Capturing the latest developments in the comprehensive treatment of aortic disease—from the aortic valve to the iliac arteries—CX Aortic Vienna returns for three days of CME-accredited discussion and debate, bringing together the cardiac, vascular and endovascular worlds. With a live programme running from 5–7 October 2021, the meeting will showcase the latest approaches, open and endovascular, for the treatment of complex aortic problems.
CX Aortic Vienna 2021 will be broadcast live online and available on-demand, with CX Aortic Vienna 2021 Vascular Endovascular and Cardiothoracic Executive Board members presenting from London, UK, and serving as expert moderators to generate exciting live audience discussion from around the world. Over five hours of CME content is available on each of the three days of broadcasting.
“CX Aortic Vienna will begin at the top with the arch of the aorta. We ask ourselves: ‘What is the best way to treat aortic disease today?’” explains CX Aortic Vienna’s founding chair Roger Greenhalgh (London, UK). “In order to answer that we must involve cardiac surgeons, vascular surgeons and endovascular specialists, and then we shall work out how the patients should be best treated, debate it and discuss it. What we shall be considering at CX Aortic Vienna is every way in which the aorta can be managed—from the aortic valve to the iliac arteries.”
The three days of education, innovation and evidence are brought to you with the participation of the Austrian Society of Vascular Surgery (ÖGG), the Swiss Society for Vascular Surgery (SGG), the German Society of Vascular Surgery (DGG), the Italian Society of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SICVE), the French Society for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SCVE), and Aortic Surgery “How To Do It” (HTDI).
The format will follow the CX style of short talks, debates, and audience interaction, presented live via broadcast, with five hours of CME programme on each day. The programme includes open and endovascular aortic techniques and technologies, including live and edited aortic cases, as well as industrial and networking satellite programmes spliced between CME sessions.
Day one:
Tuesday 5 October—features aortic arch challenges, with an opening session focusing on the frozen elephant trunk (FET) technique, asking whether the procedure continues to play an important role in the treatment of complex pathologies of the aortic arch. During the session, attendees will hear from expert speakers including Luca Bertoglio (Milan, Italy) who will discuss open or endovascular treatment of downstream thoracic or thoraco-abdominal aortic pathology after FET, see edited cases from Gustavo Oderich (Houston, USA) and Tilo Kölbel (Hamburg, Germany), and learn about an optimised coagulation regime in contemporary FET surgery from Heinz Jakob (Essen, Germany).
In a session dedicated to transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and paediatric cardiac aortic challenges, edited cases from David Holzhey (Leipzig, Germany) and Frank Arko (Charlotte, USA) document TAVI device deployment, and the benefits of thoracic stent grafts to see the positive remodeling of the aorta in patients with coarctation, respectively. Attendees will also gain insights from Michael Andrew Borger (Leipzig, Germany) on extra-anatomic ascending-to-descending aortic bypass for patient with recurrent isthmus stenosis.
Experts will also consider juxtarenal aortic neck challenges, with Giovanni Pratesi (Genoa, Italy) presenting an edited case detailing treatment of wide neck abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) with enhanced proximal seal (ESAR) and Luca Bertoglio (Milan, Italy) discussing endovascular treatment of visceral aneurysm patch after previous thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA).
Day two:
Wednesday 6 October—the programme features a session on TAAA reconstruction and How To Do It (HTDI) from Roberto Chiesa (Milan, Italy) and his team. Among them, Daniel Mascia will detail TAAA standard open repair, Enrico Rinaldi will discuss recent advancements in TAAA open repair and organ protection, Andrea Kahlberg will offer tips and tricks in open conversion after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) or FET, and Luca Bertoglio will detail endovascular management of late complications of open TAAA repair, including intercostal and visceral patch aneurysm.
Further focus on TAAA reconstruction on day two includes a podium first presentation from Dittmar Böckler (Heidelberg, Germany), a systematic review of migration in TEVAR, discussion of the durable long-term performance of a single TEVAR stent graft platform in multiple pathologies of the descending thoracic aorta from Joseph Bavaria (Philadelphia, USA), and outcomes of 3,677 TAAA open cases performed between 1986–2021, presented by Joseph Coselli (Houston, USA).
Attendees will also hear the latest in radiation reduction challenges, including an edited case involving fenestrated EVAR using Fiber Optic RealShape (FORS) laser light guidance (Philips) from Kölbel, and discussion of dynamic computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) gold standards for aortic imaging from Alan Lumsden (Houston, USA).
EVAR durability is also in the spotlight on day two of CX Aortic Vienna, with speakers touching on important current debates. Among them, Ian Loftus (London, UK) will detail 10-year outcomes from aneurysm screening in South West London supporting an endovascular-first strategy, while Michael Stoner (Rochester Hills, USA) will consider the effect of aortic stent graft engineering on aortic sac regression after EVAR.
Final day:
Thursday 7 October—considers the importance of training and teamwork for optimal aortic patient outcomes. Eric Roselli (Cleveland, USA) will discuss the future training of aortic surgeons, while Bavaria lays out the importance of a multidisciplinary thoracic aortic team. Michael Jacobs (Maastricht, The Netherlands) will also set out the arguments and evidence to centralise complex open and endovascular aortic procedures.
The three-day event will close with a series of best of abstract sessions, featuring abstracts from the Austrian, German and Swiss societies.
