Daily News 2，   CIT2010，   April 1st
Opening Ceremony

    Professor Run-Lin Gao introduced the opening ceremony this evening in the Main Hall of the CNCC， proudly welcoming the packed hall and acknowledging the roles of major sponsors， the Chinese Medical Association， the Board of Directors of China Interventional Therapeutics and the Chinese Society of Cardiology， and the many local and international co-sponsors. From the first CIT held in October 2003， eight years ago， when 60 invited speakers and 1000 attendees were present， CIT has become a truly international event. This year the inclusion of joint sessions of CRT， AICT and NCVH has boosted the list of international co-operations. Professor Gao saw the conference as “a window for Chinese people to explore” and also a platform for Chinese academics and cardiologists to interact with their international colleagues. He made the comparison between the growth of this CIT meeting from that first meeting of 1000 attendees and its parallels to the increase in the number of PCIs performed in China， now greater than 200，000 annually. The theme of this year’s CIT is standardization and innovation.  The aim is to encourage clinicians to adopt clinical practice guided by evidence-based medicine through high level clinical trials， and technique standardization and advancement. As a reflection of that， he told the audience that there were fourteen late-breaking and updated clinical trials to be presented during this meeting. In a technological innovation in itself， 25 hours of live case transmissions will be made from sites around China and from New York and Belgium， showcasing the latest innovations in the field. CIT2010 will feature 212 scientific sessions including 928 lectures and presentations， 5 CIT learning centers， 743 submitted abstracts， 181 submitted cases and 134 manuscripts submitted to the CMJ CIT theme issue. Professor Gao sincerely thanked the attending Faculty Members， CIT Board of Directors， the CIT Working Group including all the young doctors working behind the scenes and the CIT Secretariat.

    It was the task of Guo-Ming Qi， Vice President of the Chinese Medical Association， to formally declare the CIT2010 meeting open.

    A warm welcome was extended to all attendees by Professor Dayi Hu， Chairman of the CIT Scientific Committee and President of the Chinese Society of Cardiology. He too commented on the fact that these meetings were bigger and bigger and more modern and also that the quality of the conference continued to improve year by year. He called to Chinese physicians to take the opportunity to learn from their international colleagues and each other， so that they might “select the best solution for each individual patient”. The emphasis， however， should not just be on treatment， but also prevention.

    This is “not a chore， this is a pleasure”， is how Professor Gregg Stone， from Columbia University Medical Centre， Course Director for TCT and past Chairman of CRF， described his experience with CIT. He described how he was marveled and humbled by the success of CIT since its inception， that the growth in China was striking and there was a new level of late-breaking evidence-based medicine and technology in the hands of enthusiastic and motivated researchers， physicians and academics. He described how TCT strived to exist as a nexus between technical expertise as an interventional cardiologist and the use of evidence-based medicine to guide their decisions， ultimately translating into better patient care. He was very proud of the fact that CIT was leading that charge in China.

    EuroPCR Chairman， Professor Jean Marco and Professor Shigeru Saito of CCT (Japan) and APSIC， both spoke words of encouragement to the medical profession to share information and experiences to improve patient outcomes， and that in this day and age， there should be more frequent and mutual visits and communication.

    It remained for the recipients of this year’s awards to be announced and receive a presentation. As an important part of the Scientific Program， The CIT Young Investigator Award aims to discover and support those doing or having done research work in the field of Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine. Three Young Investigator Awards were presented before an enthusiastic audience. The CIT Best Educational Case Awards were also presented.