Abstract
The eighth European Venous Course is a fact and contributes to important requests of professionals being trained or established in this field.
Live cases with interactive discussions related to certain subjects are well appreciated, but it is difficult to schedule this in a tight program. It is also often debated that live cases are not ethical, because presenting can distract the interventionalist from the procedure at hand. Due to this, we chose to present 10 video-edited live cases with interactive discussions related to important decisions to be made during procedures and to show tips and tricks. Because a lot of new data are available for deep venous diagnostics and therapies, it was decided to ask experts in the field to contribute especially to these issues. The pathophysiology and diagnostic methods in acute deep vein thrombosis are therefore addressed. Also, the post-thrombotic syndrome due to deep venous obstructive disease and the diagnostic opportunities and treatment options for pelvic congestive syndrome are separately discussed. Importantly, because surrogate outcomes are criticized and the needs for clinically important outcomes, such as quality of live scores or clinical severity scores are recognized, the experts are asked to put the presented data in this perspective. Finally, new developments in the treatment options for superficial venous pathology and progression of disease are presented.
New in our program are the debates, which help the participant to interpret the published data differently and make potentially better clinical decisions. Members of the writing committee of the European Society of Vascular Surgery are asked to present their new European guideline on venous pathology, and the board of the established European Colleges of Phlebology is asked to present their future goals especially focused on the optimization of the quality of care for patients with venous disease, all in perspective to all existing phlebology societies throughout Europe. They also present a European phlebology curriculum to improve and uniform training, education and certification in Europe. This should, within the near future, optimize the care for patients with venous disease throughout Europe. Finally, Mr E Scrooge will try to put some of our scientific efforts in perspective.
We are again very pleased with the fact that Phlebology agreed to publish the manuscripts of the mentioned presentations during the European venous course in a Supplement of Phlebology. All the important educative contributions for the European Venous Course will therefore be available for a much bigger audience.
But the traditional venous course book will of course still be available for the participants.
Besides this theoretical information, presented in the Supplement and book, it is recognized that hands-on training is mostly needed and much appreciated. This is why the popular venous master classes, in which participants get hands-on training in superficial and deep venous treatments, are again organized on Sunday and Monday. The 10 stations for each master class will guide the participants through the options available. Because the interest in Duplex Ultrasound diagnostics is always extensive we decided to organize the successful Duplex demonstrations again. Diagnostic tips and tricks for superficial and deep vein diagnostics in patients with different pathology before and after therapy will be shown and interactively discussed.
Parallel to the master classes, we have two satellite symposia comprehensively addressing important issues in venous disease by Lohmann & Rauscher on Sunday and Medi on Monday. Every afternoon the value of a good intuitive electronic patient record combined with a national registry will be demonstrated and discussed in the Lounge area.
This European Venous Course is specially designed for all healthcare workers in the field of venous disease like vascular surgeons, dermatologists, phlebologists, angiologists, vascular technicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Industry is more and more supporting education and training, giving us the opportunity to improve its quality. We are therefore very grateful to our major and regular partners for their contribution and confidence in this European Venous Course. Although new Eucomed rules together with the new standards to ensure the independence of CME activities restrict an intensive collaboration, it is our opinion that we should integrate more because our goal—to improve the quality of care for the patient with a venous problem—is exactly the same. The cooperation with industries and healthcare workers in the field of venous disease is mandatory to innovate and improve the quality of care.
Maastricht, Aachen 2015
Cees HA Wittens MD PhD
Supplement Editor,
Professor of Venous Surgery
Head of Venous Surgery,
Maastricht University Medical Center, The Netherlands
University Hospital Aachen, Germany
Supplement Co-Editors:
Niels Bækgaard MD,
Philip Coleridge Smith MD,
Eberhard Rabe MD,
Paul Pittaluga MD,
Nicos Labropoulos MD