General Assembly in Lisbon. Furthermore, the newly instigated post of It Officer is temporarily filled (Paul Sergeant) and is subject to approval at the next meeting of the Association (Article VI, section 12).
According to the Constitution the Nominating Committee “shall prepare a list of nominees for Officers and Councilors upon instruction from the Council as to the vacancies which are to be filled by election and shall present its report at the Annual Meeting (Article VI, section 4). This is a task of great responsibility which can be done accurately only through the input of the membership. I therefore urge each of you to help the Nominating Committee in the search for dynamic candidates, willing to work for the benefit and advancement of EACTS, cardio-thoracic surgery and our patients. By the constitution, nominations may also be made from the floor. You may talk with or write to any of the members of the Nominating committee listed below. They will be happy to hear your views.

Yours sincerely

Prof. Dr. T. Lerut
Chairman Nominating Committee

Contact details of Nominating Committee:

Professor Toni Lerut
Heelkunde Thoraxheelkunde
UZ Gasthuisberg
Herestrat 49
3000 Leuven, Belgium
Tel 32 16 34 68 19
Fax 32 16 34 68 21
E-mail Toni.Lerut@uz.kuleuven.ac.be

Prof Ernst Wolner
AK der Stadt Wien
Univ Klinik Chirurgie, Herz- und Thoraxchirurgie
Währinger Gürtel 18-20
A-1090 Vienna, Austria
Tel 43 1 40 400 6966
Fax 43 1 40 400 6968
E-mail ernst.wolner@akh-wien.ac.at

Eugene Baudet, MD
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery
Hopital de Haut-Leveque
5 Avenue de Magellen
33604 Bordeaux-Pessac, France
Tel. +33 556 36 70 49
Fax +33 5 56 07 22 78
E-mail: baudet@francemultimedia.fr

Prof. David Wheatley
Cardiac Surgery
Royal Infirmary
10 Alexandra Parade
Glasgow G31 2ER
United Kingdom
Tel 44 141 211 4730
Fax 44 141 552 0987
E-mail d.j.wheatley@clinmed.gla.ac.uk

Prof. Joachim Hasse
Dept of Thoracic Srugery
University Hospital
Hugstetter Strasse 55
79106 Freiburg
Germany
Tel 49 761 270 2455
Fax 49 761 270 2499
E-mail hasse@ch11.ukl.uni-freiburg.de

Report of the Secretary General

Education and Manpower Committee

A new committee has been created to look closer to the manpower situation in Europe and to liaise with the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons in educational questions. José Revuelta is the Chairman of the following crew: Rolf Ekroth, Pieter Kappetein, Brigitte Osswald, José Pomar. Deirdre Watson, chairman of the Junior Committee, is ex officio member of the Education and Manpower Committee.

“CAREER” WITHIN THE EACTS’

Any medical association lives on voluntary work from its members. An association thus has to ensure its workforce. At the same time it is increasingly necessary for any association to clearly outline to the members the mechanisms by which they can engage themselves.

Council has discussed the way the EACTS could ascertain that in the future there is always a group of members who are both knowledgeable in our working modes and willing to devote time and work to the Association. Council also wanted to promote work within the Association by making it clear how members could present themselves as well as colleagues for various posts and tasks.

After discussion and preparation within the council especially by a small committee consisting of Deirdre Watson and Jose’ Pomar, the following rules were erected:

A normal career within the EACTS should start with work in one of the committees. There are several committees established already in the constitution whereas others have gradually evolved as the Council estimated the need. The possibility to become a committee member is open to all members. Member may be asked to work within a committee by the Council, be proposed by a colleague or suggest him/herself in writing to the Council. This can be done at all times in writing to the General Secretary or the Committee chairman in question. This possibility is to be published regularly. The formal appointment as committee member is made by the Council. The normal term is three years.

Chairmen of Committees are appointed by the Council, most often among members who have already shown themselves willing and able to work for the Association by work in the committees. The term for a chairman is three years with a possibility of one re-election. The chairman usually accepts a given task and reports to the Council in person and to the membership via the Newsletter once a year.

Councillors are nominated by the Nominating Committee, consisting of the five past Presidents. A call for future Councillors is made via the Newsletter at least once a year, well in advance of the meeting of the Nominating Committee. Councillors have a three year term and cannot be re-elected to the same post but may be elected as officers. Any member can propose a colleague or him/herself in writing to any of the members of the Nominating Committee or to the Secretariates. The Nominating Committee nominates the appropriate number of Councillors for that year, whereupon an election process takes place in the General Assembly. Nominations can also be done from the floor. Councillors as a rule also sit in one committee as a kind of liaison officers and may be asked to prepare some document or promote the Association in some respect.

