I am honored to acknowledge all Cath Lab Digest Annual Symposium on Cardiovascular Care (ASOCC) attendees in Orlando, Florida, June 3-5. Thank you for attending ASOCC! The Cath Lab Digest Annual Symposium provides a chance to learn, network and ask questions of the experts our engaging, experienced faculty and your fellow professionals, who just may have the hands-on knowledge you™re looking for. ASOCC attendees also received a unique bumper sticker:

If you weren™t able to make it to ASOCC this year, I hope to see you in 2005!

This month, Cath Lab Digest serves up the latest information on distal embolic protection from Dr. Donald Baim. CLD also shares information on saving money with Perclose usage with an article from Donna Florio-Bronen, RN, ANCC and Dr. Anthony Pucillo. Also, our CME/CEU feature is back! Dr. Atul Sharma and Dr. S. Chiu Wong review the data on high-risk patients and the siroliumus-eluting stent. Elisabeth Frails writes on professionalism in the cath lab and its culture of family, which she argues has been lost over the past few years. Cath Lab Digest also has an interesting interview with startup Viacor, Inc., which has created a Percutaneous Transvenous Mitral Annuloplasty (PTMA) device. (I want to thank board member Ken Gorski at the Cleveland Clinic for suggesting CLD pursue this article.)

Enjoy!