60th Chilean Congress of Cardiology: the INCIC team brought advanced cardiac imaging to the whole program

Cardiac magnetic resonance, coronary CT angiography, three-dimensional echocardiography and precision cardiology: at the LX Congreso Chileno de Cardiología y Cirugía Cardiovascular (60th Chilean Congress of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery), INCIC gave voice to advanced cardiac imaging. Every team specialist who attended took part as a speaker, in sessions on imaging, heart failure, valve disease and cardiac surgery.

The annual congress of the Chilean Society of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery (SOCHICAR) took place on 5–7 December 2024 at the Sheraton Hotel in Santiago.

In the photo, from left to right: Drs. Jesús Urbina, Marcelo Luque, Javier López-Opitz, Julián Vega and Hugo Martínez, of INCIC, at the congress entrance.

From coronary plaque to stress MR

The opening day, within the SISIAC Day, focused on ischemic heart disease. Dr. Hugo Martínez Fernández discussed the usefulness of the coronary calcium score; Dr. Marcelo Luque González explained when to order a coronary CT angiogram in patients with chest pain; and Dr. Javier López-Opitz presented the role of stress cardiac magnetic resonance in the same setting. That morning, Dr. López-Opitz also spoke on 3D echocardiographic assessment of the mitral valve.

In the valve surgery module, Dr. Jesús Urbina Romero showed how CT angiography guides the planning of surgical and percutaneous procedures.

Precision cardiology in cardiomyopathies

In the heart failure module devoted to precision medicine, Dr. Julián Vega Adauy gave the talk “Precision cardiology in cardiomyopathies”, a look at how cardiac imaging lets clinicians move from recognizing a pattern to identifying the cause of disease and guiding treatment.

A cardiac MR workshop led by INCIC

On Friday, the Cardiac MR Workshop was led by Dr. Martínez, who opened the session with the theoretical basis and sequences of the technique. He then directed “Learning from clinical cases”, where Drs. Vega and López-Opitz discussed cases alongside international guests from the United Kingdom and Argentina. That afternoon, Dr. Martínez also chaired the plenary lecture on the role of cardiac MR in ischemic heart disease.

Cardiac CT and mitral cases

On Saturday, the Cardiac CT Workshop opened with two INCIC talks: theoretical basis and acquisition protocols, by Dr. Martínez, and coronary and cardiac analysis, with its tips and artifacts, by Dr. Luque. In the afternoon mitral valve session, Dr. Vega presented “Mitral regurgitation, challenging cases”.

Research in atrial fibrillation

Dr. Bruno Dighero Eberhard and colleagues presented, in the free papers session, a study on clinical and echocardiographic predictors of successful electrical cardioversion in long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation.

The team’s presence across so many areas of the program reflects INCIC’s comprehensive training in cardiac imaging, with MR, CT and echocardiography serving clinical decisions.

More about the congress on the SOCHICAR website.