Scientific chronicle
A report from the 6^th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery. Cape Town, Republic of South Africa, February 17-22, 2013

The 6th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery took place between February the 17th and the 22nd, 2013, in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa. This conference is held every 4 years, attracting specialists from all over the world. Its objective is to present the latest achievements in the field of diagnosing and treating congenital heart defects (CHDs), to exchange views, and to establish cooperation. The event was conducted in 6 concurrent sessions pertaining to: 1) Surgery, anesthesiology, and intensive therapy, 2) Interventional catheterization (from fetus to adult), 3) Health systems and heart disease, 4) Adults with congenital heart disease and the prevention of acquired heart disease, 5) Cardiology and imaging, and 6) Nursing.

Due to the interests of the author, this report focuses on the developments related to interventional cardiology. During the Congress, some cases were broadcast live from Frankfurt and Milan, as well as from local centers in the RSA. They were all very stimulating and generated interesting interactive discussions between the operators and the participants. Between the procedures, lectures were presented; among other topics, they pertained to the use of new stents, biodegradable materials, fetal interventions, rotational angiocardiography, and MRI techniques. Particularly thought-provoking was the discussion after the lecture of Dr John Thomson (United Kingdom), concerning the validity of performing patent foramen ovale closures. His next lecture focused on the analysis of the causes of complications during interventional procedures and the methods of their prevention. In turn, N. Wilson (UK) analyzed the results of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closures performed in infants of low body weight (less than 2 kg) with the use of special implants (Amplatzer Duct Occluder II Additional Sizes), primarily based on material obtained from the Gregorio Maranon Hospital in Madrid. Dr M. Alwi (Malaysia) talked about his experiences with PDA stenting in the treatment of CHDs, while W. Tworetzki (USA) presented results of fetal aortic valvuloplasties. Dr Z. Hijazi (USA) presented a lecture concerning the improvement of interventional catheterization results through the development of special intervention registers and the analysis of their results. In turn, M. Carminati (Italy) discussed results of transcatheter closures of ventricular septal defects (VSDs), while M. Schneider (Germany) presented results of...


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