FIRST
BRANISLAV RADOVANČEVIĆ INTERNATIONAL HEART FAILURE FORUM
INNOVATIONS AND NEW TREATMENT STRATEGIES IN HEART FAILURE
SEPTEMBER 26TH-27TH, 2008, PORTOROŽ, SLOVENIAORGANIZED BY:

and

Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital
Houston, Texas, USA

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
President: | Bojan Vrtovec, MD, PhD |
Members: | Matjaž Bunc, MD, PhD Igor D. Gregorič, MD, PhD Mirta Koželj, MD, PhD Renata Okrajšek, MD, PhD Gregor Poglajen, MD Miran Šebeštjen, MD, PhD |
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:
President: | Igor D. Gregorič, MD | ||||
Members: | Reynolds M. Delgado, MD O.H. Frazier, MD Sharon A. Hunt, MD Mirta Koželj, MD, PhD Guillermo Torre-Amione, MD, PhD Bojan Vrtovec, MD, PhD |
FACULTY:
Emma J. Birks, MRCP, PhD
Royal Brompton and Harefield National Health Service Trust, Harefield, Middlesex, United Kingdom
Matjaž Bunc, MD, PhD
Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation Program, Department of Cardiology, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Reynolds M. Delgado, MD
Medical Director, Mechanical Support Devices in Heart Failure, Texas Heart Institute at St.Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Bas A. de Mol, MD
Department of Cardio-thoracic Surgery, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
O.H. Frazier, MD
Chief, Center for Cardiac Support, Texas Heart Institute at St.Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Tone Gabrijelčič, MD, PhD
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Borut Geršak, MD, PhD
Director, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Rajko Gračner, MD
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Siniša Gradinac, MD, PhD
Chief, Heart Failure Department, Dedinje Cardiovascular Institute, Belgrade University School of Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia
Igor Gregoric, MD
Director, Center for Cardiac Support, Associate Director, Cardiovascular Surgery and Transplant Research, Texas Heart Institute at St.Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Sharon A. Hunt, MD
Medical Director, Heart Transplantation, Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Biswajit Kar, MD
Director, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Division of HF, Assist Device & Transplantation, Baylor Clinic, Houston, Texas
Janez Kirbiš, MD
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Mirta Koželj, MD, PhD
Director, Department of Cardiology, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ivan Kneževič, MD
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Pranav Loyolka, MD
Advanced Heart Failure/Cardiac Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute at St.Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Marianne Mallia, ELS
Manager and Senior Medical Writer, Scientific Publications, Texas Heart Institute at St.Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Tim Myers,
Consultant, Cardiac Support Technology, Medical & Scientific Consulting Services, LLC, Houston, Texas
Srdjan D. Nikolic, PhD
Chief Technical Officer, Cardiokinetix, Inc., Menlo Park, California
Renata Okrajšek, MD, PhD
Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation Program, Department of Angiology, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Peter Przybylowski, MD
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and Transplantology, Collegium Medicum of Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Rajko Radovancević, MD
Center for Cardiac Support, Texas Heart Institute at St.Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Ana Maria Segura, MD
Cardiovascular Pathology, Texas Heart Institute at St.Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Miran Šebeštjen, MD, PhD
Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation Program, Department of Angiology, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Guillermo Torre-Amione, MD, PhD
Medical Director, Heart Transplantation, Methodist DeBakey Heart Center, Houston, Texas
Egemen Tuzun, MD
Assistant Director, Cardiovascular Surgery Research Lab, Texas Heart Institute at St.Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Bojan Vrtovec, MD, PhD
Medical Director, Heart Transplantation, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation Program, Department of Cardiology, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Andrä Wasler, MD
Director, Heart Transplantation Program, Dep. of Transplantation, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
