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Society Focus
pulmonary disease (COPD), surgery of the airways, diagnosis of thoracic Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UK, the US, Uzbekistan and
malignancies, thoracic infection and stem cells/tissue engineering. Vietnam. Over the years, the Society has become the most important
cardiothoracic surgical organisation in Asia. In the global community of
On the third day, interesting discussions took place in three debate our speciality, the ASCVTS has been treated as a single cardiothoracic
sessions: ‘Cardiac CT versus coronary angioplasty’, ‘Percutaneous aortic surgical society representing Asia and has been invited to attend the Joint
valves: real player in the immediate future’ and ‘The future of complex International Leadership Meeting of Cardiothoracic Surgical
arch disease will be: hybrid/debranching versus branched endovascular’. Organisations. The other members of the Joint International Leadership
In addition to the main meeting, which focused on patient safety in the Meeting include the AATS, the STS, the EACTS and the European Society
era of modern technology, a homodynamic workshop, an endovascular of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS).
aortic stenting workshop, a minimally invasive thoracic workshop and a
nursing symposium were organised. The three workshops were Last year the main officers of the ASCVTS were invited to attend the
undertaken in the Advanced Surgery Training Centre at the National Annual Meeting of the EACTS in Geneva. There was an official meeting
University Hospital of Singapore. The 16th Annual Meeting of the between the leaderships of the ASCVTS and the STS. According to the
ASCVTS came to a wonderful close, drawing some 800 participants from discussion at the meeting, the STS decided to waïve the initiation fee for
over 50 countries or regions. The illustrious faculty and scientific content members of the ASCVTS from economically unprivileged countries. Also
were obviously the greatest draws, making the congress a great success. in Geneva, we had a Joint International Leadership Meeting. The issues
discussed at the meeting included: editorial services for English as an
Global Activities of the ASCVTS in the international language; updated valve reporting guidelines;
3
Cardiothoracic Surgical Community reconstruction of the residency programme; a conjoint post-graduate
The parent organisation of the ASCVTS was the Asian Chapter of the course; and guidelines for live surgery.
4
It should be noted that the last
International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery (ISCVS). The Asian two issues were proposed by the ASCVTS. During the Annual Meeting in
Chapter was created in 1973 and originally consisted of Japanese, Singapore, there was a meeting between the ASCVTS and the AATS
Korean, Indian and Thai surgeons. Members began participating in the consisting of educational committee members of both organisations. It
biennial World Congress of the ISCVS and submitting manuscripts to its was agreed that the conjoint activity of the post-graduate course would
official journal. be continued at the 17th Annual Meeting of the ASCVTS, which was
scheduled for 5–8 March 2009 at Taipei International Convention Centre.
By 1991, however, it was realised that the time had come for the Asian
Chapter to hold an annual scientific meeting of its own. In order to make As for the future prospects of the ASCVTS, the number of patients
this a reality, the name of the Asian Chapter of the ISCVS was changed seeking cardiovascular and thoracic treatment will certainly increase with
to the Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery. the dramatic improvement of the economy in some parts of the region.
The need for quality control, on the other hand, will become much more
The 1st Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the east end of Asia, important. A web-based database system for adult cardiac surgery has
in Fukuoka on 2 March 1993. The site of the Annual Meetings moved been developed and is available to all institutes in Asia. It will play an
slowly westwards to Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Jeju and Kuala Lumpur, important role in the quantitative assessment of the quality of care.
finally reaching the west end of Asia, Istanbul, in 2004. Thereafter, it
returned eastwards to Chiang Mai, Osaka, and Beijing, and this year Owing to the evolution of new technology, it will be necessary to
again to Singapore. include some endovascular techniques in our speciality training. The
North American training curriculum for cardiothoracic surgery is being
Last year, the Society changed its name to the Asian Society for changed to include endovascular surgery. In order to achieve this
Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery so that it could include general reformation, organisations of cardiothoracic surgery and vascular
thoracic surgeons. This was to tie in with the international community, as surgery will have to work together, because cardiothoracic and vascular
all organisations on other continents included both cardiac and thoracic surgeries have been two distinct specialities in North America. In
surgeons in their memberships. contrast, in many centres in Asia cardiac, vascular and thoracic surgeries
are performed in one unit. The ASCVTS included both cardiac and
The mission of the ASCVTS is to offer the best quality healthcare to Asian vascular surgeons from its inception, and now includes thoracic
people who are suffering from cardiovascular and thoracic diseases. The surgeons as well. This is a real advantage for the ASCVTS in terms of
Society is a membership-based organisation. Each member has to pay keeping up with the rapid development of endovascular surgery; in
annual dues that include a subscription fee to the official journal, the fact, a workshop for endovascular surgery was conducted at the 2008
Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals. Currently, there are 879 Annual Meeting in Singapore.
members of the Society in 29 countries or regions, including Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Germany, Greece, Hungary, All in all, the role of the ASCVTS will become more and more important
India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, The not only in Asia but also in the global community of cardiovascular and
Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, thoracic surgery. ■
1. Furuse A, Asian cardiovascular surgery: a new horizon, Asian 3. Akins CW, Miller CG, Turina MI, et al., Guidelines for reporting CTSNet, 19 October 2007. Available at:
Cardiovasc Thorac Ann, 2003;11:279. mortality and morbidity after cardiac valve interventions, J www.ctsnet.org/sections/newsandviews/inmyopinion/articles/art
2. Furuse A., Hosoda Y, The History of the Asian Society for Thorac Cardiovasc Surg, 2008;135:732–8, Ann Thorac Surg, icle-63.html
Cardiovascular Surgery, Asian Cardiovasc Thorac Ann, 2008;85:1490–95, Eur J Cardiothorac Surg, 2008;33:523–8.
2006;14(Suppl.):1–14. 4. Takamoto S, Guidelines for Live Surgery [In my Opinion],
80 ASIA-PACIFIC CARDIOLOGY
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