The Andreas Grüntzig Ethica Award is traditionally given to those who have contributed in an extraordinary way to the PCR mission, that of serving the needs of patients by sharing knowledge, experience and practice in cardiovascular interventional medicine.
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Paris, France, 20 May 2025 – On 22 May, at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, Professor Lars Wallentin and Professor Stefan James, both from the Uppsala Clinical Research Centre, Uppsala University, Sweden will receive the Andreas Grüntzig Ethica Award on behalf of a wider team of Swedish cardiovascular registry experts who have been instrumental in advancing cardiovascular medicine.
The award – the highest honour in the interventional cardiology community – recognises those involved in SWEDEHEART (Swedish Web-system for Enhancement and Development of Evidence-based care in Heart disease Evaluated According to Recommended Therapies) and its interventional subregistry, SCAAR (Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry).
With origins dating back to the 1990s, SWEDEHEART was officially formed from the merger of four registries in 2009. SWEDEHEART includes data on all patients hospitalised for acute and chronic heart diseases in Sweden. One of its key aims is to monitor the quality of cardiac care within a hospital and compared with other hospitals. Public presentation of these data has supported continuous improvement and resulted in improved equity of care in Sweden. Inspired by SWEDEHEART’s success, many other national and international registries have since been developed.
In addition, by analysing large-scale, long-term data within SWEDEHEART, cardiovascular diseases have been extensively studied and new treatments evaluated, resulting in more than 500 scientific papers published in high-impact journals that have informed and improved clinical care globally. The concept of registry-based randomised trials was pioneered using data from SWEDEHEART and this has enabled numerous large pragmatic trials to be conducted quickly and with reduced costs compared with conventional randomised trials.
Professor William Wijns, Chair of the PCR Board, said, “SWEDEHEART and SCAAR are visionary initiatives that were started decades before ‘big data’ became high on the agenda. Collecting data on every procedure in every patient on every day of the year, linked with outcomes information, is absolutely unique. The data have not only helped improve patient care in Sweden but have also filled gaps in our understanding of how therapies affect patient outcomes, with considerable impact on clinical practice worldwide.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
About EuroPCR 2025
The World-Leading Course in interventional cardiovascular medicine and the official annual meeting of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) will take place from 20 to 23 May 2025, onsite at the Palais des Congrès, Paris, France. A digital package is also available for those unable to join in person.
The detailed Course Programme is available on: https://www.pcronline.com/Courses/EuroPCR/Programme
About PCR
The mission of PCR is to serve the needs of each individual patient by helping the cardiovascular community to share knowledge, experience and practice. PCR offers a large range of many other educational meetings and resources for the continuing education of the interventional cardiovascular community. These include major annual Courses across the globe, e-Learning with high-profile PCR Webinars, Courses specifically dedicated to valvular heart disease, tailor-made PCR Seminars on specific topics, online resources and medical publications such as EuroIntervention, the official journal of the EAPCI.
Gateways to all PCR activities are available on www.pcronline.com.
For further information, please contact Sally Collingridge: scollingridge@europa-group.com
About the EAPCI
The European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) is a branch of the European Society of Cardiology. Its mission is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease through percutaneous cardiovascular interventions. This dynamic association represents a large community of over 8K EAPCI associates and over 1K full EAPCI members by helping them remain up to date in the constantly evolving field of PCI by publishing research and providing educational, training and certification programmes. The EAPCI also advocates for the best possible access to life saving treatments for patients through data-based advocacy at a European level.
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