Boot Camp is Back and Bigger Than Ever

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions

news & highlights

JAN/FEB 2016 www.SCAI.org www.SecondsCount.org

IN THIS ISSUE...

This year, the SCAI 2016 Scientific Sessions, which has been designed around attendee feedback from the previous year, will showcase topics and sessions covering a broad mix of familiar favorites and brand new trends.

“Each year we make
improvements and enhance-
ments according to what our
audience is looking for,” said
Program Chair Roxana Meh-
ran, MD, FSCAI, who will be
joined by two co-chairs, Rob-
ert J. Applegate, MD, FSCAI,
and Ehtisham Mahmud,
MD, FSCAI. “This year’s
SCAI annual program will be
the most comprehensive SCAI
program ever and will deliver
the highest level of both sci-
ence and evidence in clinical
practice for the clinician.”
Held in Orlando, Fla.,
from May 4 to May 7, SCAI
2016 Scientific Sessions will
once again feature the in-
depth analysis and discussion
of all things intervention that
attendees have come to expect, with the Coro-
nary, Peripheral, Congenital Heart Disease,
Structural and Quality Improvement Tracks,
the Cath Lab Leadership Boot Camp and the
C3 SUMMIT for Fellows-in-Training.

“As program directors, all three of us are

Not only will the Cath Lab Leadership Boot Camp return in 2016, but it will also be xpanded by a half day to 1.5 days because of the overwhelming attendee interest it generated last year, Dr. Applegate said.

“[The boot camp] seems to have really
touched a chord of interest and enthusiasm;
there was standing room only at almost
every session we had [last year],” he said.
“We realized that as leaders of quality initia-
tives and movement within interventional
cardiology in the United States and around
the world, SCAI had found a great founda-
Like last year, the boot camp will ad-
dress challenges facing physician and non-
physician cath lab leaders. The five-part
program will examine an array of topics
such as leadership; economics; quality
outcomes; registries, research and public reporting; and ethical challenges.

“The boot camp approach really does take care of so many of the real-world, in-the-trenches interventionalists, and what they need to do for their cath lab and managing their cath lab and making sure their output is absolutely great,” Dr. Mehran said.

EYE ON STRUCTURAL ADVANCES

In addition to expanding the boot camp, SCAI 2016 will dive headfirst into the some of the biggest changes to practice since last year’s conference, among them the clinical usage of the Watchman left atrial appendage (LAA) closure device which will be featured Friday in the Structural Track during sessions on LAA occlusion therapies.

“This meeting will be the first to occur during the era when the Watchman will have been in clinical use, so we decided to get ahead of the curve,” Dr. Applegate said.

Specifically, the sessions will tackle the identification of patients who would most benefit from the therapy; determining the right kind of anticoagulation and imaging necessary to achieve optimal outcomes; and technique-oriented tips and tricks.