This year’s Vascular InterVentional Advances (VIVA ) conference held October 18-21 at Wynn Las Vegas was the most jam-packed week of education in VIVA ‘s 9 year history of providing multidisciplinary education to vascular physicians from around the world. Attendance reached an overall high, surpassing even VIVA 10’s record attendance, with over 2,000 attendees representing vascular surgery, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, vascular medicine, and cardiothoracic surgery. VIVA 11 provided an unsurpassed caliber of world-renowned faculty, cutting-edge presentations, and state-of-the-art technology in a dynamic learning environment attendees have come to expect from the conference. This year’s educational experience was further enhanced with the addition of a special demonstration of vascular cases in 3D and an arena-style intimate session, ‘Strategies on the Frontline.’
The week began on Saturday, with the expansion of the VIVA and Society for Vascular Medicine (SVM )’s collaborative endeavor, the Vascular and Endovascular Board Review Course. This two day course was filled to capacity and incorporated VIVA ‘s proprietary Laptop Learning’ system. This allowed attendees to interact with faculty in real-time, follow along with PowerPoint presentations, and take sample exams to prepare them for the ABVM endovascular and general vascular exams. Attendees found the course to be ‘comprehensive’ and faculty who participated for the first time said ‘this was the board review course that is a must for anyone preparing for the exams.’ The success of the session bodes well for continued review courses at VIVA 12.
Along with the expansion of the Board Review Course, VIVA brought together a fantastic array of pre-course symposia to kick off VIVA 11. The Monday sessions offered something for everyone, including an expanded full-day session dedicated to the allied health professional, which also incorporated the Laptop Learning’ system for the first time. A half-day Thrombosis Summit was met with a packed room, as was the first-ever day-long Medical Innovation Summit. This Summit highlighted the challenges of innovation in the United States with a symposium dedicated to covering all aspects of this subject. Moderated by Tony Das, MD (VIVA Physicians President), Michael R. Jaff, DO, Juan Granada, MD, and Peter Schneider, MD, representatives from the medical device arena, the United States Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service all presented their various perspectives on medical device innovation. Discussions surrounded novel device ideas, intellectual property, financial investing in medical devices, regulatory pathways for device approval and ultimately US reimbursement. This session was met with rave reviews including, ‘this is the most comprehensive analysis of challenges and opportunities associated with medical device development.’
Once the official week of VIVA began, two new full-day breakout sessions proved to be extremely popular. The first, an intense, yet intimate session in an arena-style theater entitled Strategies on the Frontline brought together a VIVA ‘platoon,’ discussing in-depth challenging topics in a situation-room setting. Themed days including ‘Boot Camp for Veterans,’ ‘The Presentation Bunker,’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’ provided focused presentations on a variety of topics utilizing multiple video screens from a suspended system and included spontaneous participation from the audience. The session truly showcased VIVA ‘s educational mission in a unique, interactive, and intimate environment. The second addition to VIVA ‘s program, the International Forum (THE FOR UM), incorporated a renowned faculty and audience from around the world. This two-day program offered insight and discussion from specialists from Europe, Asia, South America, and Oceania, among others. A true highlight of the session was the opportunity for THE FOR UM audience to view and comment on the live cases shown in the General Session main arena in real-time. These cases were broadcast into THE FOR UM to gather international input, with the ability for questions and comments from the room to be asked live in the General Session. The success of THE FOR UM and VIVA ‘s desire to reach an international audience coincides with plans to expand this session for VIVA 12.
A true highlight of VIVA 11 took place on Thursday night with a red carpet premiere of interesting vascular cases, shown in 3D! This event showcased taped cases in 3D, complete with simplified, bulleted teaching points which explained the steps of these difficult cases. This session not only offered theatrical special effects, but also provided a real opportunity to learn in a novel way.
VIVA is preparing for its 10 year anniversary conference, which will take place at Wynn Las Vegas from October 9-12, 2012. Registration opens March 20, 2012!
