The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) has partnered with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) to co-locate its 33rd annual meeting with the ACC.08 57th Annual Scientific Session to form the new SCAI-ACCi2 meeting.
The SCAI plans to provide as always the same practical, take-home messages for the dedicated interventional cardiologist even in this larger setting. President of The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Bonnie H. Weiner, M.D., MSEC, MBA, FSCAI, explained exactly how in an interview with Diagnostic & Invasive Cardiology (DAIC).
DAIC: This year you have combined SCAI’s Annual Scientific Sessions with the ACC’s Innovation in Intervention: i2 Summit. Why and how did you go about combining these two programs?
Dr. Weiner: The best way for us to deliver a single spring meeting in Interventional Cardiology in 2008 was to co-locate our meeting with the ACC.
This allows us to take advantage of some of the things [ACC] already had planned as well as some of the things we already had planned at the time we decided to embark on the project. ACC had already planned the live cases, for example, and it made sense to utilize some, if not all, of what had already been discussed in that context.
Our goal is, and the tradition of our meeting is, to provide practical, take-home messages for the dedicated interventional cardiologist, and we wanted to maintain that message and that opportunity for the attendees within this larger context. What we brought to the meeting with SCAI includes our traditional Hildner and Founders’ Lectures. In addition, we have added a new a congenital heart disease lecture and an international lecture. All of these are part of the tradition and value of meeting, as is the hemodynamic symposium and the Judkins Imaging Symposium. The attendees can also take advantage of what i2 Summit has traditionally done, such as live cases.
This is our annual meeting in March, and it represents our identity as an organization and, yes, it’s also in partnership with ACC this year.
DAIC: What are some of the most important trends developing in interventional cardiology?
Dr. Weiner: We continue to refine the technologies and learned more about drug-eluting stents and are looking forward to the products that will reach the market in the U.S. this year.
We are also looking at the importance of ischemia, rather than just anatomy in the context of revascularization. A lot of the clinical trials done up to this point really have not addressed that issue, and we are looking at analyses that will refine that kind of indication for intervention, which is really at the crux of what we do to take care of patients. There is also new and interesting information on new percutaneous valve therapy, and new hybrid approaches to treating other structural heart disease, particularly congenital heart disease.
DAIC: What are some the sessions you would like to highlight for interventional cardiologists and in particular SCAI members?
Dr. Weiner: Again, the Judkins Imaging Symposium and the Hemodynamic Symposium. We will have late-breaking clinical trials, which will be extraordinarily interesting. There are additional analyses from studies that have previously been reported about drug-eluting stents and treatment of myocardial infarction and new drugs for adjunctive use in those areas.
There is a session on the business of medicine – in the sense of the regulatory environment and aligning hospitals and physicians to optimize patient care. There are peripheral vascular disease sessions that will showcase new information in the treatment of these complex patients.
There is also expanded use of simulation as a learning and teaching tool – such as the 360-degree theatre for demonstration activities and hands-on activity. Also, there is new technology looking at therapy for carotid disease and stroke for intracranial disease.
All of these things add to our knowledge and the evidence we use to decide what the best therapy for an individual patient is.
DAIC: How will you recreate the intimate setting of the SCAI Annual Scientific Session in the SCAI-ACCi2 meeting?
Dr. Weiner: We are doing that as much as possible. Remember, we are now in an environment of 30,000 people, and a much bigger exhibit hall, but we are going to try to do that. We have receptions scheduled in the exhibit hall, and in the interventional pavilion, the Presidents’ reception. We are still having the SCAI Annual Banquet and are trying to encourage people to network and interact not only with the speakers but also with their colleagues. Many of the most interesting events at our meetings happen in the hallways.
For those who previously attended the SCAI Annual Scientific Sessions, this is going to be a great meeting and, within this context, is going to be as much as that same experience as we can. For those who have never attend an SCAI meeting, it’s an opportunity to get to know us better.
April 17, 2024 
