The Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons of Serbia (ACSS) organized the Vascular Symposium, which was held yesterday, November 15, at the Sava Centre. Artificial intelligence, screening and results of the SerbVasc registry were the main topics addressed at this event.
Assistant MD/PhD Igor Končar (UCCS) and Assistant MD/PhD Bogdan Crnokrak (CHC Bežanijska Kosa), vascular surgery specialists were moderators of the introductory lecture session on “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health in Vascular Surgery”. Within this part of the session, Filip Maljković, head of development of the Heliant team, and Assistant MD/PhD Andreja Dimić, vascular surgeon of the University Clinical Centre of Serbia, presented a digital platform for eConsultations for the diabetic foot.
This platform called HERMES (HELiant Real-time MEssaging System), which was developed during the pandemic with the support of the Innovation Activity Fund, has now been upgraded in cooperation with the UCCS Vascular Surgery Clinic in order to improve the treatment of diabetic foot.
HERMES enables the exchange of direct and group messages between users of the Heliant health information system in healthcare facilities, while eConsultations for the diabetic foot imply mutual cooperation between medical doctors of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities. In this way, this innovative solution enables professionals at all levels of healthcare the to quickly and accurately exchange information, laying the foundation for improving the care of patients with diabetes. This project is implemented in the following healthcare facilities: University Clinical Centre of Serbia, CHC Zvezdara, CHC Bežanijska kosa, PHC Zvezdara and PHC Zemun.
The books of MD/PhD Lazar Davidović, Head of the Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery UCCS, full professor and dean of the School of Medicine in Belgrade – “Aorta Surgery” and “Aneurysms of Peripheral Arteries” were presented during the conference. This was followed by a lecture session addressing the topic “Do we need and what kind of screening for abdominal aneurysm aorta?”.
Then, the results of the SerbVasc registry for vascular surgery were presented. The registry enables the recording of data on surgeries performed to treat the most common vascular diseases. As stated by Assistant MD/PhD Končar in an interview for the Heliant portal, SerbVasc is a continuation of the large European registry Vascunet, and he started it in 2020 in cooperation with MD/PhD Davidović. The Heliant team worked with the UCCS Vascular Surgery Clinic team to on the development of the registry.
In this register, data is structured so that it can be used to improve the treatment of vascular diseases and evaluate the effect of medical interventions aimed at prevention, and/or early detection of diseases. The results were presented by specialists in vascular surgery, MD/PhD Slobodan Tanasković (ICVC Dedinje), MD Aleksandra Vujčić (UCCS), MD Miroslava Popović (CHC Zvezdara) and MD Slobodan Pešić (GH Subotica), moderated by MD/PhD Miroslava Marković (UCCS), MD/PhD Ivan Marjanović (UCCS) and MD/PhD Predrag Gajin (ICVC Dedinje).
The conference was closed by the competition for the best vascular abstract, with valuable prizes. The jury consisted of MD/PhD Marko Dragaš (UCCS), Assistant MD/PhD Slobodan Tanasković and MD/PhD Vladimir Manojlović (CCV).