In the 4th Asia Arrhythmia Cardiac Summit (ACAS 2019) and the 1st China Cardiac Arrhythmia Summit (CCAS 2019) which were held in Shenzhen on March 9, 2019, the current chairman, Prof. Yan Yao of Fu Wai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, summarized the keynote of this conference as that, "As the only fully English-language cardiac arrhythmia conference hosted by Chinese, CCAS 2019 invites top international experts to preach to young and middle-aged clinicians in Asia to learn advanced ideas and broaden academic horizons, and to promote innovative ideas and procedures of domestic scholars to their foreign colleagues. This year's conference is attended by scholars from more than 30 countries and is supported and co-sponsored by the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) of the United States. The conference is characterized by pragmatism, innovation, and equal communication, and has been well received by scholars at home and abroad."
ACAS is organized by the Asia Heart Rhythm Association (ACAS), hosted by the National Cardiovascular Center, Fu Wai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and co-sponsored by the Heart Rhythm Society of America (HRS). Prof. Yan Yao presided over the opening ceremony of the conference, and Prof. Thomas Deering, the current president of the American HRS, delivered the first keynote speech. Akihiko Nogami, the president of the Japan Heart Rhythm Society, and Prof. Yoshito Iesaka, the leading Japanese electrophysiologist, Kalyanam Shivkumar, the leading American electrophysiologist, Akihiko Nogami, President of the Heart Rhythm Society of Japan and Prof. Yoshito Iesaka, a leading expert in electrophysiology in Japan, Kalyanam Shivkumar, a leading expert in electrophysiology in the United States, Sunny Po, Xunzhang Wang, Chen Pengsheng, Editor-in-Chief of Heart Rhythm journal, and Stuart Philip Thomas, Balbir Singh Makkar, Muhammad Munawar, Muhammad Ashraf Dar, Kazuhiro Satomi, Sebastian Stec, Buncha Sunsaneewitayakul, Ma Soot Keng and dozens of other experts attended together and gave lectures on hot topics to more than 500 clinicians form home and aboard. And Prof. Samuel J. Asirvatham gave a lecture longer than 4 hours, attracting not only young and middle-aged scholars but also many internationally renowned scholars to listen to his brilliant teaching.
It is worth mentioning that Tong Liu from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, won the first prize in the "Case Competition for Young and Middle-aged Physicians" on March 8, 2019. The case competition was judged by Prof. Muhammad Munawar from Indonesia, Prof. Jinlin Zhang from China, Prof. Choi Min-seok from Korea, and Prof. Lee Cheewan from Malaysia. The participants reported exciting and difficult cases, and the scholars present benefited from the lively discussions and interactions between the experts and the audience. Through the intense competition among 12 participants from different regions, Tong Liu won the first prize in the first ACAS Case Competition, while Bin Cao from Shanghai Jing'an District Central Hospital and Benny Setiadi from Indonesia won the second prize, Yan Li from Peking University International Hospital, Huan Wang from Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital and Zhi Jiang from Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital won the third prize.
In addition, with the concept of "practicality, innovation, equality and communication", an Asian electrophysiology workshop was held to provide practical opportunities and deepen communication for front-line operators. During the meeting, Prof. Yan Yao, Prof. Yan Wang, Prof. Jinlin Zhang and Prof. Ligang Ding gave detailed lectures on cardiac anatomy, atrial septal puncture, prevention of the related complications and catheter operation skills. There were lively discussions and sincere exchanges among more than 30 doctors from India, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam and Taiwan, China.
At the meeting, under the careful planning of Prof. Yumei Xue of Guangzhou Provincial People's Hospital and Prof. Lihui Zheng of Fu Wai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the special session for female electrophysiologists (Beauty in EP) was held with the theme of "Goddess, more than one side", and dozens of outstanding female electrophysiologists, including Prof. Xiaomei Li, Prof. Li Li and Prof. Ruiqin Xie, gathered at CCAS 2019 to show their women's style. In the years when stepped into the electrophysiology field, they worked hard for countless sleepless nights. Prof. Yumei Xue, Prof. Zhenhua Pan and Prof. Lihui Zheng gave the heartfelt and intimate lectures on how female doctors can balance their career and family, and how to face various challenges in electrophysiology career etc., so that the majority of female electrophysiologists can emit light and heat in their own stage. During the conference, ACAS presented the "Outstanding Chinese Female Electrophysiologist Award" to Prof. Lihua Shang for her outstanding contribution to the electrophysiology career in China.
CCAS is the first academic conference in China that pioneered the topic of "complications", and it was particularly touching to see that in that session where many physicians went hungry and still had enthusiastic discussions until nearly 8:00 pm.
Finally, Prof. Yao said that CCAS is responsible for training young and middle-aged doctors, and ACAS is an English-only communication platform for young and middle-aged doctors, and it is also in response to China's "the Belt and Road" policy. In the future, we will continue to increase this kind of work to respond to the call of "the Belt and Road", to promote the domestic academic team to go abroad to expand horizons, to provide an intimate exchange atmosphere for the majority of young and middle-aged doctors, and to improve the diagnosis and research level of cardiac arrhythmia in Asia.