Journeying to the Heart of Cardiology

2025/03/17

Journeying to the Heart of Cardiology:

NUHCS at the ESC Congress 2024

PULSE Issue 44 | January 2025

Being the largest annual cardiology congress in the world, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2024, held from 30 Aug to 2 Sept in London, United Kingdom (UK), was truly a remarkable event. Drawing an impressive turnout of 31,800 participants and 5,400 esteemed faculty and presenters, this four-day congress served as a platform for clinicians, researchers, and healthcare professionals to come together and explore the latest developments in cardiology.

The ESC Congress 2024 also saw a record-breaking number of presentations from the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS), with the attendance of more than 30 delegates from NUHCS and the National University of Singapore (NUS), marking a significant milestone on the international stage.

Publishing of New Guidelines
This year’s ESC Congress introduced four new clinical guidelines, aimed at providing healthcare professionals with the latest information to better improve the quality of patient care.

Clinical Trials and Interactive Learning in Hot Line Sessions

At the ESC, results from 38 impactful late-breaking clinical trials were revealed in 12 hot line sessions. Announced in the first session and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the randomised controlled HELIOS-B trial showed promising outcomes in patients with Transthyretin Amyloidosis with Cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM)³, where a new prescription drug could significantly lower all-cause mortality risks, including cardiac related deaths, compared to a placebo.

The FINEARTS-HF trial, similarly published in the NEJM, found that compared to a placebo, there is another medication that can significantly reduce the risk of worsening heart failure events and cardiovascular-related death in patients with heart failure and mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction. Importantly, these benefits were seen even in patients on SGLT2 inhibitors⁴, suggesting that this medication could be a key therapy for managing heart failure. In line with the ESC 2024 theme, “Personalising Cardiovascular Care,” several trials showed that tailoring low-dose medications in triple or quadruple polypills for hypertension, may be more effective at lowering blood pressure than traditional dual or single-drug treatments, reducing side effects while preserving efficacy and improving patient adherence.

In addition to the groundbreaking trials, this year’s ESC also introduced hands-on tutorials, including the “Anatomy Meets Echocardiography in Wet Lab Dissection” session, featuring step-by-step dissection of porcine hearts with concomitant mirroring of live 3D echocardiographic images, providing deeper insights into the heart’s structure. Other live demonstrations offered practical tips on echocardiographic techniques, including cardiac strain imaging and transcatheter mitral valve repair.

Representing Singapore in London

Setting a noteworthy record at the ESC Congress 2024, researchers and clinicians from NUHCS and NUS co-authored 35 abstracts and presented 20, covering a wide range of studies on cardiovascular health, including acute myocardial infarction, cardiovascular disease prevention, aortic and mitral stenosis, heart failure, and cardiogenic shock.

A key highlight was the conference on the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances in cardiovascular imaging, chaired by Adj A/Prof William Kong, Senior Consultant, Department of Cardiology, NUHCS, alongside A/Prof J. Grapsa from King’s College London, UK, covering AI applications in cardiac Computer Tomography (CT) to detect low attenuation non-calcified plaques⁵ to predict myocardial infarction and assess CT derived fractional flow reserve for coronary artery disease management. This segment also explored the limitations and progress of AI in echocardiography and cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), sparkingdebate on its effectiveness in
clinical practice to manage cardiovascular diseases.

The journey to this Congress in London not only fostered inspiration and learning but also strengthened both new and rekindled connections for the NUHCS team in working together to shape the future of cardiology.

1. Thromboembolism – A condition where a circulating blood clot forms in a blood vessel (thrombosis), then travels through the bloodstream to block another vessel (embolism), reducing or restricting blood flow to vital organs.
2. Obstructive coronary artery disease – A condition where the blood vessels that supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart become narrowed or blocked from a buildup of plaque.
3. Transthyretin Amyloidosis with Cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) – A condition where an abnormal protein known as “transthyretin” builds up in the heart tissue, stiffening the heart and making it harder to pump blood.
4. SGLT2 inhibitors – A type of oral prescription medication that helps lower blood sugar in individuals with Type-2 diabetes, by preventing the kidneys from reabsorbing sugar and lowering the risk of heart failure.
5. Low attenuation non-calcified plaques – Soft, fatty buildups inside the arteries that does not contain calcium, which can obstruct blood flow, increasing the risk of heart attacks.