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Welcome to the Heart Failure Society of South Africa

The Heart Failure Society of South Africa (HeFSSA), is the first of its kind in Africa. Hefssa was formed in 2005 under its parent body, the South African Heart Association (SAHA).

HeFSSA’s mission is to promote research and collaboration on heart failure issues in South Africa and around the world.

HeFSSA Echocardiography Programme

The next course will be held on 8 August 2010 at the South African Heart Associaiton Congress.  The course will be organised by Dr Darryl Smith and Dr Christina Radulescu with support from the HeFSSA executive. For inquiries please contact Franciska du Toit (HeFSSA Office) on 082 806 1599 or e-mail info@hefssa.org.

Previous Echo course at SA Heart Congress 2010

Prof. Jae Oh

January 2010 – Echocardiography in collaboration with Mayo Clinic:
The HeFSSA Echocardiography workshop, which was held in collaboration with faculty from the Mayo Clinic (US) drew more than 230 delegates and was one of the highlights of SAHA 2009. Delegates who attended the course requested that this becomes an annual institution at the SA Heart Congress. This specific meeting was made possible with support from all our corporate members with Philips being very involved. The HeFSSA Executive will discuss this with the SA Heart Association and the decision will be communicated to the members.

HeFSSA News

January 2010 – Welcome back after what I hope has been a rejuvenating and peaceful break!

2010 promises to be a big and busy year for HeFSSA but 1st some reflection on the past year.

SA Heart Congress 2009:
The SA Heart Congress 2009, organized by HeFSSA with assistance from other Special Interest groups, proved to be a big success. The meeting attracted approximately 1300 delegates and the academic programme was well accepted featuring both renowned international speakers and ample opportunity for local faculty. (Download PDF)

HeFSSA educates the public

Eric Klug, HeFSSA GP program SA Heart Congress

January 2010 – Historically, HeFSSA GP programmes were predominantly driven by our individual pharmaceutical corporate members. Pharmadynamics and Medtronic took the lead during 2009. These meetings were advertised by the company and the latter was heavily involved in deciding the areas in which these meetings were to be held.

Now, with five Corporate Members on board, four of which (AstraZeneca, Pharmadynamics, Servier and Medtronic) have a specific interest in educating GPs, HeFSSA is in a position to launch a formalised training programme on Heart Failure for GPs. Running the programme centrally from the HeFSSA office will ensure that all major areas across South Africa will be covered and all GPs who would like to learn about Heart Failure will get the opportunity to do so.

HeFSSA is planning 18 meetings in the following major centres: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein. For more information or contact Franciska du Toit on 082 806 1599 or e-mail franciska@hefssa.org.

The Lancet review endorses Drugs for the Heart

August 2009 – Lionel H Opie and Bernard J Gersh’s book Drugs for the Heart (7th edition, Saunders/Elsevier, 2009) gets an enthusiastic recommendation in the August 15, 2009 edition of The Lancet (Vol 374). The reviewer, Kim Eagle, says: “This new edition is even better than the last, and that one was good.” The book is “packed with useful information”, he says, and contains “the clearest figures and tables that I have ever seen”. Prof Eagle is director of the Cardiovascular Center at the University of Michigan Health System. (Download PDF) for the full review.

Peripartum Cardiomyopathy Working Group

July 2009 – The new working Peripartum Cardiomyopathy Working Group of the Heart Failure Association of the European Cardiac Society had its first meeting in congress in Nice France.

Aims of the PPCM study group

To establish a platform where the current knowledge of PPCM based on international experimental and clinical studies is summarised and regularly updated, for example in the form of consensus papers.

We will raise awareness of this rare but detrimental disease in specific awareness programmes, i.e. sessions of international and national congresses and publishing articles in local and international scientific publications. Furthermore we provide information and contact addresses on our webpage for physicians and patients.

In addition, we plan to coordinate international data collection and analysis for better understanding of the disease.

We will regularly meet to discuss and optimise current management strategies of PPCM in terms of diagnostic test, novel therapy strategies, and collecting data on long-term prognosis.

Members:

European Heart Failure Society symposium

July 2009 – HeFSSA and the European Heart Failure Society hosted a joint symposium during the European Heart Failure meeting in Nice, France (30 May to 2 June 2009). A similar symposium will follow during the SA Heart Congress 2009.

The executives of HeFSSA and the European Heart Failure Society have recently approved the mutual affiliation of the two societies. This development will benefit both through academic and research collaboration.

The definitive echo experience (Sun City, 22-25 October 2009)

July 2009 – HeFSSA, the special interest group responsible for hosting SA Heart 2009, cordially invites you to attend the 10th South African Heart Association Congress at Sun City, 22-25 October 2009.

Apart from the normal plenary sessions, the following specialised programmes are on offer:

HeFSSA echocardiography workshop in association with Mayo faculty
Thursday, 22 October offers a specialised echocardiography course in association with five international Mayo speakers.

The programme is designed for adult and paediatric cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, intensivists, anaesthetists, sonographers, physicians with an interest in echocardiography and fellows-in-training.

HeFSSA cardiovascular revision for the active practitioner

July 2009 – HeFSSA is hosting a cardiovascular update designed specially for general practitioners and physicians on Thursday, 22 October, the day before the Annual SA Heart 2009 Congress.

This programme involves advice on clinical assessments of cardiac patients, interpreting ECGs, recommendations on cardiovascular risk profiling and treatment tips for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, coronary artery disease, arrhythmias and heart failure. Patient case studies will be used extensively.

Local experts, under the leadership and guidance of Dr Eric Klug (Specialist Physician/Cardiologist and Secretary of HeFSSA), will deliver the presentations on the day.

Visit www.saheart.co.za to register for this exciting educ ational endeavour, which is supported with an unrestricted grant from Astra-Zeneca, South Africa.

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© 2010 The Heart Failure Society of South Africa. Phone: 083 458 5954. Fax: 086 675 0805. Email: info(at)hefssa(dot)org

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