Posted by Carl Plaskett on February 25, 2004 at 20:58:03:
Believe it or not, an "alumni" gettogether and educational forum is about to be organized!!
Tentative dates are ONE of the last two weekends of September (Friday-Sunday, 17th-19th or 24th-26th) at Washington University at St. Louis, the site of the very first and many subsequent Maze surgeries by Drs. James Cox and Ralph Damiano.
Dr. Damiano has consented to help organize a program which would acquaint us with the years of research done by Dr. Cox, himself, and numerous others prior to the first Maze procedure, and continuing to this day, with a continuing research grant seeking better solutions for afib.
Along the lines posted by Jeanne today re: the St. Jude's device and Dr. Cox, we will probably have the opportunity to learn more about this exciting development, since Dr. Cox is now a Professor Emeritus at Washington Univ. @ St. Louis, and one of the first U.S. uses of this device will probably take place at this facility prior to our meeting.
Dr. Damiano is going to try to garner industry support of this meeting, perhaps by funding a banquet and the cost of putting on the meetings, tours, etc. He would like to have afib/Maze surgeons from around the world reporting on their progress/successes.I would like to hear from as many potential attendees as early as possible so we can firm up on of these dates soon. I may be reached at my email address, but it MAY be unavailable for a week or so in early March, IF my ISP (GTE/Verizon) is delayed in changing my service back to DSL, since they sold their cable service and the new company (Knology) has advised me with 3 weeks notice that it will cease to work on March 1. I can also be reached or a message may be left at 727.521-2562. Please provide contact info and date preference, if any in your message or email.
Any surgeons of the "Mazers/former afibbers" who post here are encouraged to contact me if they would like to attend. I will see that Dr. Damiano or myself provides them with more details of the program(s) as we develop them.
I am looking forward to putting faces on the many, many names with whom I have become familiar over the last 3-1/2 years.
Perhaps if we have enough attendees there to learn how our "cures" came to be, and to thank those who were instrumental in developing and applying these cures, we might get some national media coverage. I will be disappointed if less than several dozen folks show for this event.
Wouldn't it be nice if the week after our gettogether, cardiologists/EPs were flooded with calls along the lines of: "You never told me that there was a CURE for afib!"
There are more "cures" in the pipeline. Let us hope they are as successful as the original "gold standard" Cox Maze.
- I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU ALL Jack Drum 09:11:57 2/27/2004 (0)