Dalian, China—The first session of the “Columbus Elite Surgeons Club” was recently held in Dalian, China by Shanghai MicroPort EP MedTech Co., Ltd. (“MicroPort® EP”), a subsidiary of MicroPort Scientific Corporation (00853.HK). The conference brought together a group of senior experts in the field of electrophysiology to discuss and share their clinical experiences with the Columbus® 3D EP Navigation System (“Columbus®”).
Prof. Shu Zhang, Chairman of the Chinese Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (CSPE) of the Chinese Medical Association (CMA), and Prof. Yunlong Xia, President of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University delivered speeches as the chairpersons of the conference. According to Prof. Shu, MicroPort® EP products have been able to meet the various needs of EP diagnosis and treatments. He added that the Society should strengthen technological cooperation with enterprises to promote and improve their R&D and manufacturing processes while jointly providing appropriate training for doctors. He also encouraged young doctors and emerging medical organizations to learn and accumulate experiences through adopting more domestically made devices, so as to promote iterative improvement and technical progress of made-in-China devices.
President Yunlong Xia fully acknowledged the activities under the umbrella of the “Columbus Elite Surgeons Club”. As the first stop of offline activities, this conference covered a wide range of disease types, which truly reflect the various electrophysiological techniques for differential diagnosis. President Xia encouraged young surgeons to build up basic skills and improve their capacity as soon as possible to serve more patients under the leadership of the Society and with the support of enterprises.
Prof. Haixiong Wang from Shanxi Cardiovascular Hospital, Prof. Ran Yin from the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Prof. Chunhong Chen from the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Prof. Jian Xu from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, and Prof. Shangzhi Shu from the First Hospital of Jilin University presented on various cases of Columbus®-guided treatment of supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular premature beats and bypass tracts based on their own clinical experience, through which they demonstrated the key features of Columbus®, such as fast modeling, real-time mapping and easy operation. Additionally, the speakers also shared their experience of using other products of MicroPort® EP.
In a lively discussion session, Prof. Lianjun Gao from the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Prof. Xuebin Han from Shanxi Cardiovascular Hospital, Prof. Yifeng Zhou from China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Prof. Fengmin Lu from Tianjin Chest Hospital, as moderators and panelists, shared their multi-year clinical experience, which helped participants further deepen their understanding of and trust in Columbus®. As Prof. Shufeng Li from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University put it, Columbus® and MicroPort® EP products have a “bright future ahead”. Surgeons will have even better clinical experience once the contact force-sensing catheter becomes available.
According to data from the Report of the Study on the Status of the Epidemiology of Arrhythmia, there are over 10 million patients with arrhythmias in China. In the future, more than 1.5 million patients are expected to undergo radiofrequency ablation procedures in China annually. However, according to the Arrhythmia Interventional Therapy Registry of Mainland China 2019, only 170,000 radiofrequency ablation procedures were performed in China in 2019 by only 800 physicians capable of performing such procedures independently—far from sufficient to meet patients’ needs. Therefore, it is imperative and crucial to build the capacity of independent surgeons to fill this gap.
Since 2020, MicroPort® EP has joined hands with the Society to provide a Talents Program for independent electrophysiologists in arrhythmia and electrophysiology techniques. The program is dedicated to building the capacity of professional electrophysiologists from primary hospitals to ensure high-quality and safe primary care that provides premium medical resources to primary care patients. In addition to the Talents Program, MicroPort® EP established the “Columbus Elite Surgeons Club” to provide a platform for users of Columbus® to exchange experience and ideas. In the future, the Club will hold regional events across China to further strengthen knowledge sharing and cross-fertilization of ideas, and in the process, promote the continuous improvement of electrophysiology therapy in China.