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The 10th Educational Symposium of the Czech Society of Nephrology called Brodovy dny took place in Mikulov from 3 to 5 May 2023. There are not many educational events in the field of nephrology and transplantology during the year, therefore a huge number of doctors came to Mikulov. Special guests were professors from Vienna. They were given the opportunity to share their experience with innovative therapies in hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis as well as immunosuppression and monoclonal therapy in transplantology.

The subtitle of the symposium “Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment in Nephrology” predetermined the topics of the medical and nursing session programs.

Wednesday’s presymposium mainly addressed the topic of patient placement on the waiting list and the associated algorithm of patient investigation, including cardiology. Practice confirms the rise of preemptive inclusion of patients in the waiting list, i.e. inclusion before starting regular dialysis treatment. As a result, transplant centres are breaking records in the number of kidney transplants year after year.

Thursday’s symposium focused on modern renoprotection approaches. A recent topic has been the effective treatment of cardiorenal syndrome.

The Friday morning session of lectures addressed the diagnosis and treatment of primary and secondary nephropathies. There was also a look at the possibility of genetic diagnosis and news from paediatric nephrology. The afternoon session provided valuable information on the possibilities and use of HIF inducers in the treatment of renal anaemia. Furthermore, there were new developments in peritoneal dialysis and apheresis methods, to which more and more departments have recently been reaching out. The symposium ended with a session on infections in nephrology.

From our point of view, MUDr. Hladinova’s lecture on HIF inducers (prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors), presented as a suitable alternative to ESA (erythropoiesis stimulating agents) treatment of anemia, was beneficial. This addressed in detail the advantages of use over conventional drugs stimulating erythropoiesis via the EPO receptor. The view of the treatment of anaemia has changed considerably since the introduction of ESAs into clinical practice, with the safety of treatment being prioritised over normalisation of haemoglobin values. HIF stabilisers act through stimulation of erythropoiesis genes and thus represent a novel mechanism in the treatment of anaemia. In clinical trials, these agents have shown the same efficacy in increasing haemoglobin levels as conventional ESAs and their safety profile is particularly highlighted. In addition, administration leads to reduced i.v. iron consumption in patients. The oral form suggests the advantage of administration to patients in predialysis and peritoneal dialysis. However, they are also approved for administration to haemodialysis patients, especially recommended for those with higher inflammatory parameters and hyporesponsiveness to ESA. In addition to Roxadustat and Daprodustat, others in the HIF stabilizer series are already in the approval process.

Pharma Division

From 10 to 12 May 2023, we participated as a general partner in the National Surgical Congress 2023, which was held at the Cubex Center in Prague. After a long time, the proven format of organizing the only professional congress of the year by the Czech Surgical Society of the Czech Academy of Surgery (CSS JEP) returned. The congress will be organized once every two to three years and will cover all other congresses such as Prague Surgical Days, etc.

The president of the congress was prof. MUDr. Zdeněk Kala, CSc.

The professional program was focused not only on all sections of the CCHS, but also on nearby fields such as traumatology, oncology, gastroenterology, pediatric surgery and vascular surgery.

Due to the general partnership and the size of our booth, we were able to exhibit and present the broad portfolio of our division. Congress attendees had the opportunity to see and experience the CMR Versius surgical robotic system, the FUJIFILM/HITACHI ultrasound portfolio including special intraoperative probes for open and laparoscopic surgery, the OPT Vanto operating table including a wide range of accessories, and CarnaLife Holo, MedApp’s three-dimensional diagnostic imaging technology.

The Wound Care division also presented at the booth with Smith & Nephew’s portfolio of vacuum therapy and post-operative cover.

We are very pleased to have been able to attend this event, which brought us new contacts and helped us to consolidate and develop existing ones.

Division od Medical Technologies

This year the 25th Moravian Urology Symposium took place. This time it was held in the beautiful surroundings of Hotel Sepetná in Ostravice. As every year, the program was focused on the latest findings in the field of urology with a focus on the practicality of the information presented. There was also a doctoral block and a competitive block of residents’ case reports. This year there was also a very busy nursing block.

As in the previous year, this well-attended meeting of Moravian urologists was professionally guaranteed by the presidents of the symposium, Prof. MUDr. Miloš Broďák, Ph.D. and MUDr. Igor Hartmann, Ph.D.

At the symposium, the Division of Interventional Urology and Venous Therapy presented innovations for endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery.

Division of Interventional Urology and Venous Therapy

On 10 – 12 May 2023, the NH Collection Olomouc Congress Hotel in Olomouc hosted the 50th May Hepatology Days 2023, a jubilee event that included hands-on training in liver sonography and the full range of elastography techniques. For this hands-on training, our Medical Technologies Division lent three FUJIFILM ultrasound machines, including the participation of mannequins for individual examinations and an ultrasound application specialist. The great interest was evidenced by the fact that the entire capacity of the lecture hall, which numbered 30 physicians, was filled.

