Vascular InterVentional Advances (VIVA ) celebrated its 10th anniversary at last year’s annual conference held October 9–12, 2012 at Wynn Las Vegas. VIVA continued its decade-long tradition of offering a multidisciplinary educational symposium with record attendance of more than 2,000 attendees and 100 faculty members representing vascular surgery, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, vascular medicine, cardiac surgery, and neuroendovascular specialists. Chock-full of cutting-edge technology, world-renowned faculty, and all-new innovative sessions, VIVA 12 offered something for every attendee on each day of the conference. In addition to continuing the
previous year’s successful elements, such as learning in 3D and the intense Strategies on the Frontline session, VIVA offered even more options for attendees both inside and outside of the general session.
For the third year, VIVA began the week with a twoday Vascular and Endovascular Board Review Course (VE BRC ), a collaborative effort with the Society for Vascular Medicine (SVM ) to prepare attendees for the vascular and endovascular exams offered by the American Board of Vascular Medicine. Participants utilized VIVA ’s proprietary Laptop Learning™ system, allowing immediate interaction with faculty, real-time viewing of PowerPoint presentations, access to sample examinations, and the ability to review all presentations (complete with audio and video) at their leisure. Attendees found the course to be a concise review and update of current therapies as well as a great education, even if not taking the board exam. The success of the course bodes well for continued review offerings at future VIVA s.
VIVA ’s precourse sessions, known for one-half and fullday courses dedicated to specific areas of focus, expanded to offer a three-day track for cardiovascular healthcare professionals. Historically, this course has been one full day, but in response to attendees’ desire to gain greater exposure at VIVA , the course took place over three days and included a dedicated faculty and active participation with the live cases broadcast from the general session. Attendees felt the course gave many different perspectives and approaches to management, which is much more in line with real life practice. Another twist on a traditional VIVA session was the half-day course, “The Business of Health Care,” dedicated to vascular professionals to explore their role in regards to health care reform and public policy. Moderator Dr. Michael R. Jaff, along with Dr. Srikant Datar of Harvard Business School, provided leadership for this packed session. Also a first for VIVA was an in-depth halfday course dedicated to critical limb ischemia codirected by Dr. John Rundback and Dr. Richard Neville. The course was extremely successful, and an expanded session is being planned for this year. Lastly, a half-day session dedicated to
the hot topics in venous interventions rounded out VIVA ’s wide array of presymposia options.
The official start of VIVA brought a general session packed with live cases, along with multiple and varied concurrent sessions. With the great success of its inaugural session last year, Strategies on the Frontline did not disappoint, offering an intense, yet intimate session held in VIVA ’s arenastyle theater. VIVA is now bringing this successful session to the international space, so look for it at the LINC and CICE conferences this year. Once again, VIVA ’s International Forum brought together leading experts from around the world, including international physicians and US fellows-intraining who competed in the “Face-Off with VIVA Faculty” session—a fast-paced electronic competition showcasing accepted abstracts and offering prizes for top winners in each category. The theme of rapid-paced presentations continued in VIVA ’s new course, THE BLITZ . This extremely popular and up-tempo session (think the endovascular equivalent of speed dating) required attendees to rotate around the room every eight minutes to hear presentations on various topics. A true highlight of this rapid-paced environment is the encouragement of active audience participation, as well as the ability to learn so much in so little time! Expect these speedy sessions to continue for 2013.
With VIVA ’s desire to stay at the forefront of the technology arena and expanding upon its introduction to 3D learning in 2011, the general session offered more live cases than ever before, each with a special preview in 3D . The 70-foot 3D screen allowed each attendee to don a pair of special glasses to view a brief educational training in 3D ,
relevant to the upcoming case. As one attendee stated, “VIVA continues to innovate. Bravo!”
VIVA 12’s Anniversary Gala surprised attendees with a flash mob to Bon Jovi’s “Living on Prayer” by VIVA board members and staff. Bringing together faculty, industry, and attendees, the evening gala provided a space to network with colleagues before the continuation of the week’s conference.
With more than 97% of attendees stating they would consider attending VIVA in the future, VIVA is underway in its preparations for VIVA 13, which will take place at Wynn Las Vegas from October 8–11, 2013. Registration opens in March, 2013.
