A broadcast from the Haemodynamics Laboratory of the Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases in Zabrze was watched by participants in the 6th Lviv Endovascular Course. Polish doctors performed two procedures "live" for them. They were commented on the spot by the trainers - experts from the SCCC.
Broadcasts from the operating theatre have been a regular feature of the Zabrze Cardiology Conferences for several years. This time, images directly from the laboratory of the Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases were seen by participants in a foreign training course - the 6th Lviv Endovascular Course.
The two-day course was attended by more than 200 Ukrainian cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. For the first time, they were able to see how specialists from Zabrze work "live". Two televised procedures were performed by a team led by Prof Mariusz Gąsior from the 3rd Chair and Department of Cardiology at the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze at the Medical University of Silesia, consisting of Dr Mateusz Tajstra and Dr Krzysztof Wilczek, as well as Dr Michał Hawranek, Dr Łukasz Pyka and Dr Radosław Liszka. The picture from the laboratory was commented on-site by the participants of the Lviv conference: Dr Jacek Piegza and Dr Marcin Świerad.
A team of electronics and IT specialists from the Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases in Zabrze was responsible for the technical preparation and transmission.
- We demonstrated two difficult, complex percutaneous procedures within the coronary vessels. During the first procedure, the rotablation method was used, which involves drilling through heavily calcified coronary vessels with a special drill, allowing a stent to be implanted subsequently. This method is used especially when it is not possible to dilate the artery with a classic balloon. In the second procedure, a special balloon for intravascular lithotripsy was used, which leads to the rupture of hard atherosclerotic plaques through the use of ultrasound, explains Dr Jacek Piegza.
Workshop participants were able to observe the work of the operators live, following the images from the monitors of the Haemodynamics Laboratory, including intravascular imaging (IVUS), which is used routinely at SCCS. They were also able to discuss with experts and ask questions of the doctors in Zabrze.
The Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases in Zabrze has been cooperating with Lviv National Medical University for several years. In 2017, the first practical cardiology workshop, modelled on the Zabrze Cardiology Conferences, was organised in Lviv. Today, the Lviv Endovascular Course is a conference attended by all cardiology and cardiac surgery centres of Ukraine and several hundred doctors. Zabrze cardiologists have supported this event since its first edition.
