World Congress of Cardiology 2008

At the World Congress of Cardiology recently held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, several ASNC members participated in a conference on nuclear cardiology. This session was jointly organized with the World Heart Federation, the Argentine Society of Cardiology and the Argentine Federation of Cardiology. Participants from ASNC included Drs. Barry Zaret, George Beller, John Mahmarian, Manuel Cerqueira, and Leslee Shaw.

Drs. Nestor Vita and Barry Zaret moderated the section that highlighted the recent large clinical trials recently completed using stress myocardial perfusion SPECT. Dr. Shaw began the session discussing the recent substudy publication on serial imaging within the Clinical Outcomes Using Revascularization and Aggressive Drug Evaluation (COURAGE) trial. This talk was followed by Dr. John Mahmarian's discussion of the early post-discharge use of myocardial perfusion SPECT in uncomplicated myocardial infarction patients; as reported within the INSPIRE trial. Dr. George Beller presented the results of several trials that evaluated the role of asymptomatic screening of diabetics using stress myocardial perfusion SPECT; including the DIAD trial. Finally, Dr. Cerqueira reported on the recent a2a trials that are due to be published in 2008.  The event was extremely successful due to the dedication and effort of all organizers and participants.