Abstract
The 2020 annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) was the first ever to be held virtually. Under the spotlight of ‘the cutting edge of cardiology’, exciting and ground-breaking cardiovascular (CV) science was presented both in basic and clinical research. This commentary summarizes essential updates from ESC 2020—The Digital Experience. Despite the challenges that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed on the conduct of clinical trials, the ESC Congress launched the results of major studies bringing innovation to the field of general cardiology, cardiac surgery, heart failure, interventional cardiology, and atrial fibrillation. In addition to three new ESC guidelines updates, the first ESC Guidelines on Sports Cardiology and Exercise in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease were presented. As former ESC president, Professor Casadei undoubtedly pointed out the ESC Congress 2020 was a great success. During the ESC 2020 Congress, BMC Cardiovascular Disorders updated to seven journal sections including Arrhythmias and Electrophysiology, CV Surgery, Coronary Artery Disease, Epidemiology and Digital health, Hypertension and Vascular biology, Primary prevention and CV Risk, and Structural Diseases, Heart Failure, and Congenital Disorders. To conclude, an important take-home message for all CV health care professionals engaged in the COVID-19 pandemic is that we must foresee and be prepared to tackle the dramatic, long-term CV complications of COVID-19 patients.
Highlights
The 2020 annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) was the first ever to be held virtually
We summarized the most important trials presented during the 2020 Virtual ESC Congress (Table 1) which we predict will improve our everyday clinical practice [12–24]
These beneficial effects were first observed in the COLCOT (Colchicine Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial), where patients with a recent acute myocardial infarction who received colchicine 0.5 mg once daily experienced less frequently the composite endpoint of CV death, resuscitated cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, stroke, or urgent hospitalization for angina leading to coronary revascularization compared with those who received placebo [28]
Summary
The 2020 annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) was the first ever to be held virtually. With regard to inflammation and CV disease, the LoDoCo2 (Low Dose Colchicine for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease) trial showed that in patients with chronic coronary disease, low-dose colchicine (0.5 mg once daily) significantly reduced the risk of CV events compared with placebo [21].
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