Preface
The 16th World Meeting of the Union Internationale de Phlébologie which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Union founded in Meyrargues, near Monaco, closed a year of many new activities started in the UIP. One major activity was the inauguration of consensus groups, working towards a worldwide curriculum of phlebology. The reinforcement of the UIP Fellowships with a new supportive sponsor is in line with the aim of the UIP to encourage studies and research on disorders of venous origin. In addition, the UIP started a big epidemiological project in cooperation with Servier, the Vein Consult Program, which will enable us to have a snapshot of chronic venous disease in many countries worldwide and to collect a huge database from nearly 80 000 patients. The only objective of these activities is to help towards more effective communication between phlebologists worldwide.
Meetings like the 16th World Meeting in Monaco are among the most important ways of transmitting information and knowledge. This is a unique occasion to summarize the latest progress, to update our knowledge, to devise new research and, above all, to meet and exchange with colleagues from all parts of the world. But outside the congress venue, there is the far greater number of would-be delegates, clinicians, and basic scientists for whom venous disease may also be a core interest, but who are unable to attend for a variety of reasons, like clinical commitments, funding, or administrative constraints.
The initiative of Servier to report on important congresses in the field, thus keeping all venous specialists fully informed, meets the main concern of the UIP, which aims to facilitate communication between them and, at the same time, to offer training and continuing medical education.
This would not have been possible without the commitment of a group of young reporters from different countries who, together with the chairman, perused the congress program and made an initial selection of the events and presentations likely to represent breakthroughs or new findings. Reports were written up hot from the auditorium, taking up a substantial amount of time for all concerned. Many thanks to the Medical Reporters’ Academy for the task they have done in updating venous disease specialists’ skills.
Happy reading.
Eberhard RABE
President of the UIP
Medical Reporters’ Academy (MRA)
The reports from the XVIthWorld meeting of the Union Internationale de Phlébologie were prepared by the following members of the MRA team:
Vadim BOGACHEV
1-st Moscow City Hospital
Department of Surgery
117049, Lenisky pr-t, 8-6
007 495 Moscow
RUSSIA
Giuseppe CALANDRA
Ospedale Israelitico
Via Fulda 14
00148 Roma
ITALY
Jana HIRMEROVA
2nd Department of Internal Medicine
University Hospital
Dr. E. Benese 13
305 99 Plzen
CZECH REPUBLIC
Grégoire LE GAL
Centre Hospitalier
Universitaire de Brest
Hôpital de la Cavale Blanche
29609 Brest
FRANCE
Armando MANSILHA
Vascular Surgery Department
S. João University Hospital
Alameda Prof. Hernani Monteiro
4202-451 Porto
PORTUGAL
Enrique MANUEL-RIMBAU MUNOZ
Son Dureta Hospital
C/Andrea Doria 55
07014 Palma de Mallorca
SPAIN
Attila PUSKAS
Spital Clinic Judetean de Urgenta
Clinica Medicala II
Compartimentul de Tromboza si Angiologie
Str. Gh. Marinescu no 50
540136 Tg Mures
ROMANIA
