March 1999

Dear Friends,

It is my real pleasure to address you as the second President of our young society with now over 100 members representing the Belgian Cardio-thoracic Surgical Community in Belgium.

Our Association was founded in November 1995 and has been very successful so far under the firm and open minded leadership of Wim Daenen and with the critical support of every member of the Board and of the BACTS. I have seen a much better comprehensive cooperation between pulmonary and cardiac surgeons. Moreover, GLEM-LOK meetings will bring competitive colleagues together to discuss and select new outstanding strategies.

What in 1999? I believe it is the right time to stimulate and help our young cardiothoracic surgeons in training (rotation, appointments, new issues) and to create strong links with our European colleagues (exchanges, visiting fellows, cooperative publications).

What in 2000? The new issues in cardiothoracic surgery are tremendous. The impact of minimally invasive surgery is obvious. Volume reduction surgery, whether for the lung or the heart, is still controversial. Is there a future for heart and/or lung transplantation? What will be the future cooperation between surgeons and cardiologists, radiologists and oncologists? I strongly affirm that every surgeon should report his/her results using numerator WITH denominator and should be FDA reliable (Numerator without denominator: there is no FDA for the surgeon. Spodick DH. JAMA 1975;232:35-6).

In this Newsletter, you will find more information on our Board and Committees, the Members of our Society, the Website, the upcoming 4th Congress on Cardio-thoracic Surgery, the RIZIV/INAMI Accreditation numbers of previous national and international congresses, and The European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons (EBTCS).

I am looking forward to a productive year as your President.

Pierre Rocmans, M.D.
President BVCTH/SBCCT 1998 - 1999

The Board and Committees

A new Board of Directors (1998-2001) and a new President (Pierre Rocmans, Bruxelles) have been elected during the last General Assembly of our Society held in Brussels on 7 November 1998. At the first Board Meeting, Jean Louis LeClerc (Bruxelles) was elected as Vice-President (1998-1999), Paul Van Schil (Edegem) as second Vice-President (1998-1999), Dirk Van Raemdonck (Leuven) as Secretary (1998-2001), and Hugo Vanermen (Aalst) was re-elected as Treasurer (1998-2001). The other members of the Board are Willem Daenen (Leuven), Luc Haenen (Bonheiden), Marc Joris (Jumet), Philippe Noirhomme (Bruxelles), Christiaan Van Kerrebroeck (Genk), Guido Van Nooten (Gent), and Francis Wellens (Aalst). You can find further details on how to contact one of the Board members here.

Our Society is composed of different working committees: Accreditation (chair: Willem Daenen), Board of Directors (chair: Pierre Rocmans), Communication (chair: Christiaan Van Kerrebroeck), Database and Quality Control (chair: Paul Sergeant), Extracorporeal Perfusion (chair: Jean Olivier Defraigne), Membership (chair: Toni Lerut), and Scientific (chair: Guido Van Nooten). You can find more information on the activities and the complete composition of the different committees within our Society at "http://www.bacts.org/committee/bacts".

Members and application for membership

Our Society is now having a total of 101 members (86 active members, 4 junior members, and 11 honorary members). A complete (password-protected) listing of all members can be viewed. The membership fee is fixed to 2.000 BEF (49,58 Euro) for active members and 1.000 BEF (24,79 Euro) for junior members. You will be invited to pay your annual fee via a separate mailing from the treasurer in March 1999.

Colleagues working in the field of cardiovascular or thoracic surgery (as well as fellows in training) are invited to become (junior) members of our Society. An application form for membership will be mailed upon request to the secretariat (Rita Van Vlasselaer, BACTS Secretariat, Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven; phone +32-16-34 68 22, fax: +32-16-34 68 21; mailto:rita.vanvlasselaer@uzleuven.be) or you can print this form from our website. The completed application form should be sent to Prof T. Lerut, Chairman Membership Committee BACTS, Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven.

Website

If you have access to the Internet from your office or home, I would like to invite you to visit our homepage at "http://www.bacts.org". The website has recently been updated with new information on the evolving things within our society. If you want to keep in touch with your society, the website is the ideal medium to see changes on a regular basis.

