Seminar on cardiovascular diseases opens in Doha

World-renowned heart experts have gathered in Doha for “Options for Myocardial Revascularization” seminar, which opened at the Hamad Medical Corporation’s Heart Hospital yesterday. The two-day seminar aims to find the latest and most advanced technique of diagnosing and treating cardiovascular diseases, such as the coronary artery disease – the most common cause of deaths in Qatar. Revascularization is “a surgical procedure for the provision of a new, additional, or augmented blood supply to a body part or organ”. The inaugural seminar is being organized under the joint initiative titled “Qatar Heart Science Series” launched by the Qatar Cardiovascular Research Centre (QCRS) and the Heart Hospital. QCRS and the Heart Hospital are planning to hold between four and six international seminars per year in Doha as part of the series. “Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death in Qatar and the most common of all CVDs is the coronary artery disease, which usually leads to myocardial revascularization (MR). This fact informed our decision to start this series with MR (Myocardial Revascularization) in order to know more about it and learn the latest technique of dealing with it,” seminar chair Dr. Amer Chaikhouni said yesterday. Cases of CVDs are high among people in Qatar due to prevalent risk factors such as diabetes, obesity, smoking and high blood pressure. According to him, the majority of the patients come from the South Asian countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, and their average age is 45 years. Heart Hospital medical director Dr. Abdulwahid al-Mulla highlighted some of the objectives of the seminar, which are to exchange knowledge, to ensure the development of continuous education, to establish international network of collaborations and to generate research ideas. Two of the distinguished speakers at the seminar are Oxford University Cardiovascular professor David Taggart and Imperial College of Sciences, Medicine and Technology professor Carlo di Mario.