On July 3-4, 2021, the "Minimally Invasive China Tour - The 5th Western Valve Forum" will be held in Chengdu, the "Capital of Heavenly Capital" in a combination of online and offline mode. On the occasion of the upcoming conference, Prof. Guo Yingqiang of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Vice Chairman of the 8th and 9th Youth Groups and member of the 10th Youth Group of the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association (CMS), was interviewed by Prof. Guo Yingqiang, who explained the highlights of the conference and his enthusiasm for the future development of valvular disease diagnosis and treatment in China through breaking down the barriers of the disciplines and cooperating with others for win-win results. He talks about his passion and determination for the future development of valvular disease diagnosis and treatment in China.Nowadays, cardiovascular diseases are becoming more and more complex, and the development of valve disease diagnosis and treatment means represented by TAVR marks the gradual end of the era of cardiovascular doctors "fighting alone", while the development of technology brings the unevenness of standardization and homogenization management. In the era of win-win cooperation, it is no longer the era of Zhao ZiLong fighting against a hundred and Xiang Yu killing a hundred, but the need for multidisciplinary teams to help each other and complement each other's strengths in dealing with complex cardiac pathologies, in order to bring patients the diagnosis and treatment effect of 1+1>2, and injecting new vitality and impetus into the development of the discipline.

On July 3-4, 2021, the "Minimally Invasive China Tour - The 5th Western Valve Forum" will be held in Chengdu, the "Capital of Heavenly Capital" in a combination of online and offline mode. On the occasion of the upcoming conference, Prof. Guo Yingqiang of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Vice Chairman of the 8th and 9th Youth Groups and member of the 10th Youth Group of the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association (CMS), was interviewed by Prof. Guo Yingqiang, who explained the highlights of the conference and his enthusiasm for the future development of valvular disease diagnosis and treatment in China through breaking down the barriers of the disciplines and cooperating with others for win-win results. He talks about his passion and determination for the future development of valvular disease diagnosis and treatment in China.

Keeping in line with the purpose of organizing the conference and giving it new functions

The Western Valve Forum (WVF) was initiated by two cardiac surgeons, Prof. Wang Chunsheng of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University (Vice Chairman of the Eighth and Ninth Committee of the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association (CMC)), and Prof. Guo Yingqiang of Huaxi Hospital, Sichuan University, and was organized by the minimally invasive valve team of the Cardiac Surgery Department of Huaxi Hospital of Sichuan University, to promote exchange, learning, and mutual guidance of valve intervention techniques and to promote and improve the diagnostic and treatment skills of cardiovascular physicians in the western region. Under the background of continuous development of interventional valvular disease technology, it aims to promote the exchange of cardiologists and surgeons in the western region to learn and instruct each other on interventional valvular disease technology, and to promote and improve the diagnostic and treatment skills of cardiovascular disease doctors.

After four years of precipitation, the conference has developed from a local forum into a top academic event and a top communication platform in the field of interventional valvular disease; while the scale of the conference has been expanding and its influence has gradually become far-reaching, the conference has always practiced the tenet of "openness, collaboration and inclusiveness".

This has enabled the conference to remain focused and vital in the process of disciplinary development, and has also given the conference a new function of solving problems arising from technological evolution.

Prof. Guo Yingqiang pointed out that since 2010, when TAVR technology was officially introduced into China, it marked the beginning of the valvular career in China, and after decades of development, the technology has gradually matured, and the popularization and promotion of the technology has reached a certain level; at the present stage, mitral and tricuspid collars are in the ascendant, and are gradually taking off, and the problem that needs to be solved urgently is the standardization of the management and quality control of the TAVR technology; meanwhile, through the development of aortic valve and the development of aortic valve, the Congress will be able to address the issues arising from the evolution of technology and the development of aortic valve. At the same time, through the development and maturation of the aortic valve, the healthy development of the mitral and tricuspid valves can be effectively standardized, which will lead to a faster and better development of the mitral and tricuspid valve fields.

"We all know that in the field of mitral and tricuspid valves, the number of patients and audience will be a bit more than aortic valves, which also highlights the importance of the issue of how to do a good job of standardization and management in the process of technological development. So we also hope that through the meeting, the medical and surgical departments will collaborate with each other, discuss together, and explore a suitable path for mitral and tricuspid valve standardization and health based on the development of the aortic valve."

This is also what this congress will emphasize and hope to address based on the current stage of interventional valve technology development. The conference will cover all areas of interventional heart valves, including aortic, mitral, and tricuspid valves, through keynote speeches, case sharing, and live surgical broadcasts, and will focus on quality control and bottlenecks in interventional valve technology.

There are three main areas:

I. Setting up multidisciplinary sub-forums, including different forums in the fields of cardiology, cardiac surgery, imaging, ultrasound, anesthesia, nursing, and other interventional valves that are multidisciplinary and multitopic;Senior experts and medical practitioners in the field are invited to share their advanced experiences in the development of interventional valves and to promote the standardization of some established surgical steps that have been developed, so that they can gradually take root in people's minds and penetrate into the centers or teams that come to participate in the meeting.

