Report from the recent European Association of Preventative Cardiology (EAPC) / American College of Cardiology (ACC) Sports Cardiology Course, hosted by Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) & Cleveland Clinic London:
“Such useful advice for general cardiologists like me as we do, at times, see very fit individuals and athletes with concerns – so it’s really helpful to know when and when not to worry.” (example of feedback from a delegate at the EAPC Sports Cardiology Course 2024)
3 September 2024: almost 300 delegates attended an intense, informative and interactive event, held in Central London, sharing the very latest developments in sports cardiology as part of the EAPC Sports Cardiology Course. This was the 10th anniversary of the EAPC course which was first held in London back in 2005. For the first time EAPC, an association of the ESC, joint forces with the American College of Cardiology Foundation to bring a truly international flavour to the course. In a change to the annual research calendar, the leading charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) took the decision to partner with EAPC and Cleveland Clinic London and co-host its International Conference (which has been held in late October for the past 16 years), immediately following on from the 2024 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress, which was also being held in London. The format delivered a ‘packed programme’ of presentations on key aspects of sports Cardiology practice, discussion and interactive sessions.
Details of the full agenda and speakers can be found here
Chief Executive of CRY, Dr Steven Cox; explains; “The fact that ‘every cardiologist was in town’ across the weekend of 30 August to 2 September, led us to rearrange and restructure our annual research conference – it just made perfect sense to reduce travel times and costs and ‘keep the conversation going’ after an amazing ESC meeting in London. As such, we welcomed one of our biggest ‘in person’ events ever (with many other delegates joining us online) and it was just incredible to have such a global ‘cardiology community’ making up our audience, from so many different countries across Europe and the rest of the world, plus a large contingent from the US, thanks to our new collaboration with the American College of Cardiology Foundation.
“The feedback from delegates and speakers alike has been unanimously positive and has reassured all of us involved in the organisation of this event that we ‘got in right’ in terms of the timings, themes and overall tone.
“Sports cardiology – alongside our mission of achieving a greater understanding of the causes and risk factors of young sudden cardiac death in the general population – is at the core of CRY’s research portfolio. It’s vital that those involved in furthering developments in the ways athletes are screened, monitored and [when necessary] treated can come together to share knowledge and international guidelines. As a UK-based research organisation, CRY was delighted to organise and host this pioneering event and we look forward to working with the EAPC team again in the future.”
The agenda comprised 3 key ‘umbrella’ sessions, with 14 expert-led presentations delivered during the day:
- Interpreting the athlete’s ECG
- Interpreting the athlete’s imaging
- Keeping our athletes safe
Audience participation was key to the success of the course. Delegates were invited to take part in quizzes and panel discussions at the end of each session, with the latter part of the programme dedicated to the delivery of four interactive sports cardiology cases:
- Veteran athlete with AF
- Young athlete with cardiomyopathy
- Athlete with arrythmia
- Athlete with valvular heart disease and aortopathy
And, as is tradition at the CRY International Research Conference, the event was rounded off with the “Ultimate Sports Cardiology Quiz”!
CRY would like to thank our event sponsors (full details can be found here) who made this course possible. We would like to thank all the faculty who dedicated their invaluable time to the course and the audience who made this course a success.
A special acknowledgement goes to the EAPC team who entrusted us with the organisation of the course, the ACC team and the course co-director Dr Jonathan Kim who supported the development of the course and our co-hosts Cleveland Clinic London for their invaluable contribution in organising the course. Finally, we would like to thank Professor Michael Papadakis for his vision and his role in developing such a bespoke agenda.
