AsiaPCR / SingLive 2012. 12-14th Jan 2012.

I spend my last weekend in Singapore, taking part in AsiaPCR / SingLive 2012. This year the meeting seems better attended. I was told registration was 1,800. The meeting halls are scaled down and so the rooms look full, especially for the morning sessions. As I walk around the booths, I was told that the booths are very reasonably priced ( less booths this year ), but the registration fees for physicians and exhibitors remain high.
I was moderating a few sessions and the discussions were good. I can see that this meeting allows cardiologist from Asia to show their cases. Actually some of the work done in India ( smaller cities ) and China ( smaller cities ), were quite good. They seem to have more intravascular ultrasounds, even in their smaller city hospitals than us.
As for interventional cardiology, as we have noted previously, Percutaneous Coronary Interventions ( PCI ) have plateaued. Drug eluting stents have almost reached their peak per performance. Of course, the topic of the day for PCI is left main stem stenting and bifurcation stenting, and chronic total occlusions ( CTO ). many of us have imbibed the strategy of provisional stenting, and that continues to be the preferred strategy, and the Japanese are still spreading their mantra of retrograde recanalisation of CTOs. Looks like in Japan, they are still fighting with their cardiac surgeons for cases. One case shown as a teaching case had 2 CTOs, and was a fairly healthy male with no surgical risk factors. Of course my first question is, why did he not get referred to the cardiac surgeon?
Well, it was also a good occasion in Singapore, to meet up with old friends that we get to meet once a year. I keep telling them that old friends of our vintage are getting fewer and fewer.
See you next year, if Prof Koh TH invite us again.