STS 2022’s Virtual Experience Begins This Weekend

STS 2022’s Virtual Experience Begins This Weekend

The STS 58th Annual Meeting will take place Saturday, January 29 and Sunday, January 30, with a transformed all-virtual format that will open new avenues for attendees to experience groundbreaking science, thought-provoking lectures, and technological advancements from anywhere in the world.

Scientific Program Features the Finest in All Disciplines

General thoracic offerings at STS 2022 include results from the National Lung Screening Trial and the NADIM-II trial on recurrence patterns and neoadjuvant chemotherapy following complete resection of stage I-II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A statewide collaborative shines a light on racial differences in lung cancer care, and a joint session between STS and the European Society for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery will explore immunotherapy for NSCLC.

Congenital surgery abstracts will cover topics including the dose-effect of mesenchymal stromal cell delivery through cardiopulmonary bypass and pulmonary graft changes after Ross operation. “It’s Not in the Books … So How Do They Do It?” session will demonstrate various congenital surgical techniques. A career development session will feature these gems for congenital surgeons: “I Finally Made It … How Do I Start Making It?” and “Opportunities vs. Equity: Should I Stay or Should I Go?”.

In the adult cardiac arena, attendees will see results from the PROACT trial of anticoagulation regimen after on-circuit mechanical mitral valve replacement, EXCEL trial results for on- versus off-pump bypass for left main disease, a randomized trial exploring ticagrelor in patients with clopidogrel resistance, and machine learning algorithms to classify CABG outcomes. “Making An Irregular Heart Rhythm Normal Again” will explore techniques such as hybrid minimally invasive surgery for atrial fibrillation and concomitant maze. In “The World of Wires,” presenters will examine techniques and outcomes for different procedures.

Cardiopulmonary failure sessions will forecast the future of transplantation with sessions including “Same Toys, New Indications” and “Lung Transplant: Focus on COVID.” Bartley P. Griffith, MD, will share his experience with genetically modified xenotransplantation, and “ERAS: The New Normal” will offer insights on evidence-based guidelines for opioid use, preventing surgical wound infections, and erector spinae plane blocks’ success in reducing the incidence of atrial fibrillation during surgery.

Must-See Lectures Celebrate Surgeon Humanity

Henri R. Ford, MD, MHA, will lend a global perspective to the Vivien T. Thomas Lecture on Saturday. Dr. Ford, a Haitian-American pediatric surgeon who serves as dean of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida, has returned to Haiti multiple times to offer his services at underfunded hospitals and provide emergency surgeries to children at field facilities following the January 2010 earthquake.

The Thomas B. Ferguson Lecture will be presented by Amy C. Edmonson, PhD, from the Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Edmonson, author of The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, will share insights from her groundbreaking work on psychological safety in the workplace and its relevance to cardiothoracic surgery.

Cameron D. Wright, MD, Army Medical Corps, USAR, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, will present “Army War Surgery: A Surgeon’s Journey and Lessons Learned” as this year’s C. Walton Lillehei Lecture.

On Sunday, STS President Sean C. Grondin, MD, MPH, FRCSC, will address the STS 2022 assembly with his reflections on the past year and his vision for the future.

There’s still time to register for STS 2022. More information and a link to the complete program are now available at sts.org/annualmeeting.