After a successful 2011 SA Heart Congress we're already starting to plan the next one! The theme is structural heart disease and will be held at Sun City from 19-22 July next year. Click for more details.

The reports tabled at the 2011 AGM have been posted for your perusal.

SA Heart members now have online access to the journals Circulation and Current Opinion in Cardiology. Click for more information.

The European Society of Cardiology’s Annual Meeting was held in Paris from 27 to 31 August. Dr AJ Dalby has submitted his report on the proceedings.

The European Society of Cardiology has released the following new or updated Guidelines:

1. ESC/EAS Guidelines for the Management of Dyslipidaemias
2. ESC Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Peripheral Arterial Diseases
3. ESC Guidelines for the Management of Acute Coronary Syndromes in patients presenting Without Persistent ST-Segment Elevation
4. ESC Guidelines on the Management of Cardiovascular Diseases during Pregnancy

As previously, the South African Heart Association, an Affiliated Member of the ESC, adopts these Guidelines as its own. These Guidelines may be accessed at escardio.org/guidelines.

LASSA News:
- Prof Dave Marias attended the 79th European Atherosclerosis Society meeting in Gothenburg and reports on his experiences.
- LASSA’s two-yearly congress took place in Bloemfontein in April.  Read the Society’s report on the meeting and the proceedings of its AGM.

Meetings to diarise: The 2011 Congress of the SA Heart Association will take place in East London from 23-26 October. The theme for the SA heart congress is Currents in Cardiology.

A consensus statement and guideline on trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has just been released by SA Heart together with two of its special interest groups, SASCI and SCTSSA.

Applications are invited for the annual Louis Vogelpoel Travelling Scholarship for 2012. Applications will be accepted from February 2011 to 31 January 2012 and the scholarship awarded after the closing date in 2012. An amount of up to R15000 towards the travel and accommodation costs of a local or international congress will be offered annually by the Cape Western branch of the South African Heart Association in memory of one of South Africa’s outstanding cardiologists, Dr Louis Vogelpoel. Read more...

Applications are invited for the SA Heart Research and SA Heart Travel Scholarships.