Welcome to this dedicated EuroIntervention Supplement, which accompanies PCR London Valves 2013, the 4th edition of PCR London Valves. Once more the meeting is at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in the heart of London. This year we have taken the opportunity of using the whole of the conference centre in order to accommodate the growing number of attendees.
The spirit of the conference is unchanged. This meeting is dedicated to transcatheter valve “Heart Teams” and we hope all the various members of these Heart Teams are represented amongst the attendees. Much of the focus of the meeting will be based on practical demonstrations (live and taped cases) and the sharing of collective experience. There will be very few lectures in the Main Auditorium, which will be dedicated to Live Demonstrations. This year the three live transmission centres will be St Thomas’ Hospital in London, Bern University Hospital, Switzerland, and Asklepios Klinik St Georg, Hamburg, Germany. We hope to be able to demonstrate live the implantation of all of the available transcatheter valve devices. In addition, we have been delighted by the overwhelming response to our “call for cases” and abstracts. There was a 40% increase in submissions, and many of these have been selected for presentation throughout the meeting.
In the second major room of the meeting there will be a number of important didactic sessions, which will cover the hottest topics in transcatheter valve therapies in 2013. We are confident that this Supplement reflects these important sessions and will give you a true “flavour” of the meeting. The topics and review articles include TAVI vascular access routes, including the emergence of the transaortic approach, low-flow low-gradient aortic stenosis, TAVI for aortic regurgitation, TAVI with coronary artery disease and mitral regurgitation, paravalvular leak after TAVI, valve-in-valve procedures, stroke protection during TAVI, cost-effectiveness of TAVI and many aspects of transcatheter mitral valve interventions.
There are a number of new devices, which have been commercially released or are close to being released. In addition, there are a number of innovative technologies, which are at an earlier phase in their development (either at the benchtop stage or in animal trials). Many of these devices will be described during the meeting and are highlighted in this Supplement in the Innovations/New Technologies section.
An important feature of PCR London Valves is the interactive nature of the meeting. A specific room will be dedicated to interactive educative sessions. These will include “Learning” sessions on TAVI, transseptal puncture and transcatheter interventions for both mitral stenosis and mitral regurgitation. In addition, there will be “Learning pathways” on valve-in-valve therapies and treatment of mitral regurgitation. We would urge you to attend these sessions and share your experience with other attendees.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the meeting and once more: Welcome to London!
