Stent – Save a Life! Annual Forum 2020, first virtual edition in the midst of the Covid-19 global pandemic

As a result of the EuroPCR 2020 cancellation due to the Covid-19 global pandemic, the Stent – Save a Life! global initiative hosted its annual event a few weeks later than usual, on July 3rd, albeit in a virtual and shorter format.

Stent - Save a Life! Virtual Forum 2020

Traditionally a full-day in-person meeting on the day prior to EuroPCR, the Stent – Save a Life! Annual Forum 2020 gathered approximately 30 member country representatives, from all the continents, who joined the 2-hour virtual event via the Zoom audio and videoconferencing platform.

Christoph Naber and Jan Piek, respectively Stent – Save a Life! Chairman and co-Chairman, introduced the meeting reminding the mission of the global initiative and the importance of a worldwide collaboration to help improve the access to the lifesaving indication of percutaneous coronary intervention for STEMI patients.
The current sanitary conditions resulting from the Covid-19 outbreak led them both to focus on the significant reduction of cardiac patient admissions observed in most countries affected by the crisis as well as the ensuing SSL international survey aiming at assessing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the activity of interventional cardiology in the SSL member countries.
A couple of achievements were also highlighted. Individually, Dr Belardi, from Argentina, received the 1st Stent – Save a Life! Gold Medal in recognition of his great engagement with SSL in the Latin America region; collectively, the SSL Blueprint manuscript was announced to be waiting for publication approval following revision.

The core of the SSL Annual Forum programme showcased 5 speakers, each from a continent where the Stent – Save a Life! initiative is active.
The first part was dedicated to the challenge of setting-up efficient STEMI networks, which has been a SSL development focus for the last 12-18 months. Alfonsina Candiello (Argentina – LATAM) updated the audience on the status of the SSL Blueprint project and explained how the programme should be implemented by the member countries willing to set-up efficient STEMI networks whereas Thomas Alexander (India – Asia) illustrated how digital tools developed by STEMI India effectively support the development of such networks in his country.
Focusing on the current challenging sanitary conditions faced by most countries around the globe, the second half of the programme gave the stage to Azeem Latib (NYC – North America) who shared his cardiologist experience in dealing with STEMI patient care in a Covid hot spot whilst Helder Pereira (Portugal – Europe) unveiled the progress and preliminary results of the SSL international survey evaluating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the interventional cardiology activity in the participating member countries. The last presentation, given by Mohamed Sobhy (Egypt – Africa), illustrated how the launch of national registries in his country, for the last 10 years, allowed to thoroughly assess the situation and subsequently develop the adequate strategies to provide the best treatment and outcome to STEMI patients.

To close the 2 hours of informative presentations and fruitful discussions, Jan Piek and Christoph Naber invited the member country representatives to join them next year for a 2021 conventional edition of the event, hopefully in Paris.

To watch the video recording of the Stent – Save a Life! Annual Forum 2020, please click here.

 

 

Stent - Save a Life!

The Stent – Save a Life! global initiative aims to improve the delivery of care and patient access to the life saving indications of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (p-PCI), thereby reducing mortality and morbidity in patients suffering from acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

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