Beirut, Friday September 7th– Under the patronage and presence of His Excellency Mr. Ghassan Hasbani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health, the Department of Cardiology at the Hotel Dieu de France organized the first of its kind cardiology conference in Lebanon entitled “Innovation in Cardiology”.
The conference brought together leading cardiovascular experts from Europe and the USA with local faculty members to discuss the utmost advanced and innovative strategies in cardiology related to atherosclerosis, thrombosis, complex structural heart interventions and state-of-the-art atrial fibrillation management. The talks also tackled important studies published during 2017 and 2018 and looked into the future of cardiology and how it will be practiced 10 years from now.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of death, accounting for 17.3 million deaths per year, and is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030.
Hotel Dieu De France (HDF) has equipped itself with the latest in cardiac catheterization laboratory with new equipment to perform sophisticated interventions on cardiac valves, coronary arteries and interventions on the electrical system of the heart.
“Numerous electricity diseases that were treated with medications will now be cured for life through ablation therapy. In addition, many conditions affecting the cardiac valves and heart vessels that would have required surgery in the past are now treated with “percutaneous interventions” by going through the vessels of the leg or the arm all the way up to the heart without the need to open the chest wall”. Said Pr. Rabih Azar, Chief of Cardiology at HDF, Hospital.
The division of cardiology at HDF consists of 11 physicians and has recently enrolled new ones who are all trained at leading universities in Europe and the USA and are proficient in performing the most advanced procedures. Consequently, all the cutting-edge procedures are now performed at HDF.
“We offer the Lebanese patient all kind of complex and innovative interventions currently being performed in Europe and in the USA, but with a more humanistic and personalized approach” said Pr. Roland Kassab, Director of the Cardiology Curriculum at the Faculty of Medicine of the St. Joseph University.
HDF has formed an International support group for its division of cardiology consisting of the following doctors, were present during the two days meeting and shared their expertise with the attendees. These are:
- Markus Kasel, Director of the Structural Heart Program at the German Heart Center in Munich,
- Thomas Lüscher, Director of Research, Education and Development at the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital in London, and Editor in Chief of the European Heart Journal,
- Nassir Marrouch, Director of Comprehensive Arrhythmia Research and Management Center and Professor of Medicine at the University of UTAH,
- Gilles Montalescot, Chief of Cardiology at the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, and Professor of Medicine at the Sorbonne University and
- David Waters, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco and Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
The meeting was done in association with the Lebanese Society of Cardiology and was attended by cardiologists from all over Lebanon.
“We are pleased to support academic events such as this meeting”, said Pr. Antoine Sarkis, President of the Lebanese Society of Cardiology and Interventional Cardiologist at the Hotel Dieu de France Hospital. “The topics were of great interest to all cardiologists and the talks were enormously informative. The level of cardiology being practiced in top Lebanese institutions is similar to that being practiced in Europe and the USA”.
At the conference, Hotel Dieu de France Hospital also announced that its interventional cardiology department will now serve as a full-immersion and show site for GE Healthcare. HDF’s fully-refurbished, cutting-edge interventional cardiology department allows clinicians to perform complex clinical and surgical procedures, ultimately facilitating the delivery of improved patient care and enhanced clinical outcomes. The immersion site agreement will enable healthcare professionals from Lebanon and around the region to review cases with HDF’s world-class physicians and gain first-hand insights on the value-add of GE Healthcare’s interventional cardiology technology.
Commenting on the agreement, David Mezher, General Manager- Middle East at GE Healthcare, said: “GE’s interventional cardiology solutions are designed to help physicians address the clinical challenges they face in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. GE Healthcare and GME are proud to partner with Hotel Dieu de France—Lebanon’s premier teaching hospital—and contribute to facilitating greater access to high quality diagnosis and care.”