An international conference in Newcastle

The first International syncope conference to be held in the UK was hosted by Newcastle between 20-22 November 2003.

The conference was organised by Prof Rose Anne Kenny and Dr Steve Parry, of the Falls and Syncope Service in Newcastle and was endorsed by the European Society of Cardiology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle upon Tyne.

The syncope conference brought together leaders in the field of syncope who presented challenging lectures, workshops and debates on key themes. These included the scope of the problem of syncope, how to diagnose syncope, mechanisms and pathophysiology for syncope, and management of syncope.

All of the sessions were interactive. Each of the sessions started with case scenarios in which the audience were invited to participate.

The debates were particularly good fun. On Friday afternoon, there was a balloon debate – ‘This house believes that syncope services should be run by a) generalists; b) neurologists; or c) cardiologists’. The debators included Prof Wouter Weiling from Amsterdam, Dr Phil Smith from Cardiff and Prof John Camm from St George’s Hospital (currently President of the British Cardiac Society). Readers may be gratified to know that the generalists/ geriatricians won this debate. This was possibly a reflection of the constitution of the audience – 70% of the 250 delegates were geriatricians and of the 50 people on a waiting list to attend the conference, over half were geriatricians.

Rugby vs Syncope
On Saturday morning, the conference clashed with the Rugby World Cup final, but this did not deter delegates. Demonstrating great foresight and understanding, the organisers arranged for a draw at full-time and 20 minutes extra time in Sydney. This happened to coincide with a protracted coffee break in Newcastle. A television was brought into the conference centre and all delegates were able to view the final victory, which really set the tone for the rest of the morning. This included a debate on invasive management of syncope. The protagonist here was Prof Richard Sutton from the Brompton Hospital squaring up against antagonist Dr Bob Sheldon from Calgary in Canada. This debate was won by the protagonist. The session wound up with a presentation on how to set up a syncope service.

We know from communication with the delegates that the majority had attended because they were either currently running or plan to run a syncope service, either standalone or as a component of a falls service. The core content of much of the debates is available in a textbook published by the European Society of Cardiology, which can be accessed through the conference website: www.syncope-conference.co.uk

BGS Spring Meeting - 2006
This highly successful international conference has really set the scene for the 2006 BGS meeting, which will take place in Newcastle.

Prof Rose Anne Kenny
Falls and Syncope Service
Newcastle