Workshops, Virtual Reality & Remote Reading
If a congress takes place in Vienna, companies such as TOMTEC not only compete with the scientific program and the displayed solutions of other companies about the attendee’s attention but also with the wonderful city itself. Even more in the Christmas season with all its beautiful decorations and markets. This is why the outstanding number of workshop and booth visitors at this year’s EuroEcho (December 4th-7th) feels even more successful.
A total of 4.080 Healthcare Professionals from around 100 countries followed the invitation of the European Society of Cardiology and came to the EuroEcho 2019 – one of the worldwide major events for echocardiography. And the visit was worth the trouble of travelling: 233 scientific sessions and a large variety of exhibitors get the visitors up to speed by showing the latest tips and innovations regarding the imaging of the heart with ultrasound.
Learning and marveling with TOMTEC
The first highlight from TOMTEC’s perspective had been the two sessions in the official program where TOMTEC’s latest innovation concept – the Virtual Reality technology – played a significant role. Prof. Roberto Lang, Dr. Akhil Narang, Niklas Hitschrich and Bernhard Mumm had been presenting the medical possibilities of this technology in a talk entitled “Thinking outside the Box: 3D Echo Holography and Virtual Reality” within the session “Novel and Emerging Three dimensional Echocardiographic Applications”.
The second talk (“Virtual Reality: From teaching to review structural heart diseases”) had been held by Bernhard Mumm and Niklas Hitschrich (both TOMTEC) within the session “Hightech corner session 1 – Echocardiography in the digital era.”
Both talks included a live-demo in which for example the possibility had been shown to select different sized devices from a “device library” (LAA occluder or prosthetic valves) to plan and simulate the interventional or surgical procedure. There was hardly one visitor that was not marveling about this futuristic function – and all the other options Virtual Reality may offer for the cardiological practice in the future.
TOMTECs workshop program attracted visitors
Another highlight at the congress had been the seven tutorial workshops TOMTEC organized to make the visitors familiar with the practical use of TOMTECs software. Renowned experts from around the globe were invited to talk about their experience. The attendance of the workshops was outstanding: More than 500 cardiologists took the opportunity to learn how TOMTEC’s solutions can improve cardiological examinations – the common ones as well as the exceptional ones. In detail the following workshops took place:
- Current Echocardiographic Techniques to Evaluate of the Right Ventricle, Prof. Jaroslaw Kasprzak, Medical University of Lodz, Bieganski Hospital; Lodz/Poland
- Global and Regional Assessment of Left Ventricular Function, Dr. Chirojit Mukherjee, Helios Hospital for Heart Surgery, Anesthesia and Intensive Care; in Karlsruhe, Germany
- The benefits and pitfalls of left ventricular strain analysis, Gerard Aurigemma,
MD University of Massachusetts, USA, FACC, FASE, Director Non-Invasive Cardiology, Professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School
- Left Atrial Appendage Closure: Advanced Imaging Considerations, Bryon Gentile, MD, University of Massachusetts, USA, FACC, FASE, Assistant Professor University of Massachusetts Medical School
- Crash-course in stress echo interpretation - for the many and not just for the few (From theory to practice), Prof. Attila Kardos, MD PhD FRCP FESC, Milton Keynes Hospital, UK Consultant Cardiologist, Vice Chair Research, Clinical Lead for Multimodality Cardiovascular Imaging, Milton Keynes University Hospital,Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Faculty of Life Sciences University of Buckingham
- Mitral Valve Prolapse: What does the surgeon need to know?, Dr. Hani Mahmoud-Elsayed, MBBCh, MSc, MD, FESC, FASE, CardioVascular Imaging, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK EACVI/ HIT& Education Committee member.
- Virtual Reality Learning Lab: The use of VR technology in cardiac imaging, Bernhard Mumm, TOMTEC Imaging Systems, Unterschleissheim, Germany
And last but not least the products that TOMTEC presented at the booth raised the attention of the congress visitors. Beside the TOMTEC-ARENA it had been TOMTEC ZERO that focused the interest. The web-based solution allows doctors to work remote which gives them more flexibility and freedom in their daily routine.
