Participation of Heart Institute Doctors in the XVIII British‑Ukrainian Symposium on Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (BUS‑18)

In early May, the team of the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine took part in the 18th British‑Ukrainian Symposium on Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (BUS‑18), held at the Clinical Hospital “Feofaniya.”

This major anaesthesiology forum in Ukraine brings together leading Ukrainian specialists and international experts from the United Kingdom, USA, Austria, Israel, Poland, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, and other countries.

The Heart Institute was represented by a large team — Professor Borys Todurov, Mykola Melnyk, Yurii Balandiuk, Svitlana Romanenko, Ihor Kuzmych, Serhii Sudakevych, Vasyl Shmyrko, and Oleh Zelenchuk — who delivered presentations on the Institute’s experience in ECMO, intensive care, resuscitation, and modern approaches to managing the most complex patients.

For the first time, two simulation‑based workshops were conducted within the symposium:

• Autotransfusion
• ECMO as cardiopulmonary resuscitation — the use of ECMO in critical situations to save lives. These workshops were led by Serhii Sudakevych, Oleh Zelenchuk, and Vasyl Shmyrko.

Special thanks go to colleagues and friends from ELSO — Extracorporeal Life Support Organization, EuroELSO — Christine Stead, Daniel Brodie, and especially to Konstanty Szułdrzyński from the Państwowy Instytut Medyczny MSWiA (Poland), who personally came to Ukraine during such a difficult and dangerous time. He also symbolically presented the Ukrainian ECMO community with The ELSO Red Book — one of the key reference works for anaesthesiologists and intensive care specialists working with extracorporeal technologies.

Receiving a copy with personal signatures and words of support for the Ukrainian medical community was particularly meaningful. It is not only a professional resource but also a powerful symbol of international solidarity and support for Ukrainian doctors.

We sincerely thank the organizers for the invitation.