The theoretical part of the program was provided by four lecturers:

MUDr. Sonia Fraňková, Ph.D. – WHY perform liver elastography
MUDr. Tomáš Fejfar, Ph.D. – WITH WHAT perform liver elastography
MUDr. Václav Šmíd, Ph.D. – HOW to perform liver elastography correctly
MUDr. Karel Dvořák, Ph.D. – INTERPRETATION of results

The whole event was characterized by a great activity of the participants of the hands-on training in the field of professional medical discussion over the topics of individual lectures and during the actual simulations of medical sonographic examinations.

Our Medical Technologies Division also presented an exhibition stand at the event. Visitors were additionally able to test the individual functions of elastography techniques on the FUJIFILM sonography devices on display.

Medical Technologies Division

59. Diabetology Days in Luhačovice took place from 26th to 29th April in the Elektra Cultural Centre and the Social House of Luhačovice Spa, a.s.

It is the largest educational event in the Diabetology field, which was organized together with the Czech Diabetological Society ČLS J.E.Purkyně and the partner Slovak Diabetological Society. This year’s event attracted almost 1400 participants.

The main programme was opened on 27 April at 8.30 a.m. with a festive jingle composed by the founder of these days, MUDr. Jindřich Šimurda.

Since Wednesday afternoon of 26 April, symposia supported by the general sponsors were held at the two venues. It is worth mentioning a very interesting historical part of the symposium, on the 100th anniversary of the beginning of industrial production of insulin in Europe (Kingdom of Denmark 1923).

In addition to the main scientific programme, the individual sections of the Czech Diabetes Society had their blocks. In the past, the technology section has mainly dealt with continuous glycaemic monitoring, insulin dosing using closed hybrid loops, exchange of experiences with these technologies in their patients and new developments in this field. This year, for the first time, the experience gained by examining the ocular background for diabetic retinopathy by a diabetologist using fundus camera imaging was presented. The clinical evaluation of the images thus taken is then entrusted to software (artificial intelligence). Professor Martin Prázný, President of the Czech Diabetological Society, presented in a lecture entitled “Screening for diabetic retinopathy using the Aireen artificial intelligence medical device provides safe identification of patients suitable for examination by ophthalmologists”, the results of which showed reliability for clinical decision making by a diabetologist in an outpatient clinic, during a regular patient check-up. During this examination, the patient does not need to undergo eye drilling, so that the preventive examination is quick, and does not restrict the patient in the following time.

In addition to our traditional range of top-of-the-range Contour Plus Elite and ONE glucose meters, and the system for tracking results from the meters using the Contour Diabetes app on smartphones, with a link to the Gluco Contro Online web app, it was the Aireen technology that was showcased on our stand. In addition to presenting this system, we also used electronic questionnaires, which were filled in by interested parties, to find out the possibilities of acquiring the technology in the practice of individual diabetes clinics.

Traditionally, the interest of diabetologists in technologies, especially new ones, is great, so the stands presenting technologies, including ours, were quite busy throughout the congress.

We are glad that our company is an important visible and recognized partner of doctors, nurses and patients in the treatment of the most widespread disease such as diabetes mellitus.

Division of Diabetology

On 18 – 20 April 2023, our IRK division participated in the XXXII WORKSHOP of the Czech Association of Interventional Cardiology at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Brno. This is a very prestigious event organized by the Czech Association of Interventional Cardiology under the leadership of Doc. Petr Kala, M.D., Ph.D., FESC and first vice-president Doc. MUDr. Martin Mates, CSc., FESC, which brings together not only Interventional Cardiologists, but due to the increasing interdisciplinary cooperation, also cardiac surgeons and intensivists, nurses and laboratory technicians from cardiac centres across the Czech Republic. A total of 430 participants attended this year’s event.

In addition to the sharing of experiences of individual departments by the presenting physicians, the workshop also included live transmissions of procedures from selected cath labs.

The main topics of the workshop were coronary syndromes, coronary interventions as well as structural valve interventions. There were two keynote addresses in this session, from Prof. Emanuel Barbat, MD – President of the European Association for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (EAPCI) and Prof. Jan Kovac, MD, FACC, FESC Chief of Cardiac Surgery at University Hospitals Leicester, who was one of the first in the world to implant an aortic valve by catheterisation. One of the sessions also covered cardiac supports, the most frequently mentioned of which was our Impella system, which is finding increasing use in cardiology.

At our stand we presented new products from Abiomed, namely the new version of Impella CP with SmartAssist function and also the new Impella 5.5 product with SmartAssist function. This gave doctors the opportunity to experience the innovations and advantages of the new products in simulated conditions.

