EuroPCR Kicks Off In Person Next Week in Paris: Here’s What to Expect

After 2 years of online only, the congress will have “added value” for those attending, but plenty of options for remote viewing.

EuroPCR Kicks Off In Person Next Week in Paris: Here’s What to Expect

After 2 years of being online only, this year’s EuroPCR meeting is back in person and will be recognizable to all who’ve attended in the past, with a mix of late-breaking data, hot topics, innovation, training, awards ceremonies, and a “got talent” competition for early career physicians. The meeting has also incorporated a number of lessons learned during lockdowns that will optimize participation for people who can’t or won’t be making the trip to Paris, while offering “added value” for those who attend on-site, according to PCR Chair William Wijns, MD (Lambe Institute for Translational Medicine and CÚRAM, Galway, Ireland).

The number of attendees registered to attend in person is already beyond “our wildest dreams,” said Wijns, saying he’d have official numbers at the end of the meeting. Roughly the same number have registered to attend the meeting online, he estimated.

“People are really eager to join,” said Wijns. “We really sense the enthusiasm.”

The 4-day on-site program will include nearly 300 educational sessions distributed across 21 rooms, including three TV studios broadcasting content for the digital attendees but with an in-person audience. More than 120 sessions will be livestreamed, with options for replay or watching on demand at a later date.

In all, 47 “hotline/late-breaking” presentations, as well as a range of abstract and case-based sessions, will be live online. What won’t be steamed live to the digital audience, said Wijns, are some of the hands-on training sessions that simply don’t translate well to virtual viewing, as well as—notably—the live cases. These, he added, will be offered on demand, with editing if warranted, 1 day later.

In a departure from years prior, the main arena will be dedicated to these live cases, “with the doors closed,” said Wijns—a decision taken to avoid scenarios in which a live patient procedure ends up being simultaneously broadcast to an inappropriate or unintended audience. “That also has added value for those who are on-site, because they can participate like in the past,” said Wijns.

Late-Breaking Data

The hotline/late-breaking sessions are grouped by subtopic and range from renal denervation to TAVR and other structural heart interventions, coronary devices and physiology, as well as drug-eluting balloons. Among the highlights singled out by Wijns for TCTMD:

  • Updates on renal denervation trials (SPYRAL-HTN On-MED, RADIANCE-HTN SOLO, and TRIO) as well as 3-year results from the Global Prospective Registry For Sympathetic Renal Denervation in Selected Indications (GSR).
  • A large network analysis aimed at dual antiplatelet decision-making for high-bleeding-risk patients after PCI.
  • A range of radial studies, including DISCO comparing distal versus conventional radial access for coronary angiography and intervention.
  • A large number of TAVI analyses, with a special emphasis on risk assessment, procedure planning, coronary access, and new valve innovations.
  • Early results of dedicated devices for aortic, mitral, and tricuspid regurgitation.
  • New tools for coronary physiology assessment and procedure planning, including the use of big data and machine learning to improve on coronary angiography.

Of note, with live cases confined to the main arena, all of the late-breaking presentations will take place in the smaller theatre—Room Maillot—with the exception of the three renal denervation studies on day one, which will be broadcast from Studio Havana. These presentations on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, coincide with World Hypertension Day.

According to Wijns, a great deal of behind-the-scenes work has gone into staging the studio-based presentations as well as training the presenters and faculty for this format, in order to ensure that it’s engaging both for the studio audience as well as remote viewers. Also pioneered during the pandemic, the “hub” and “pod” models permitting viewers in other countries to host sessions or view content in a curated, group setting has been incorporated into this year’s meeting.

All of this, said Wijns, has been a tremendous learning opportunity for meeting planners and faculty, but he believes the model is well-suited to a pandemic that, after all, is not yet fully in the rearview mirror.

In fact, masks are recommended but not mandatory at EuroPCR, which is following public health directives for France: masking is currently only compulsory on public transport and in health facilities. Of note, earlier this week the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency jointly announced that masks will no longer be mandatory on European flights and in airports—France has said it will drop these mask mandates Monday, the day before EuroPCR begins.

Proof of vaccination is also not required for the meeting, although full vaccination, a certificate of exemption (issued in France), or proof of recovery from COVID-19 in the last 6 months is required to enter the country.

“Everyone in the Palais des Congrès is being requested to respect all social distancing recommendations throughout the Course, and to test if they feel ill,” the EuroPCR website advises. COVID tests are available at a pharmacy in the convention center.

Wijns said he himself plans to wear a mask at all times and is curious to see how common masks are when the congress opens Tuesday morning.

TCTMD reporters are covering EuroPCR in person. Follow @TCTMD on Twitter, and check back for coverage starting Tuesday, May 17.

Shelley Wood is Managing Editor of TCTMD and the Editorial Director at CRF. She did her undergraduate degree at McGill…

Read Full Bio

Comments