II. Multi-channel and holistic learning through specialized training;Interactive sessions will be held around the TAVR access routes via femoral artery and apical cardiac artery, and guests are encouraged to actively participate in the different sessions to gain an in-depth understanding of the two common access routes for TAVR surgery from the details to the whole, in order to realize the all-round development of doctors; thus, doctors will be able to provide patients with the most suitable treatment strategies in their daily work in the future.

III. Formation of the first draft of the technical specification recommendation document;Before the meeting, a special session on technical standardization will be held, starting from the basic quality of operators, radiating to the use of ultrasound, anesthesia management, imaging evaluation, etc. At the same time, with the goal of technical standardization, we will work together with the participating experts to form the first draft of a recommendation document to be used in the subsequent clinical practice. When the meeting is held in the coming year, the content of the recommendations will be further expanded or enriched according to the various real-life problems that occurred in the past year. It is hoped that after 3-5 years, a model technical specification that is widely accepted by most centers and operators nationwide will be developed, and efforts will be made to improve the quality of interventional valve surgery and benefit patients.

From point to point to do fine and fine, integration is the eternal theme

In four years, the Western Valve Forum has quietly grown into a high-quality academic event with high influence and popularity in the field of cardiac surgery in the country, from a staggering start at the beginning of the birth of the Forum to the unchanged original intention after the polishing of time. The subtle changes at each node in the development of the congress are a testimony to the pursuit of breaking down the barriers between disciplines and the integration of internal and external surgery by the organizers of the congress.

Since its inception, interventional surgery has been widely used in the clinic with the three major advantages of "less trauma, shorter operation time, and less pain", and has been well received by the patients; this maps out the evolution of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities from highly invasive to minimally invasive, and invariably compels surgeons to broaden their technical boundaries. Interventional valve technology, as a new diagnostic and treatment method, has naturally attracted many cardiac surgeons; however, most cardiac surgeons have not been in contact with interventional surgery before, which has led to many practical questions that need to be answered and solved in the process of learning and practicing.

The Western Valve Forum was born under such an opportunity.

Although the conference is run by the cardiac surgery department, the conference has never emphasized the main position of cardiac surgeons, and has advocated from the beginning to the end that the cardiac surgery department should run the conference collaboratively, help each other, and promote the integration of the cardiac surgery department, so as to achieve the goal of cooperation and win-win situation. At the same time, the conference is also constantly promoting the integration of different technologies. In the era of interventional valve surgery, the importance of multidisciplinary cooperation among ultrasound, imaging, and anesthesia has been demonstrated to the fullest extent in this field; therefore, the common development of the surgical team is also particularly important.

"Simply doctors doing well doesn't necessarily lead to good results. Integration is an eternal theme, we have to stick to innovation, stick to our original intention, stick to the result-oriented healthcare service model, and in the future, we will make ourselves better in the midst of competition." Prof. Guo Yingqiang emphasized.

From point to point, the development of interventional valve technology also gave the conference new insights.

Despite the relative economic backwardness of the western region compared with developed regions such as Beijing and Shanghai, the development of interventional valve therapy has gained momentum, with the West China Hospital of Sichuan University as a leader in interventional therapy in the country.

One commonality in the development of interventional valve technology, both in the west and across the country, is that the popularity and coverage of the technology is relatively small; although hundreds of hospitals in China are performing interventional valve surgery, there are still a few hospitals that perform more than 50 procedures per year, which means that there are still limitations in the population and region that can be covered by interventional valve technology.

Second, there are fewer teams that have mastered the full range of interventional valve techniques, including transapical, transfemoral, and surgical routes, which means that most hospitals are unable to provide patients with the most appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. In addition, TAVR surgical practices vary between centers and hospitals; however, the healthy development of a new technology must be based on good technical specifications and quality control.

Therefore, in the future, the conference will adhere to the pace of cardiology and surgery, long-term commitment to promote the quality control of domestic interventional technology, and constantly expand the influence of the conference; the conference will no longer be limited to the field of interventional valves, but will expand to the field of minimally invasive interventions in the large vessels, coronary artery disease, arrhythmia, and even heart failure, so as to do a fine job and lead to the development of the other areas of cardiovascular disease, and do better for the patients with cardiovascular diseases in China. The company will also promote the development of other cardiovascular fields and provide better services for patients with cardiovascular diseases in China.

"Running a meeting is like we bring up a child, bring him up from childhood, now this child slowly grows up, maybe you preliminarily just let him grow up healthily in the beginning, when this child grows up to a certain extent, we hope that this child can make contributions, whether it's to the society, to the family, or to the individual, and be able to make some positive results out of it. "

Forging an Excellent Interventional Valve Team with Patient Service in Mind