32nd Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions
April 18-21, 2012  Prague, Czech Republic

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Meeting Registration & Hotel Information

Registration for this meeting is now OPEN. To register for the meeting and book your hotel accommodations:

Registration & Hotel Information


Preliminary Program / Call for Abstracts

To view the complete Preliminary Program PDF:

2012 Preliminary Program / Call for Abstracts (5.7MB)

To view specific PDF portions of the Preliminary Program:

Scientific Program
Call for Abstracts
Abstract Awards
Daily Schedule At-A-Glance
Session Highlights
About Prague
Registration & Hotel Info


General Information

Meeting Location

The 32nd Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions will take place at the Prague Congress Centre, 5 Kvetna 65, 140 21 Prague 4, Czech Republic. The Congress Center is located on the subway Red Line and is adjacent to two large hotels where ISHLT has blocked sleeping rooms. It is a 30 minute walk from the city center. Situated at the top of one of Prague's nine hills, it offers stunning 360 degree views of Prague.

Accreditation

The Annual Meeting has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essentials and Standards of the Accredidation Council for Continuing Medical Education. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. ISHLT designates this live activity for a maximum of 28.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.™

Educational Objectives

The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation is a leading organization providing education for medical professionals involved in heart and lung transplantation. Because of the rapid advances in medicine in general and transplantation medicine specifically, transplant professionals are in need of regular opportunities to update and maintain their knowledge of advances and changes in transplant medicine. This meeting is designed to address their needs.

Educational Goals

The educational goals of this activity are to enable participants to learn about current practices, emerging technologies and medical advances related to heart and lung transplantation and end-stage heart and lung disease, and to provide a forum for participants to engage in discussion, debate and examination regarding the efficacy and applicability of these current practices, emerging technologies and medical advances.

Target Audience

The audience for this program includes physicians, surgeons, scientists, nurses and transplant coordinators engaged in the practice of heart and lung transplantation, the management and treatment of heart and lung transplant recipients, the management and treatment of patients with end-stage heart or lung disease, basic science or clinical research related to thses fields or specialties which cause them to become involved in the treatment of transplant recipients or patients with end-stage heart or lung disease.

Disclosure

Current guidelines state that participants in CME activities must be made aware of any affiliation or financial interest that may affect the program content or a speaker's presentation. Planners, Faculty and Chairs participating in this meeting are required to disclose to the program audience any real or apparent conflict(s) of interest related to the content or their presentations or service as Chair/Planner. These disclosures will be distributed at the meeting. Additionally, all speakers have been asked to verbally disclose at the start of their presentation any financial interest or affiliations and to indicate if a product they are discussing is not labeled for the use under discussion or is still investigational.

Learning Objectives

AT THE CONCLUSION OF THIS MEETING, PARTICIPANTS WILL HAVE IMPROVED COMPETENCE AND PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE IN THE AREAS OF:

1. Understanding organ donor selection and management,organ allocation, procurement, preservation and ex-vivo treatment, and their implications for organ viability and recipient outcomes.
2. Understanding the state-of-the-art treatment approaches to clinical left heart failure, right heart failure and lung failure, including criteria for and outcome implications of transplant versus non-transplant therapies as well as management of psychosocial problems and end of life situations.
3. Comparing and evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of various mechanical circulatory and respiratory support systems and their associated patient selection criteria.
4. Understanding the underlying pathophysiology of and state-of-the-art treatment for pulmonary hypertension.
5. Evaluating and treating infectious and treatment-related complications of VAD therapy and heart and lung transplantation.
6. Comparing and evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of various pharmacologic, non-pharmacologic and biologic immunosuppression techniques.
7. Evaluating and developing patient specific strategies for post-heart and lung transplant treatment that maximize patient outcomes and minimize immuno-suppressionrelated side-effects.
8. Understanding methods to maximize patient outcomes by diagnosing, monitoring and treating immunologic complications of heart and lung transplantation, including antibody mediated rejection and chronic forms of allograft dysfunction.
9. Evaluating issues of controversy in the selection of candidates for heart and lung transplantation, such as age, prior transplantation and co-morbidities.
10. Describing and assessing the impact of psychosocial and behavioral issues on clinical post-transplant outcomes and quality of life for patients.
11. Identifying current animal and other laboratory models relevant to the basic science of transplant immunobiology and understanding their application to the transplant setting.
12. Understanding the importance and utilization of techniques to detect and quantify HLA and non HLA antibodies in the immunobiology of donor and recipient matching and subsequent post-transplant management.
13. Evaluating pediatric specific aspects of heart and lung failure and thoracic transplantation, including pharmacotherapy, developmental issues and unique psychosocial situations.