ESAO - European Society for Artificial Organs

Beginning of the new century is usually used for introduction of new ideas and new technological visions. Therefore, the motto of the XXXI. Congress of ESAO in Warsaw was "Towards Medical Technology of the Future" The Congress was organized under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Scientific Research and Information Technology Professor Michal Kleiber, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences Professor Andrzej Legocki and the President of the City of Warsaw Professor Lech Kaczynski.

Opening ceremony of the ESAO Congress was organized in the Porczynski Art Gallery. The mixture of culture and science composed a very special beginning of this gathering. After welcome addresses, a plenary lecture entitled "Cell transplantation as possible future technology in regenerative medicine" was delivered by Professor Tomasz Siminiak from Poznan Medical Academy, Poland. After plenary lecture a prestigious award granted by German company Membrana was handed over. The award winner, Dr. Vincenzo d'Intini from Ospedale San Bortolo (Vicenza, Italy) was announced by Dr. Schuster from Membrana. Then, short presentation of the awarded project entitled "Blood purification modalities plasma apoptotic capacity" was delivered (photo 3).

Last part of the opening ceremony featured a very special "Classic Piano Show" performed by Waldemar Malicki. Scientific part of the Congress was followed by Get Together Party in the museum rooms of the Porczynski gallery.
The main part of the Congress took place at the premises of the Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering and the International Center of Biocybernetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, the biggest biomedical engineering research center in Poland (photo 4). Our Institute is located in the, so called "Ochota Campus" comprising several research institutes and clinics devoted to medicine, life sciences and bioengineering. We believe that the scenery of Congress venue helped to create a unique scientific atmosphere during this scientific meeting.

Scientific Program of the ESAO Congress was comprised of:

• Three plenary lectures:"Cell transplantation as possible future technology in regenerative medicine", :"Genotyping for prediction and understanding of outcomes of the patients with renal diseases", "Clinical needs for heart support" and "Current status of the artificial pancreas" were delivered by worldwide recognized scientists each day of the Congress, Professor Tomasz Siminiak (Poznan, Poland), Professor Bengt Lindholm (Huddinge, Sweden), Professor Berd Meyns (Leuven, Belgium) and Professor David Klonoff (San Francisco, USA), respectively.
• 21 sessions with 124 oral presentations and 165 poster presentations, which were discussed in 14 chaired sessions.
• Ten symposia:
  • The traditional ESAO Corporate Members lunch symposium: "New therapeutic tools with a potential for clinical benefits",
  • Six symposia sponsored by industry: "How to prevent and treat fluid and sodium overload in peritoneal dialysis" sponsored by Baxter, "Cardiac assist devices: from development to clinical application" sponsored by Arrow, MicroMed and VentraCor as well as "Cardiac assist devices: towards destination therapy" sponsored by arrow, Berlin-Heart, Thoratec and World-Heart, "Anticoagulation" and "Liver Support" both sponsored by sponsored by Fresenius Medical Care and finally "Diabetes treatment: how to prevent hyperglycemia" sponsored by Novo Nordisk and Medtronic MiniMed.
  • Three symposia organized by the ESAO Working Groups, which were held just before (Pre - Congress Heart Support Working Group Symposium) and during the Congress (Uremic Toxins and Apheresis Working Group

All scientific presentations delivered during the Congress can be divided on topics related to the traditional ESAO fields of interest like: Artificial Kidney and Dialysis, Apheresis, Artificial Pancreas and Diabetes Treatment, Cardiac Assist Devices, Total Artificial Heart, Anticoagulation, Biomaterials, Modeling and Simulation, Artificial Lung and Gas Exchange and Respiratory Systems and Liver Support. The second part was devoted to topics related to a relatively new directions of society interest, that is: Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy.

Organizing committee expressed great appreciation to all colleagues who supported organization of the Warsaw Congress during so called "Presidential dinner" organized at the premises of the Royal Castle. This event was supported by Fresenius Medical Care.

During the last evening all participants have had a chance to take part in the "Festive Dinner", which was organized at the beautiful Mazovian Castle in the city Pultusk, 50 km from Warsaw. During this event a prestigious Bucherl Award was handed over to Professor Daniel Loissance from Paris, France.

Closing ceremony and Farewell Lunch were organized at the Congress site.
During closing ceremony the ESAO Innovation Award and 3 Poster Awards were announced and handed over to winners. The ESAO Innovation Award of 500,- Euro was won by dr. W. Kerkhoffs from Aachen, Germany for presentation entitled "MicroVAD: ultra-small axial pump for long term cardiac assist". The first 500,- Euro Poster Award was won by dr. O. Toporova from Kiev, Ukraine for poster "Human preproinsulin gene delivery into mammalian liver cells in vivo", the second 300 Euro by prof. M. Tanihara from Nara, Japan for poster "Engineered collagen-like polypeptide scaffolds controlling proliferation and differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells" and the third 200 Euro by dr. A. Henseler from Aachen, Germany for poster "Non equilibrium O2-dissociation curves (ODC): a new approach".

At the Congress there were 328 registered participants from 25 countries, that is from: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.
Professor Jan M. Wojcicki was a president of the Congress and professor Maciej Nalecz was a honorary president. Professor Jan M. Wojcicki and professor Andrzej Werynski were Program Chairmen and Dr. Piotr Ladyzynski was a chairman of the Local Organizing Committee.
During the Congress several companies took part in the industrial exhibition.

We noticed that our meeting in Warsaw resulted in many presentations of new ideas. We hope that our Congress will give not only a hope but will lead in the near future to more efficient than today substitution or regeneration of the lost functions of the organism.

All abstracts and Congress information are printed in the special issue of the International Journal of Artificial Organs vol. 27/No. 7, July 2004 (edt. Wichtig Editore, Milano-Birmingham-Osaka) available on-line (www.artificial-organs.com).

Fresenius Medical Care was major sponsor of the XXXI ESAO Congress. The Congress was also sponsored by Arrow International, Baxter, Berlin-Heart, MicroMed Tech., VentraCor, Thoratec, World-Heart, Novo Nordisk and Medtronic MiniMed.