From 1 to 13 April, Almazov Centre hosted the 16th edition of the Annual Advanced Training Workshop, themed “Strategy and Tactics of Chronic Heart Failure Treatment”.
Following a long-standing tradition, the April Heart Failure Workshop was held at Almazov Centre in the first two weeks of April. For 16 years, this advanced training cycle has become widely known and in demand throughout Russia. It is a unique module of training seminars and cases that provides structured information on modern strategy and tactics of chronic heart failure management.
This year marked the first occasion since the onset of the pandemic that the workshop was held in a fully face-to-face format, with at least 45 participants in attendance, including specialists from emergency room, inpatient and outpatient care. The participants hailed from a number of locations, including St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Kirov, Arkhangelsk region, Leningrad region, Izhevsk, and Khanty-Mansiysk. The daily lectures were also well attended by students and clinical residents studying at Almazov Centre and other institutions in St. Petersburg.
The workshop was taught by 36 experts who gave 62 lectures, including 8 clinical cases. Another 6 lectures were presented online for self-study. Over 12 days, the most relevant topics in the field of managing patients with heart failure were covered: from pathogenesis and algorithms for patient examination to potential applications of high-tech treatment methods. Additionally, the current clinical recommendations used by international professional communities and the Russian Ministry of Health were discussed. A series of special days were organized to facilitate the study of specific topics. These included «Right Ventricle Day,» «Day of Special Patient Groups,» and «Day of Metabolic Deviations.»
The lectures on diuretic and inotropic therapy, arrhythmology, tactics of management of ‘special patients’ with obesity, hyperuricemia, pulmonary hypertension, as well as in decompensated CHF were the most popular. Clinical cases with the analysis of specific patients were particularly useful in helping attendees to assimilate the material. The Heart Failure Research Department and the Department of Advanced Training at Almazov Centre have consistently delivered educational events in a warm and friendly atmosphere, with professionals engaging in discourse with students on a par with the younger generation of doctors.