In September, nearly 7,000 healthcare providers from 84 countries attended CIRSE 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. The conference enabled Cook Medical to connect with physicians around the globe and provide them with multiple opportunities to train on Cook devices and learn about the disease states they treat.
EndoWars hits Europe
One of the more popular activities at CIRSE was EndoWars, a highly competitive simulator challenge that attracted fellows to the booth for three full days. EndoWars tests fellows to see how quickly they can accurately place a Zilver® PTX® stent in the SFA. The competition has been held at conferences in the United States since its debut at VIVA in 2015. This year at CIRSE was the first time EndoWars has been rolled out in Europe. “It was a great success,” said Saumya Premachandra, manager of HCP Education and Development for the Americas. “More than 35 fellows from around the world participated in the challenge.”
An added twist to the usual format was to invite an endovascular expert to set the bar for fellows to beat. Dr. Fabrizio Fanelli, who serves as director of the vascular and interventional radiology department at Careggi University Hospital in Florence, Italy, took the challenge on Saturday, Sept. 22, and fellows spent three days trying to knock him out of the lead. “Although EndoWars is only for trainees, even seasoned physicians were coming in to see if they could beat Dr. Fanelli’s time,” Saumya said.
Training opportunities like EndoWars gives young physicians an opportunity to get valuable stick-to-stent training which has a great impact on their education. “Because we have the full PAD package, we’re the company that has the ability to put it all together,” she said. “Fellows not only have fun, they get to know Cook and our products and then continue that journey based on their educational needs with the appropriate Vista course opportunities.”
Drs. Aeed Alaklabi (left) and Ghazy Bukhary (right), both from Saudi Arabia, finished 2nd and 3rd behind 1st-place finisher Dr. Fabrizio Fanelli in the EndoWars challenge at CIRSE.
Meet the Experts
Another booth activity provided physicians a chance to meet experts, ask questions, share ideas, and network in an informal setting.
The first “Meet the Experts” session featured Dr. Previn Diwakar from The Whiteley Clinic who discussed pelvic vein embolization. “He explained that imaging techniques are valuable tools, but the key is understanding the clinical story in addition to performing a thorough examination to see what pathologies match the patient’s symptoms,” said Albert, product manager for Zilver Vena.
The session garnered a lot of attention. “Afterward a physician from a large venous clinic in Germany said it was the best presentation he’d ever heard on this topic and asked to visit Dr. Diwakar in his hospital,” Albert said.
In the second session, Dr. Gerry O’Sullivan of Galway University Hospitals in Ireland explained his approach to treating chronic venous obstructions. Dr. O’Sullivan’s presentation focused on how he started performing deep venous interventions and the need for radiologists to reach out to physicians from different specialties. “He urged the audience to make sure they are available when their support is needed.”
Following the presentation, two physicians from South Africa and the Netherlands approached Dr. O’Sullivan to get advice on how to treat their patients. “This is exactly what we hoped to achieve with these sessions,” Albert explained.
PAD lunch symposium
During the Monday lunch symposium, several of the world’s leading endovascular experts gathered to discuss treatment plans for peripheral arterial disease in the SFA.
Topics included preliminary one-year results of the XPEDITE trial and the future of drug-eluting stents; feedback on the first six-months of the ZILVERPASS trial, which showed Zilver PTX is “not inferior” to bypass; and how well Zilver PTX pairs with drug-coated balloons.
“Topically related presentations like these allow experts to dive deeper into the data and provide a broader perspective on issues such as treating PAD in the SFA,” said Kian Olsen, director of global clinical programs. “There was excellent interaction between the presenters as well as interesting questions from the audience.”
CIRSE 2018 Technology Snapshot: Vista® – Cook Medical’s physician training program
Søren Hagedorn Frisk, manager of vascular programs in EMEA, talks about the company’s new training programme and varied range of activities at CIRSE 2018! Watch now…