News and views

HEART UK held its 36th Annual Medical and Scientific Conference over several days in July 2023 when the cholesterol charity reflected on the current progress across a range of key areas within lipidology. This included an update on the progress in cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention nationally, paediatric familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and a look back on the dramatic progress since the identification of PCSK9 as a lipid treatment target. Dr Andreas Tridimas reports its highlights....

The British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) annual conference returned to the Manchester Central Convention Complex on the 5th–7th June 2023. The focus this year was on workforce, resilience, sustainability and multi-disciplinary working. Dr J. Aaron Henry reports selected highlights from BCS 2023....

Cardiovascular medicine mourns the loss of one of its most well-known and loved figures, Gordon McInnes, who died suddenly on 30th May 2023, aged 77. Gordon was a towering figure in the fields of clinical pharmacology and hypertension. An imposing presence at almost precisely two metres tall, he combined his physical attributes with a sharp and competitive intellect....

With sadness we report the passing of editorial board member Professor Mark Monaghan, who led clinical and academic echocardiography for more than 30 years at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust where he was Consultant Clinical Scientist in Echocardiography and Immediate Past Director of Non-invasive Cardiology....

Infective endocarditis (IE) without murmurs (silent IE) is an entity fraught with the risk of missed diagnosis. This hazard is attributable to a suboptimal index of suspicion for IE, and, hence, suboptimal workup for IE, when a murmur is absent. This state of affairs was exemplified by anecdotal reports of 15 adult patients (11 male) of mean age 48 years who were characterised by the association of silent IE and mucocutaneous stigmata of IE (table 1),1–15 and in whom echocardiography was initiated after a delay of one day to seven months (median seven days) following documentation of mucocutaneous stigmata. None had ‘same day’ echocardiography. In addition to mucocutaneous stigmata, nine of the 15 patients also had risk factors for IE, namely, dental caries,9,10,12,15 ear piercing,11 post-operative wound infection,3 intravenous drug use,13 and cirrhosis of the liver.2,6 Three patients had an afebrile presentation.2,12,13 Echocardiography disclosed vegetations in 13 patients.1–4,6–8,10–15 Eight patients (including four with risk factors for endocarditis) subsequently developed new murmurs.1,2,5,6,9,12,14,15 In five of those cases echocardiography was undertaken after detection of the murmur.1,2,9,14,15...

We are delighted to welcome three new members to the BJC editorial board. We will be collaborating with them on a new series of articles for the journal covering immunology and the heart, lipid medicine, and obstetric cardiology....

To mark the 25th anniversary of the British Society of Heart Failure (BSH), the focus of its recent annual meeting was an aim to reduce heart failure mortality by 25% in the next 25 years. The meeting was held at the QEII Conference Centre, London, on 1st–2nd December 2022. Dr Sarah Birkhoelzer reports its highlights....

After two years of virtual meetings, the Cardiorenal Forum’s recent 17th Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) was able to return to a face-to-face event with delegates enjoying the opportunity to network, hear and discuss presentations in person again. The meeting was held at the King’s Fund, London, on 7th October 2022. Karin Pola and Sarah Birkhoelzer report some of its highlights....

We send our congratulations to editorial board member, Dr Sarah Clarke, who has been elected the 122nd President of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). She is the fourth woman to hold the role and has held many roles at the RCP, including, most recently, a three-year term as clinical vice-president....

We are delighted to welcome four new members to our editorial board....