International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET)

The International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET) is an educational meeting for physicians, scientists, engineers and allied health professionals working in the multidisciplinary field of peripheral and cardiac interventional medicine. The meeting provides information on the latest techniques and technology for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of vascular diseases, among them stroke, heart attack, aneurysm and hardening of the arteries. The meeting highlights life-saving procedures that are considered less invasive than traditional surgery.

In 2008, ISET will celebrate its 20th anniversary. The five-day course was founded in 1989 by internationally acclaimed interventionist Barry Katzen, M.D., a member of the team that in 2005 used stents to repair the leg aneurysms of Vice President Dick Cheney. Dr. Katzen is known worldwide for his work using angioplasty and stents to clear blockages in arteries throughout the body. He was one of the first to popularize the use of clot-busting drugs for vascular disease.

Dr. Katzen is also the founder and medical director of the Miami-based Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute (BCVI), which presents the meeting. BCVI embraces and ISET promotes the idea that physicians of differing specialties – interventional radiologists, interventional cardiologists and vascular surgeons – must work together in support of high-quality patient care.

The ISET meeting is presented annually in South Florida and draws attendees and prominent faculty speakers from around the world. The meeting is distinguished for its use of the live case demonstration – an educational method pioneered by Dr. Katzen – during which procedures taking place at a medical institution are satellite transmitted, in real time, to an auditorium in which meeting attendees are observing and panelists are asking questions of the operators.

In addition to Dr. Katzen, the following serve as course directors and are responsible for the meeting’s programming: James F. Benenati, M.D.; Gerald Zemel, M.D.; Alex Powell, M.D.; Ramon Quesada, M.D.; Shaun Samuels, M.D.; and Constantino Peña, M.D.