Our website is part of the larger worldwide Cardio-thoracic Surgery Network (CTSnet). This is the place to surf to (http://www.ctsnet.org) if you are looking for any information on cardio-thoracic surgery worldwide. You can see a list of all participating organizations (http://www.ctsnet.org/organizations), journals (http://www.ctsnet.org/journals), inter-national meetings (http://www.ctsnet.org/events) and you can look up information on any cardio-thoracic surgeon around the world (http://www.ctsnet.org/surgeons). By clicking on "Belgian Links" from the homepage, you will also discover some interesting on-line (surgical) information such as the Acta Chirurgica Belgica, other Belgian Surgical Societies, Belgian Universities, Hospitals, and Belgian health care organizations on the web.

Enclosed you will also find a print-out of your personal homepage within CTSnet. We would like to urge you the check and to complete your personal information at "http://www.ctsnet.org/members/index.cfm". If you do not already have your picture on your homepage, you are welcome to send us a recent photograph that will be scanned into your personal homepage. If you are planning to attend one of the international meetings (AATS, EACTS, STS), you can also visit the CTSnet booth to have your picture taken directly. As a member of BACTS, you have access to your personal homepage through a password to regularly update your information in the future. Your will find your personal User ID and password on the print-out of your homepage. If you have any difficulties in accessing your homepage, you are welcome to contact our BACTS web editorial office, Carine Vandeweyer, Department of Cardiac Surgery, UZ Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven (phone +32-16-34 43 39, fax +32-16-34 46 16;  mailto:carine.vandeweyer@bacts.org).

In this mailing you will also find a separate sheet to fill in your private and professional addresses. Please send this form back to our administrative secretary in the enclosed envelope. This is the only way to keep our membership list updated!

Mini-symposium on Minimal Invasive Cardiac Surgery

A mini-symposium on minimal invasive cardiac surgery will be organised during this year's Annual Meeting of The Royal Belgian Society for Surgery (KBGH/SRBC) that will take place at the Sheraton Airport Hotel, B-1930 Zaventem on Saterday, 24 April 1999 from 10.30 to 12.30 hours. You will find more information on the program and the speakers at "http://www.bacts.org/events/bacts".

4th Congress on Cardio-thoracic Surgery

The 4th Congress on Cardio-thoracic Surgery will take place on Saterday, 6 November 1999 at the Sodehotel-Woluwe, Avenue Mounier 5, B-1200 Bruxelles (see also http://www.bacts.org/events/bacts). This meeting is open to members and non-members. The concept of the scientific program this year will remain unchanged including featured abstracts and a state of the art lecture by an invited speaker.

You are already invited to send your abstracts to Prof G. Van Nooten, Chairman of the Scientific Committee BACTS, Department of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital Gent, De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Gent. You will receive a call for abstracts for this year's meeting through a separate mailing. The deadline for receipt of the abstract is fixed on 1 August 1999.

This year's invited speaker will be a thoracic surgeon. Prof Walter WEDER from the University Hospital in Zürich, Switzerland has accepted to give a talk on "Surgical treatment for pulmonary emphysema".

RIZIV/INAMI Accreditation

Information on the accreditation by the RIZIV/INAMI of our National (BVCTH/SBCCT) and other International Cardio-thoracic Surgical meetings (AATS-EACTS-STS) is now available. You will find the necessary details on a separate sheet that is included in this mailing. This information will be updated regularly through our website.

The European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons

In 1996 the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons (EBTCS) has been founded in order to establish common standards for thoracic and cardiovascular surgery in Europe. The primary goal is the recognition by the European Union of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery as a monospeciality. This Board is lead by representatives of 3 European Societies: the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery (EACTS), the European Society of Cardiovascular Surgery (ESCVS), and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS). You will found more information on the composition of the Board at "http://www.ctsnet.org/committee/eacts/185/roster".

According to Article 19 of the Regulations, surgeons in established practice of at least five years at the time the Board was Founded, with independent responsability and meeting the other eligibility criteria, may be recognised without examinations. This option is available for three years after the founding of the Board (until 1999!). I would therefore urge you all, who did not do so, to apply for fellowship under the so-called "grandfather clause". All other surgeons will have to undertake a formal examination in either general thoracic or cardiovascular surgery (or both) to become recognised in one of the two (or both) categories.

Surgeons accredited by the Board will receive a diploma recognizing them as Fellow of the Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons giving them the right to put the suffix FETCS behind their name.

Further information on the Regulations and application can be obtained from the following address: The European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons, P.O.Box 2023, 1990 AA Velserbroek, The Netherlands (phone +31 255 520 950; fax +31 255 523 353).

Dirk Van Raemdonck, M.D.
Secretary BVCTH/SBCCT