Page 7 - Journal of Structural Heart Disease Volume 2, Issue 6

Historical Perspectives
Journal of Structural Heart Disease, December 2016, Volume 2, Issue 6:234-240
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12945/j.jshd.2016.016.16
Received: December 18, 2016 Accepted: December 18, 2016 Published online: December 2016
PICS: A Journey in Interventional Therapies for Congenital/Structural Heart Disease
We’ve come a long way!
Thomas K. Jones, MD1, Sharon L. Cheatham, PhD, ACNP2, John P. Cheatham, MD2,
Carlos AC Pedra, MD3, William E. Hellenbrand, MD4, Damien P. Kenny, MD5, Kimberly Ray, RN6, Ziyad M. Hijazi, MD7
1 Cardiology Division, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, Washington, USA
2 Cardiology Division, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
3 Cardiology Department, Instituto Dante Pazzanese, São Paulo, Brazil
4 Cardiology Division, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut, USA 5 Cardiology Department, Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland
6 Director, PICS Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, USA
7 Cardiology Department, Sidra Medical and Research Center, Doha, Qatar
The Pediatric and Adult Interventional Cardiac Symposium (PICS-AICS) celebrates its 20th year of bringing together the world’s best clinicians, educa- tors and researchers in the elds of pediatric and adult congenital and structural interventional cardi- ology and cardiac surgery in Miami, Florida from Jan- uary 16 – 19, 2017. On this momentous occasion it seems appropriate to take a moment to re ect on the impact this symposium has had on the work that we do to improve the lives of the patients we serve. The spirit of inquiry, collaboration and community fos- tered by PICS-AICS has created a unique environment for learning. It seems only right that we take a mo- ment to recognize and celebrate the impact this meeting has in our eld over the past two decades. The success of PICS-AICS to become the premier meeting in the world in our eld was built slowly from humble beginnings in Boston in 1997. Over the years, the key ingredients of live case demonstrations, lively
dialogue and debate, wide ranging didactic sessions in bioengineering, imaging, cardiac surgery, nursing care and, of course, interventional cardiology has cre- ated the perfect environment to share and learn from our colleagues from around the globe.
The Beginning
The story begins in December 1994 when Dr. Hijazi was invited to speak at a coronary intervention course at the Thorax Center in Rotterdam directed by Patrick Serruys. The meeting included live case demonstra- tions of coronary stenting procedures. Dr. Hijazi was impressed; believing a similar course for patients with congenital heart disease would have an important impact in the care we provided our patients. He rst approached Dr. John Hess who, at the time, was Chief of Cardiology at Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotter- dam, suggesting he conduct such a course, emulat-
* Corresponding Author:
Thomas K. Jones, MD
Cardiology Division
Seattle Children’s Hospital
4800 Sandpoint Way, NE, Seattle, WA, USA
Tel.: +1 206 987 2266; Fax: +1 206 987 3839; E-Mail: thomas.jones@seattlechildrens.org
Fax +1 203 785 3346
E-Mail: jshd@scienceinternational.org http://structuralheartdisease.org/
© 2016 Journal of Structural Heart Disease Published by Science International Corp. ISSN 2326-4004
Accessible online at:
http://structuralheartdisease.org/