Netherlands Heart Days 2009

January 22-24, 2009

Groningen, June 2008 Dear Colleagues, Continuing developments in the field of cardiovascular medicine rapidly surmount boundaries between a wide variety of specialties. On the one hand a formerly mainly diagnostic speciality such as radiology is dealing more and more with direct patient care. On the other hand formerly mainly clinically orientated specialties such as (pediatric) cardiology and cardiovascular surgery rely more and more on new imaging techniques. Technical and research achievements are implemented in very short time intervals, while new software upgrades and complete new analytic software tools for cardiac applications become available each three months. These rapid developments are difficult to track for busy clinicians. During the Netherlands Heart Days (NNHD) new developments in cardiovascular medicine will be highlighted: basic aspects such as cardiovascular disease, acute coronary syndrome, valve diagnostics, heart failure and cardiovascular Post-Processing. This year’s sessions on Saturday will focus also on topics concerning interactions between radiologist and cardiologist in the Caribbean and on cardiac developments in the Caribbean. From many other perspectives the organizers decided three years ago to start an annual course in Curaçao, the Netherlands-Antilles. The goal is to establish a remote medical platform, on which medical doctors can orient themselves on new developments in cardiovascular diagnosis and treatment, together with updates on state of the art cardiac courses addressing the full scope of the many aspects of cardiovascular care. This in an optimal interdisciplinary format, in which interactions between colleagues can occur at a very low threshold. We hope to welcome you in Curaçao in January 2009 ! Prof. Dr. M. Oudkerk