The first Ukrainian-Lithuanian scientific and practical conference “Modern Cardiology”, which took place in Kyiv on May 17-18, 2024, was a unique event for Ukrainian medicine. The forum was organized by the Heart Institute together with the cardiology clinic of Vilnius University. During two days, about 500 cardiologists and doctors of related specialties from all regions of Ukraine became direct participants of this unique, excellently organized event. In addition, hundreds of doctors watched the conference broadcast online. The conference was registered by the Testing Center at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine as an event for the continuous professional development of doctors.

The structure of the conference program reflected the main trends in the development of modern cardiology – an emphasis on prevention, timely and precise diagnosis of the most common heart diseases, and an integral connection with interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery. The material of scientific meetings and master classes mainly included discussion of unique clinical cases, and generalization of practical and scientific developments of leading experts of the Institute and its departments. Attendees heard and saw firsthand how the leading cardiological and cardiosurgical center of Ukraine worked and continued to develop during the extremely difficult periods of the pandemic and full-scale war, which became the locomotive and unconditional leader of the heart transplant program during this period and continued to implement the latest cardiosurgical interventions. Considerable attention was paid to the new possibilities of ultrasound and functional diagnosis of diseases of the heart and blood vessels, the use of devices and catheter interventions for rhythm and conduction disorders, and endovascular treatment of heart defects. But probably the most notable was the section “Cardiac surgery for cardiologists”, in which attendees received detailed and accessible information about the use of modern technologies in cardiac surgery.

The “Modern Cardiology” conference became an extremely important stage of cooperation between the Heart Institute and the cardiology clinic of Vilnius University. Undoubtedly, the personal participation and reports of Professor Diana Zakarkaite, doctors Alexeyus Zorinas, Vilyus Janushauskas, and Gedri Balchunaite became the highlight of this event. We were able to feel the strong and sincere support of our Lithuanian colleagues, with particular interest we heard about the experience of organizing the work of the University Clinic, the organization of postgraduate education and scientific research, and discussed the possibilities of further cooperation.

Thank you to all speakers, attendees, and everyone involved in the organization of this important forum! Special thanks to our partners – the pharmaceutical company “Darnytsia”! We hope that the “Modern Cardiology” conference will become a good tradition. We continue to work and dream about the next forums!