EuroIntervention @ EuroPCR The 2nd annual symposium! Today!

Chairmen Patrick W. Serruys and Andrew Ong will be presenting the five best papers from the May edition chosen by the editorial board and reviewers of the journal. Each will be commented on by a guest speaker. Yesterday we introduced you to the first two and now we take our own "glimpse into the future" with three others of these chosen papers.

Francesco Saia from the Università di Bologna, in Bologna, Italy will be presenting insights from the large (14,115 patients), multicentre REAL registry which was performed in order to identify those cases with a greater benefit with DES. This study which included a large cohort of patients with complete follow-up demonstrated that the relative efficacy of DES in reducing TVR rates increased with increasing likelihood of clinical restenosis at baseline.

Raoul Bonan of the Montreal Heart Institute, in Montreal Canada will discuss an "Anatomo-pathological analysis after CoreValve Revalving system implantation" reporting on the pathologic findings in 4 patients who died following CoreValve percutaneous aortic valve implantation for 3, 13, 104 and 350 days.

Gross examination showed neointimal tissue covering most of the frame struts in contact with the aortic wall, but areas of high velocity blood flow were bare.

Histopathology examination demonstrated fibrin deposition and inflammatory response early after valve implantation followed by neointimal coverage with progressive regression of the inflammatory response over time. While waiting for results of longer term follow-up, the anatomic assessment is encouraging with neointimal coverage of the native valve site and no excessive pannus formation over the leaflets.

From the Northern Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, Peter Barlis will present a paper on a "multicentre evaluation of the safety of intracoronary optical coherence tomography (OCT)". The assessment of the acute complications associated with the clinical use of intracoronary OCT will be discussed and while OCT is a specialised technique with a relatively steep learning curve, major complications are uncommon. Upcoming developments promise to make OCT more practical and less procedurally demanding, also potentially conserving contrast volume considerably.

The 2nd Annual Review Competition And the winner is...

The dust has settled, and the results are in, and it is with great solemnity that the editorial board of EuroIntervention has the honour to once again announce the winner of our coveted 2nd Annual "Fastest Reviewer" competition. With a clear lead of over 10 minutes from his nearest rival it is Pascal Vranckx with a breath-taking 1 hour and 27 minutes. Following in 2nd place at 1 hour and 43 minutes is Eugene McFadden leaving our champion from last year, Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai, in third place with a respectable 2 hours, 45 minutes review time. But watch out! Giuseppe Biondi- Zoccai is still a threat with an amazing 5 places in the top 20 times!

Remember you can catch Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai and his co-chair Arie- Pieter Kappetein in room 128 for our symposium, "Tips & Tricks for a successful publication" on Thursday 13:30-15:30.