New this year - Live in-a-box™

This year sees the introduction of a new type of 'Live' case at EuroPCR. The Live in-a-box™ concept is a new collaboration between centres at Aalst, London, Monaco and Toulouse, designed to give a higher educational value to Live cases.

One criticism of traditional live cases is that they often do not allow enough time for discussion, either because of the length of the procedure, the fact that the operator and cathlab team are under pressure or because a complication arises that must be dealt with quickly. As a result, sometimes many session attendees do not get to ask questions that they might otherwise have asked. The Live in-a-boxv concept can help to improve upon the traditional live case in that these delays do not occur.

How are Live in-a-box™ cases put together?

Live in-a-box™ cases are recorded in the same manner as a traditional live case but are later edited to a length that will allow more time for panellists and audience to discuss the cases in greater detail. There is nothing of significance removed from the original case, instead, any gaps or 'down time' is removed. The practical aspects and decision-making process remains in place as with traditional live cases.

What are the advantages of Live in-a-box™ cases?

A representative from the team that performed the procedure shown in the Live ina- box™ case will be present at the appropriate session to talk through the case and answer detailed queries from the panel and audience.

Another advantage of the Live in-a-box™ style of case presentation is that it is easier for the panel to ask more probing questions of the operating team representative.

During traditional live cases, the panel are aware that the operator is under a certain amount of duress and may not always be able to fully engage with the panel. Live ina- box™ allows for full engagement with the panel!

So what is the focus behind the Live in-a-box ™ case concept?

Live in-a-box™ will increase the educational value of sessions. There will be a wide array of different procedures shown including coronary and transcatheter aortic valve procedures. One area where it is predicted that the Live in-a-box™ cases will have a very dramatic impact is during the 'Learning the techniques' sessions. The entire focus of these sessions is teaching and education.

During the Learning the techniques sessions, the audience get to ask as many questions as they want about a procedure and the advantage of using Live in-a-box™ for these sessions is that the format is such that the Live in-a-box™ cases will take less time to view than a traditional live case and will therefore allow the audience even more time to make full use of the expert knowledge on-hand during the sessions.

What about the traditional Live case?

You may be wondering if the traditional live case has any benefits over Live in-a-box™! The shortest answer is 'Yes'.

One of the elements that live cases capture that may be lost in some of the Live in-abox ™ cases is the cool and level-headed reaction of the cathlab team when something does not go to plan.

In this respect traditional live cases still hold at least one advantage. However, even the Live in-a-box™ format can be used to capture this reaction where appropriate.

We feel that the Live in-a-box™ concept further enhances the educational advantage of already excellent sessions and rather than competing with traditional live cases are simply an additional learning tool that can be used in some situations where traditional live cases are either not feasible or are inappropriate.

We trust that you will enjoy and make the most of this latest addition to the EuroPCR educational suite of tools.

Finally, we would like to thank all the centres, cathlab teams, operators, fellows and of course the patients who made it possible for us to film and put together these cases.