Cardiologists: with hi-tech a growing convergence between clinicians and interventionalists

In the last two decades we have witnessed a rapid evolution of non-coronary interventional cardiology with a continuous increase in the number of procedures and their complexity. We now have a broad spectrum of percutaneous therapeutic options, ranging from PFO-DIA or left auricular closure,to interventional (repair or replacement) heart valves, to catheter extraction and renal denervation.

In this rapidly developing scenario with ever-increasing therapeutic possibilities, the clinical cardiologist plays a decisive role: he is often the first to identify the potentially eligible patient, to raise the diagnostic suspicion, to assess the patient's symptomatology, to establish the timing of referral to intervention, and to follow up. The early identification of patients susceptible to advanced therapies, sometimes even in the paucisymptomatic phase, the interpretation of instrumental and imaging data, both echocardiographic and multimodal, are the fundamental prerequisites for increasing the chances of success in this rapidly evolving field. Indeed, recent literature has shown how the correct timing of intervention and the accurate choice of the ideal patient to be a candidate for structural cardiology procedures have a direct impact on the effectiveness of interventions, mortality, reduction in hospitalisations and improvement in quality of life.

At the ANMCO SYNERGY congress, which took place in Bari, experts in the field discussed these highly topical and interesting issues. It was a much-awaited event that, starting from shared experiences, provided a focus on clinics, diagnostics and the most modern pharmacological and interventional therapies of cardiovascular pathologies.

The course is designed to reinforce the indispensable synergy between two aspects of modern cardiology, the clinical and the interventional, offering the necessary tools to orientate oneself in interventional and pharmacological therapeutic choices that are no longer current. The double 'Y' in the name SYNERGY is not a graphic quirk, but the symbol of this profound identity: it represents the two souls that make modern structural interventionalism possible - the clinical cardiologist and the haemodynamist. Two different skills, two complementary perspectives, one single direction: working in synergy to correctly define indications, timing, imaging and follow-up, translating structural procedures into more effective and personalised clinical decisions for the patient. SYNERGY is therefore the visual sign of an indispensable collaboration, the meeting point where the clinic interprets interventional medicine and interventional medicine enhances the clinic.

*Director of Cardiology at the F. Miulli Hospital in Acquaviva delle Fonti (Bari) and President ANMCO