George M. Wieselthaler, MD
Medical Director, Mechanical Circulatory Support, Department for Cardiothoracic Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Mr. Stephen Westaby, BSc, MBBS, FRCS, MS
Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England
Igor Zupan, MD, PhD
Department of Cardiology, Ljubljana University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH
12.00 Opening Ceremony
12.30 Branislav Radovančević Memorial Lecture
O.H. Frazier, MD
13.00 Heart Failure: from Bench to Bedside
Chair: R. Delgado, MD, M. Koželj, MD, PhD
13.00 Scientific publishing in heart failure
M. Mallia, ELS
13.15 Experimental models of advanced chronic heart failure
E. Tuzun, MD
13.30 Outpatient management strategies in advanced heart failure
M. Šebeštjen, MD, PhD
13.45 Management of heart failure in a specialized tertiary-care center
M. Koželj, MD, PhD
14.00 Discussion
14.15 Coffee Break
15.00 Heart Transplantation, Stem Cell Therapy and Immune Modulation
Chair: S. Hunt, MD, M. Šebeštjen MD, PhD
15.00 Surgical aspects of heart transplantation
T. Gabrijelčič, MD, PhD
15.15 New therapeutic strategies in post-transplant patient management
S. Hunt, MD
15.30 Stem cell transplantation
B. Vrtovec, MD, PhD
15.45 Modulation of inflammatory and immune response in advanced heart failure
G. Torre-Amione, MD, PhD
16.00 Discussion
16.15 Coffee Break
17.00 Novel Therapeutic Targets in Chronic Heart Failure
Chair: G. Torre-Amione, MD, PhD, R. Okrajšek, MD, PhD
17.00 Natriuretic peptides in advanced heart failure
R. Delgado, MD
17.15 Anemia and the role of erythropoietin
R. Radovančević, MD
17.30 Expanding the use of VAD therapy
T. Myers
17.45 Drug therapy and ventricular unloading for the reversal of heart failure
E. Birks, MD
18.00 Discussion
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH
9.00 Percutaneous Interventions in Advanced Heart Failure
Chair: I. Gregorič, MD, M. Bunc, MD, PhD
9.00 Cardiac resynchronization therapy
I. Zupan, MD, PhD
9.15 Percutaneous valve repair in advanced heart failure
M. Bunc, MD, PhD
9.30 Percutaneous coronary intervention in acute heart failure
B. Kar, MD
9.45 Ventricular remodeling in advanced heart failure
S. Nikolić, PhD
10.00 Percutaneous ventricular support for acute heart failure
P. Loyolka, MD
10.15 Discussion
10.30 Coffee Break
11.00 Surgical Approaches in Advanced Heart Failure
Chair: B. de Mol, MD, B. Geršak, MD, PhD
11.00 The role of coronary surgery in patients with advanced chronic heart failure
R. Kirbis, MD
11.15 Mitral valve reconstruction in patients with heart failure and severe secondary mitral regurgitation
P. Przybylowski, MD
11.30 Left ventricular volume reduction surgery
S. Gradinac, MD, PhD
11.45 The effects of selective vagal stimulation in advanced heart failure
I. Kneževič, MD
12.00 Discussion
12.15 Lunch Break
14.00 Mechanical Circulatory Support I
Chair: I. Gregorič, MD, I. Kneževič, MD
14.00 Histopathological correlates of myocardial improvement during left ventricular assist device support
A. Segura, MD
14.15 Haemodynamic effects of mechanical circulatory support
B. deMol, MD
14.30 Biventricular support with centrifugal assist devices
R. Gračner, MD
14.45 Short-term LVAD support for acute heart failure
I. Gregoric, MD
15.00 Discussion
15.15 Coffee Break
16.00 Mechanical Circulatory Support II
Chair: O.H. Frazier, MD, Mr S. Westaby, MD
16.00 Towards successful development of chronic implantable LVAD: THI – Oxford collaboration”
Mr S. Westaby, MD
16.15 Axial flow devices and novel trends in mechanical circulatory support
OH Frazier, MD
16.30 Complications during circulatory support with axial flow devices
A. Wasler, MD
16.45 Anticoagulation for mechanical circulatory support 2008: Is it still a topic?
G. Wieselthaler, MD
17.00 Closing Ceremony and Meeting Adjournment
MEETING VENUE:
St. Bernardin Adriatic Resort & Convention Center
Portorož, Slovenia

ACCOMODATION
http://www.h-bernardin.si/en/
http://www.lifeclass.net/en/
http://www.hoteli-piran.si/en/
REGISTRATION:
The participation in the meeting requires no registration fee; however, all participants are required to confirm their attendance at least 1 month in advance by fax, e-mail or through registration on our web page.
All participants will receive 9 CME credits.
Information and Contact:
Irena Orel
Department of Cardiology
Phone: +3861 522 2844
Fax: +3861 522 2828
E-mail: irena.orel@kclj.si
www.slo-heart.org
General Sponsor : Cardiomedical
