AMS congress report: Heart Failure and Europace 2005

The 2005 year has abounded in many crucial cardiologic and cardiosurgical congresses and conferences, beginning in Lisbon (Heart Failure), through Prague (Europace), Stockholm (ESC), ending in Barcelona (EACTS). Many important trails have been finished and have been presented during these Conferences, as an example: CIBIS III, PREAMI, SIRIUS II, CLARITY and TNT. Here you can find a short communication related to two of mentioned above conferences. Heart Failure 2005 The annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association (HFA of the ESC) Heart Failure 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal, June 11-14 2005, was exceptionally successful. At the Opening Ceremony, the HFA of the ESC celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Heart Failure within the European Society of Cardiology. Much over 4000 participants took part in this event, 1195 abstracts were submitted for the review process, out of which 554 have been accepted. It was a very successful meeting which took place in a great scenery. Lisbon is a beautiful town with a special atmosphere and with great moist climate from Tag River and the Atlantic Ocean. During the conference the weather – sunny with the temperature till 24 degrees, was suitable to the important debates which took place in modern Lisbon Congress Centre on the Praça das Ind?strias. There were many very interesting oral presentations, moderated posters and posters. In our opinion two workshops were uniquely interesting. The first – Clinical research methodology in heart failure (Chairmen: Prof. Mcmurray from Glasgow and Prof. Abreu E Lima from Porto) was dedicated to two essential subjects – the suitable preparing of a manuscript to be published in the best medical journal (with high impact factor) and the preparing and managing of a clinical trial. The former theme was brilliantly presented by Prof. Dickstein and the latter by Prof. Mcmurray. I hope Prof. Dickstein agrees to present his presentation in one of the following issues of Archives of Medical Science. It will be a great occasion for our readers – young scientists to get to know the secrets of the publishing art. During another workshop – I think the most interesting one – Statins in heart failure – Cholesterol-lowering is not the only goal (Chairmen: Prof. Kjekshus from Oslo and Prof. Charron from Paris) the mechanisms, influence and the role of statins in patients with heart failure was described. Dr. Ulf Landmesser (Hanover, Germany) discussed how low cholesterol levels are associated with poor outcomes in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). He proved that statins have an essential role in the management of CHF, which is connected with their pleiotropic effects and are independent of the drugs’ cholesterol-lowering effects. His team examined the beneficial effects of statins in animal models of post-myocardial infarction HF. They have also evaluated the influence of simvastatin on endothelial function in a group of patients with CHF. In the study patients with CHF were randomized to 4 weeks of treatment with either simvastatin (10 mg, once daily) or ezetimibe (10 mg, once daily). They observed that both simvastatin and ezetimibe reduced low-density lipid cholesterol by approximately 15%; however, the flow dependent dilation (FDD) was markedly improved after simvastatin compared to baseline, whereas there was no significant change after ezetimibe administration. They also obtained that simvastatin significantly increased the activity of extracellular superoxide dismutase, an important antioxidant, and increased the number of functionally active endothelial progenitor cells, while ezetimibe had no effect in either of these areas. Dr. Stephen Anker (London, UK) presented the lecture entitled The purpose of statin therapy in CHF. He agreed with his predecessor that statin therapy has a different function in the management of CHF. He emphasized that the aim of treatment is not to lower cholesterol. As the last lecturer appeared Prof. Kjekshus from Oslo. He added that, despite the established understanding that low cholesterol is associated with a poor prognosis in CHF, such patients benefit from statin therapy. Statins target 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl CoA (HMGCoA) reductase, therefore they may also inhibit multiple metabolic effects of this enzyme. He noted that some of this drug class’s benefits could be the reduction of cholesterol plaques and inhibition of the pro-inflammatory effects produced by HMGCoA reductase. Next he presented several trials which showed the role of statins in patients in CHF. He mentioned the beneficial role of statins in inhibiting of co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which further promotes the production of high density-lipid (HDL) cholesterol. At the end of his presentation he showed the outcomes of his own research, where in over 4400 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) with no history of CHF simvastatin was administered. He observed that patients who received statin were less likely to develop CHF. All participants of the workshop emphasized that there is still much work to show the real role of statins in heart failure, however one is unquestionable – the role of statins in CHF patients is significantly beneficial. During Heart Failure 2005 Dr. Banach and Dr. Okoński presented two manuscripts. In the first one, which was presented during the session Mechanical intervention for the treatment of heart failure (Chairmen: Dr. Pacher from Hagenbrunn, Austria and Dr. De Sousa from Lisbon), our aim was to evaluate the early and long-term changes of: ejection fraction (EF), endsystolic and enddiastolic left ventricle diameters (LVESD and LVEDD), endsystolic and enddiastolic left ventricular wall thickness and left atrium diameter, in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) due to isolated aortic stenosis (AS) or regurgitation (AR). According to the obtained results we concluded that AVR both due to AS and AR is associated with improved functional status in early (7-21 days) postoperative period especially in groups with EF 70 years, preexisting cardiovascular disease, previous treatment by calcium-channel blockers, pulmonary congestion and respiratory insufficiency in the postoperative period and operation with standard CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting) technique. AF in the postoperative period was associated with an increase in the length of hospital stay (12.9±7.8 vs 9.4±5.2 days, p130 ms is nondependent factor which may predict the incidence of AF with 93.1% sensitivity after surgical closure of ASD t.2. Summing it up these two great conferences were a great opportunity to take part in many worthy workshop, listen to many high quality presentations, and meet and talk to famous, experienced researchers. Such occasions give the opportunity to exchange our own opinions and discuss. And it always favors with creating new great scientific ideas