If you are an interventional cardiologist or work in a cath lab where the transradial approach is being utilized, and you live anywhere near New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania, you might want to consider a day trip to Morristown, New Jersey on May 3. This trip won’t cost you anything, because the Mid-Atlantic Radial Symposium (MARS) is free; and yes, there still is such a thing as a free lunch. (For those who want to come in the day before, the Westin Governor Morris is offering a special room rate.)
Oh yes: you’ll also be able to receive 5.5 AMA PRA Category 1 CME credits.
But most importantly, you will get to hear and see the latest innovations and techniques from leaders in the rapidly growing field of transradial angioplasty (PCI). You’ll hear presentations from “the father of transradial PCI”, Dr. Ferdinand Kiemeneij of The Netherlands; from the leader in the technique of “patent hemostasis” for avoiding radial artery occlusion, Dr. Samir Pancholy; from one of the most prolific authors of studies and papers on transradial adoption, Dr. Sunil V. Rao; and from one of the great teachers and pioneers of the technique in the U.S., Dr. John T. Coppola.
And, you will also get to see live case demonstrations of the transradial technique AND of a most interesting technical innovation in live case transmission: Google Glass!
Jordan Safirstein, MD, FACC, FSCAI, Director of Transradial Intervention at Morristown Medical Center, along with Dr. Kintur Sanghvi of the Deborah Heart and Lung Center, has organized his 3rd Annual MARS course, with a stellar faculty and comprehensive program. You can find out more about this course at the MARS2014 website, where you can also register online. Registration begins at 7:30am on Saturday, May 3, 2014 and the program is slated to finish by 2:30pm, so everyone can get back home that evening. But space is limited, so sign up online now!
Dr. Safirstein described the course to me earlier this week:
This will be the 3rd consecutive year teaching interventionalists, nurses and CV techs the ins and outs of the transradial approach from access and hemostasis to complex radial interventions and management of complications. Similar to last year we will feature live cases with a wonderful panel moderating and audience participation encouraged throughout. As in years past we have the Transradial Thoughtleader Trifecta of Sunil Rao, Samir Pancholy and John Coppola: physicians who are partly responsible for driving the increased utilization of TRI in this country and also for making critical improvements in our technique and best practices.
We are also lucky to have Dr. Ferdinand Kiemeneij delivering the lead-off talk about the history of the radial approach and its adoption and future directions. Finally, we hope to demonstrate the potential uses of Google Glass during one of our live cases as we have been optimizing it for the cath lab and teaching purposes. Glass has garnered a great deal of attention in the media for good and bad reasons. Wearable devices like Glass allow the physician to perform a procedure and continue to work as he communicates with a selected audience and gives viewers a first-hand account of what he is seeing and doing. We are expecting our best turnout yet for this one day radial symposium and as with years past there is NO CHARGE for any attendees thanks to the generous support of multiple vendors.
Late update: Check out this article by MARS2014 Co-Director Dr. Kintur Sanghvi in the current Endovascular Today: “Ten Critical Lessons for Performing Transradial Catheterization.”
The MARS2014 course is but one of several courses being offered this spring. For a complete listing, visit Angioplasty.Org’s Transradial Training Page.
(MARS2014 is supported by: Terumo, Medtronic, Merit Medical, Vascular Solutions, Boston Scientific, and The Medicines Company.)