The history of the Intercept Course

InterCEPT is the acronymous of INTERnational Course on Extracorporeal Perfusion Technologies.

Extracorporeal technologies are presently employed in many different clinical environments: cardiac surgery, intensive care, renal support, end-stage cardiac failure and many others. As a consequence, they are addressed in many different international congresses and symposia.

First established in 2004, this course is dedicated to all the professional profiles being involved and interested in Extracorporeal Perfusion Technologies, with specific respect to circulatory support in cardiac surgery, cardiopulmonary bypass, ventricular assistance, respiratory assistance, fluid balance control in cardiac failure, and hemodialysis/hemofiltration.

The course takes place in Milan during springtime, usually in April, with a duration of two days and half, from Thursday morning through Saturday morning. Official languages of the course are Italian and English, and a simultaneous translation is provided for all the lectures, including questions and answers. The audience is traditionally composed by cardiac anesthesiologists (40%), perfusionists (40%), and a miscellaneous of other professional figures (20%) like intensivists, cardiac surgeons, general anesthesiologists, cardiologists, hematologists, nephrologists.

There is a limited number of places available. The initial target was 100 attendants, but due to the increasing demands, it has recently been raised to 175. The mean participation of the last three editions was about 180 attendants, 60% from Italy and 40% from the rest of Europe.

The following table summarizes the participation in the previus editions.