ESVS meeting report

1185

Andr© Nevelsteen had this to say following this year’s ESVS meeting: “Istanbul 2002 has been a very good meeting for the ESVS. The number of participants at the ESVS meetings is increasing from year to year. This year we had around 1,500 registrants, which is some 20% more than in the past, demonstrating once again the attractiveness of the ESVS as the leading vascular society in Europe. Although Istanbul is an attractive tourist city, both the scientific sessions and the symposia were very well attended. The opening ceremony and the gala dinner were without doubt the highlights of the social programme and we have to congratulate Mehmet Kurtoglu and the local organising committee for the perfect organisation.

“With regard to the future of the ESVS, the new constitution and bye laws were approved in a special general meeting on September 28th. Once again, this does not mean a ‘new’society; the ESVS will indeed remain the same. The ‘technical’changes just became necessary in order to comply with and the Guidelines of the Charity Commission. On the General Assembly the founders of the society were approved as honorary members and, on the initiative of the council, there was

a short ‘laudatio’for Roger Greenhalgh. Jean Baptiste Ricco was appointed as the new treasurer, in succession of Juha-Pekka Salenius. Personally, I feel this to be a very good choice and I am sure that the society will take advantage of this decision in the next years.



“Finally, the Council also announced and approved the creation of EVITA. EVITA stands for European Vascular Interventional Training Academy and it is in fact a joined venture between the ESVS and the radiological society CIRSE. The first EVITA congress will be held in Prague, in May next year. It is a fascinating initiative and it is primarily meant as an educational tool with regard to the rapid evolution in the endovascular field. We hope it will be supported by all members of the ESVS since it is in fact a test case for the ESVS, the Council and my successor to show that the ESVS is not merely synonymous to ‘traditional, classic’vascular surgery, but that the ESVS is ready for cooperation with other European societies in order to take care of and to ameliorate the future of the vascular patient.

Highlights of the ESVS meeting in Istanbul are now available at www.esvs.org