Surgeons Headed to LA Amid Fires Threat

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) will keep its January 24 annual meeting start date at the Los Angeles Convention Center amid ongoing wildfire threats, the group’s President Jennifer C. Romano, MD, MS, announced Monday. STS and the Thoracic Surgery Foundation launched a wildfire response fund with a starter donation of $100,000.

“A meeting that brings us together is a much-needed show of support for our resilient community. Your presence will be an emotional, physical, and economic hug to a city that needs it,” Fernando Fleischman, MD, a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, stated in the conference update.

The annual meeting will offer an immersive experience in surgical procedures, with topics that include aortic annular enlargement, mitral valve repair, the Ross procedure, thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) techniques for aneurysms and dissections, and complex central airway reconstruction.

Hands-On Procedure Demonstrations

Also included will be sessions on topics such as structuring novel team models to improve cardiac emergency outcomes; strategies for antiplatelet reversal in cardiothoracic surgery, with a focus on balancing bleeding and thrombotic risks; mitral valve future therapies; and the latest evidence on outcomes in robotic cardiac surgery.

In a featured presentation on Saturday, National Geographic photographer, filmmaker, writer, and explorer Ami Vitale will share striking images and stories of people on the front lines of environmental crises and war. The question Vitale asks is, “If these individuals can achieve so much with just hope, resilience, and imagination, what astonishing heights might we all reach together?”

Romano addressed some questions on health and safety and whether having the conference would divert emergency resources.

“We are in communication on a daily basis with the LA Convention Bureau as to the status of the resources needed to support those in Los Angeles impacted by the fires, as well as the environmental impact of the fires,” Romano said. “The messaging we’re hearing so far is that they’re ready to welcome us with open arms.”

Safety at Conference

Romano also addressed questions about whether the dates could be pushed back or the location moved and whether a virtual option is possible.

“Because of the size of our meeting and the number of attendees, to pivot to another location or to simply move it out by several months is really impossible. We do contracting with convention centers and hotel blocks many years in advance,” she explained, noting that it is too close to the start of the meeting to set up a virtual platform.

Questions about air quality in the convention center are addressed on the conference website and, according to government sources, “air quality in downtown Los Angeles is currently within safe levels.” The convention center is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design–certified at the gold level, the website notes.

The scene is “totally different from the apocalyptic images still replaying on national news and social media from last week,” Joanna Chikwe, MD, a cardiac surgeon at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, was quoted on the website as saying.

“Many of us were evacuated at some point; several of our team members lost homes or have kids at schools where children are displaced. But my team is unanimous, and so is the city — if you want to support LA, come visit,” she added.