Furthermore, we participated, as clinical support, in the performance of complex high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention with the support of Impella mechanical cardiac support, which was broadcast live from the catheterization room of St. Anne’s University Hospital in Brno, where the audience in the hall could see the benefit of using Impella cardiac support in high-risk complex coronary intervention.

As part of our presentation at the stand, we received interest from cardiac centres that do not yet have this system, so we hope to establish new and successful collaborations with these hospitals.

Division of Interventional Radiology and Cardiology

photo © Czech Society of Cardiology

On 14 April 2023, the VII. Arthroscopy Symposium in Pilsen, where Promedica is traditionally the main partner. This is our largest event in the field of Arthroscopy.

This year, the event was sponsored directly by the Arthroscopy Academy of the Czech Republic under the leadership of the excellent president of the symposium Prof. Petr Zeman, MD, Ph.D., MBA, together with the Clinic of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of the Musculoskeletal System of the Charles University in Pilsen. A record 200 doctors from all over the Czech Republic came and it was a real concentration of excellent lectures by leading orthopaedists and physiotherapists!

This year, the symposium focused on the treatment of knee injuries in athletes, especially the treatment of meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament injuries.

Among the main guests, we welcomed the top arthroscopic surgeons from across the country to Pilsen, and we also invited foreign guests – Prof. Tomasz Piontek and Dr. Maciej Karaczun from Poland, Dr. Jan Grauzel from Slovakia and Dr. Lukáš Hanák from Germany, who gave presentations on new procedures in ASK knee treatment.

The lecture day also included a workshop prepared by the orthopaedic division, where doctors could try out the latest meniscus suturing options with Smith+Nephew’s product portfolio and then apply these solutions to their patients.

We are very proud to have the opportunity to be a long-term partner of this event, which has traditionally had great feedback and which brings us extended business with our customers.

Orthopaedics Division

photo © Meritis

On 18 April 2023, the 17th annual regional conference – Nejedlého Kladno took place. Our division has traditionally participated in this symposium. The conference was attended by 90 experts from the ranks of physicians, university analysts and medical laboratory technicians. The one-day seminar was organized by the Clinical Laboratory of Kladno Hospital, the main organizer was the head of the laboratory Ing. Luděk Šprongl and his team. The session took place at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering of the CTU in Kladno.

The program of the event, which is already an integral part of the seminars under the auspices of the Czech Society of Clinical Biochemistry, was again very inspiring and reflected current topics in laboratory medicine. The seminar focused on the use of IT in the modern laboratory, experience with the deployment of artificial intelligence, the issue of alimentary infections or the determination of hsTroponin I on the POCT analyzer (testing of an important cardiac marker directly in the patient).

The conference is organized in honour of the Chief Medical Officer MUDr. Bedřich Nejedlý, one of the founders of the clinical laboratory of the hospital in Kladno and an important expert in laboratory medicine.

Division of Diagnostics

On 3 – 4 April, a workshop on “Laryngeal Surgery” was held under the guidance of Prof. Pavel Kominek, PhD, MBA. The workshop took place in the auditorium of the University of Medical Sciences and Technology Ostrava under the auspices of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery of the University Hospital Ostrava, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ostrava and the Czech Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery.

The invitation was accepted by foreign and Czech lecturers: Prof. Norbert Kleinsasser (Wuerzburg, Germany), Jürgen Abrams, MD (Hamm, Germany), Niels Abrams, MD (Hamm, Germany), Prof. Viktor Chrobok, MD, PhD (Hradec Králové), Renata Taimrová, MD (Prague) and Michal Zábrodský, MD (Prague).

This year’s workshop was attended by over 50 physicians, with the aim of presenting and discussing everyday but also difficult cases. There were live broadcasts from the operating theatres, with a lot of discussion among the participants and the workshop provided everyone with a lot of new information.

Our cooperation is positively perceived, we have established new relationships with customers and we look forward to the next edition.

ENT-Otorhinolaryngology division

On 18-19 April 2023, the XXIX International Conference on Epidemiology and Hygiene in Brno was held in the well-known premises of the Continental Hotel in Brno. International Conference “Hospital Epidemiology and Hygiene”. Attendance was again very high, as this conference is one of the few where hospital hygienists and epidemiological nurses can meet on both a professional and social level. This year the congress was attended by about 300 participants. The event was under the auspices of the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of MU, Prof. MUDr. Martin Repko, Ph.D.

The main topics of the congress were still topical issues of disinfection, development of the epidemiological situation, infections associated with health care, hygiene in catering facilities and many other topics. Lecturers were experts from the Czech Republic as well as from many EU countries.

Promedica was represented at the congress by the Disinfection and Sterilization Division, which presented itself primarily at its stand as a permanent and reliable partner for comprehensive solutions and assistance with product and legislative issues related to disinfection.

The whole conference was very beneficial and it was very pleasant to see familiar faces again and to make new contacts and strengthen existing ones.

Disinfection and Sterilization Division