It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to the 3rd annual Gulf Heart Association (GHA)-Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention (SCAI) Shock Middle East meeting (GHA-SCAI Shock Middle East). The GHA and SCAI have collaborated to create an impactful and high-quality scientific meeting, dedicated to improving outcomes in cardiogenic shock.

In this meeting, we share insights and state of the art care on one of cardiology’s deadliest disease states. Despite numerous advancements within the field, cardiogenic shock continues to be a challenge for the cardiology community and clinicians caring for these critically ill patients. We bring together leaders throughout the world in the fields of emergency medicine, cardiology, heart failure, critical care, and surgery to help programs in the region establish and build their cardiogenic shock teams and systems of care.

Optimal cardiogenic shock care requires prompt recognition and early intervention to stop the rapid and deadly cascade of cardiogenic shock. This year we have enhanced our program to include emergency response teams who are at the forefront of early shock care. Similarly, we know that shock survivors, often require expertise of care from cardiac surgeons for advanced therapies such as ventricular assist devices or heart transplant, hence we have also enhanced our program with more participation from our surgical colleagues. We have also created several specialized workshops that deal with the different aspects of care for patients with cardiogenic shock including workshops on advanced hemodynamics, Impella, ECMO, and large bore access. In addition, there will be industry sponsored symposia.

After Dubai and Riyadh, Kuwait is the venue for the 3rd annual meeting. Attendees will be able to enjoy Kuwait’s beautiful weather in January and the hospitality of its people. We would like to thank all the faculty who have accepted our invitation and we would like to thank all the attendees who will contribute to the success of this event.