BCIS will be playing its customary prominent role in the programme of this year’s BCS Annual Scientific Congress to be held in Manchester from June 2-4. The main BCIS plenary will take place on Tuesday afternoon (Exchange Auditorium) and will be a shared session with BCS, the ESC and the ACC examining the development and delivery of national and international guidelines (including the NICE process). There will be a joint session with BCCA on Monday morning (Exchange Auditorium) addressing the challenges associated with percutaneous treatment of structural heart disease, the customary BCIS teach-in on Tuesday morning (Exchange Hall), covering tricky and topical interventional issues in an educational format, a How To session on Tuesday lunchtime (main exhibition space) examining the role of adjunctive technology in the catheter laboratory and a BCIS case-based workshop on Wednesday morning (Exchange Auditorium) allowing interaction of speaker, audience and an expert panel in difficult decision making for patients undergoing PCI.

A new departure this year will be the availability of a programme of tutored sessions on PCI simulators held in the main exhibition space to be led by Dr Jim Nolan and a team of expert operators. Throughout the day on both Monday and Tuesday, simulators will be available to practice a range of interventional techniques including trans-radial interventions and bifurcations. Between 10.00-12.00 on Monday 1st June, 9.30-11.30 on Tuesday 2nd June and 14.00-16.00 on both days, 40 minute supervised individual training sessions will be available which need to be booked in advance. These reserved sessions will be supervised by a trainer to optimise the learning opportunities and are primarily reserved for specialist registrars. Please book your preferred slot at www.bcs.com/simulatorbookingform The BCS and BCIS are grateful to Terumo, Boston Scientific and Cordis for making this educational opportunity possible.

We look forward to seeing you in Manchester for a lively and stimulating meeting!!