Over the past ten years, ECMO has become the first line circulatory support for patients with refractory cardiogenic shock in many centers worldwide. Moreover, very encouraging results have recently been demonstrated for patients who received ECMO because of severe respiratory failure (acute respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia due to the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) virus) or as a bridge to lung transplantation.

The “Institut de Cardiologie” in La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris has been deeply involved in developing a powerful ECMO program and has become one of the world leaders in this field.

To foster knowledge and mastering of ECMO and other techniques for short-term circulatory and respiratory support, our Institute will now organize a yearly International Course in Paris. The meeting will offer opinion leaders’ conferences and will also give full time for discussions and debates, with panel roundtables prepared by chairmen of expertise. Medical and paramedical workers coming from different specialties (ICU, Anesthesiology, Surgery, Emergency, Cardiology, Pneumology...) all fighting acute circulatory and/or respiratory distress, will mix and exchange experiences and expertise.

The course will take place in La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris allowing rounding on patients as well as getting trained on different ECMO/ and short-term support systems.

We hope that this course will allow many centers to improve their skills in this field and that discussions will improve the care we give to our patients.

We would like to thank you in advance for your support, and look forward to seeing you in Paris next June.