Officers are also nominated by the Nominating Committee, following essentially the same rules as for Councillors, please see Constitution. The Officers have specific tasks. Four of the officers have longitudinal tasks (Secretary General, Treasurer, /three year terms/ Editor and ItOfficer /five year terms/), whereas the “chain” of Presidency starts with one year as vice President, one year as President and one year as Past President/Councillor/member of Nominating Committee, followed by four additional years in the Nominating Committee.

EJCTS Non-submission or Withdrawal of Manuscripts
In view of the upcoming submission of abstracts I would like to remind you that the Editors of the three major journals, including the EJCTS, keep strictly to the following rule which has been decided by the Council: Penalty for non-submission or withdrawal of manuscripts will prevent all authors to have any abstract accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting. The main author will be banned for 3 years and his co-authors for one year.

Education in Cardio-Thoracic Surgery

I read with great interest the information given in the last issue of the Newsletter concerning the steps taken to educate junior cardiac surgeons within the various European centres. For many years now, I have made efforts to introduce surgeons in training to the mysteries of the morphology of the congenitally malformed heart. It is common knowledge that those who operate in these hearts, particularly in infants and children, require a thorough knowledge of the anatomic arrangements they are liable to encounter. It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain this information. So as to provide training, the newly formed European Society of Cardiovascular Pathology has cooperated with the EACTS so as to provide exhibitions held during the Annual meeting. It has been my privilege to collaborate with Gaetano Thiene in providing such exhibitions and demonstrations at the last two meetings.

I would like to draw the attention to all surgeons in training also to other courses organised specifically to provide an introduction to the congenitally malformed heart. Each year, Yen Ho, working at the Royal Brompton Hospital, provides a course (see below) which includes "hands-on" experience. To complement this course, I now organise an annual Advanced Course (see below), which is held at the Institute of Child Health, associated with Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Those attending the advanced course should have a basic knowledge of the structure of the congenitally malformed heart. Using video demonstrations, I will introduce all the intricacies of the so-called "complex malformations", showing that, if approached in straight-forward fashion, there is nothing difficult about these lesions. Ample time is provided for discussion. It is also our intention to provide revision courses in the surgical approach to the congenitally malformed heart, working in this respect with all my surgical colleagues from Great Ormond Street Hospital. Our first course is scheduled to take place on April 5 and 6, and details are given elsewhere in the Newsletter. Arrangements can also be made to take interested surgeons on an individual basis for "hands-on" experience, but that needs to be done directly with me.

Revision Course in Paediatric Cardiac Surgery
Thursday 5 - Friday 6 April 2001
Course Director: Dr Victor Tsang

This course is specifically designed to cover the curriculum laid down by the Royal College of Surgeons to encompass the knowledge required for the final fellowship examination in cardiothoracic surgery. All aspects of the subject will be fully covered, with the morphological parts demonstrated using pertinent specimens displayed using closed-circuit television. Although intended primarily for those training within the United Kingdom, the course will be of equal value for those being trained in Europe or elsewhere.

Intended for: Trainees preparing for the final stage of the cardiothoracic FRCS examination.
Venue: Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH.
Fees: £350

Advanced Course in Cardiac Morphology
Wednesday 28 - Thursday 29 June 2001
Course Director: Professor Robert Anderson

The purpose of this course is to start from first principles, and go on to introduce so-called ‘complex congenital heart disease’, showing how, if using sensible rules and definitions, there is nothing truly complicated about these malformations. At the end of the course, which will be conducted using video demonstrations of the malformed heart, participants should be in a position to understand and diagnose even the most complex combination of lesions.

Intended for: Paediatric cardiologist, paediatric cardiac surgeons in training and technicians.
Venue: Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH
Fees: £250/£150 (technicians)

For further details, please contact the Courses and Conferences Office, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH. Tel: +44 (0)20 7829 8692/7813 8394 Fax: +44 (0)20 7831 6902,
Email: Courses@ich.ucl.ac.uk

Robert H. Anderson
Cardiac Unit
Institute of Child Health
30 Guilford Street
London WC1N 1EH
E-mail: r.anderson@ich.ucl.ac.uk

SPECIAL EVENT
8-10 June 2001, Umeå, Sweden:
EACTS Third Management Course “Current Issues in Cardio-Thoracic Surgery”

Forthcoming Meetings of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and The European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS)

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