Message from the President
Katowice, 12 April 2020
Dear Colleagues,
Another year of activity of the Polish Phlebological Society (PTF) has passed. Many of us will associate 2019 with an important international event: the International Union of Phlebology Conference, held in Kraków at the end of August. On behalf of myself, the Organisers and PTF, thank you very much for attending this undoubtedly important event for Polish phlebology in such large numbers.
I thank everyone who helped to organise this conference, I also thank the Lecturers and all those who wished to submit and present their work. 1,310 people participated in the International Union of Phlebology Chapter Meeting in Kraków, and over three days at the Congress Centre, we had the opportunity to meet and get to know phlebologists from over 70 countries. Once again, thank you for your participation and help in organising the UIP conference in Kraków.
However, 2019 was not just the UIP conference. In recent years, more and more of you have been taking an active part in courses and training and organising educational activities affiliated with PTF – information about them has been, and will continue to be, posted on the website of the Polish Phlebological Society. Thank you very much for your commitment, ideas, and their implementation. All these activities contribute to the steadily rising standard of phlebology as a medical discipline in our country.
To all of you working in this field and wishing to share your experience and knowledge, I express great respect and gratitude. Special thanks also to the PTF Lymphology Section and its President Prof. Andrzej Szuba, as well as to the Organisers and Lecturers of the Aesthetic Phlebology Conference. In 2019, we had the opportunity to meet at the two-day Aesthetic Phlebology and Lipedema conference. For the first time in Poland, lymphoedema was presented and discussed in such a comprehensive way with significant participation of foreign guests.
Challenges of 2020
Dear Colleagues, 2020 brings new challenges for most of us, as well as for the Society. The first and undoubtedly surprising challenge for all of us became the epidemic, whose magnitude and consequences we probably could not even imagine a few months ago. As I write this letter, phlebologists in most parts of Poland have been forced to give up planned diagnostic and therapeutic activities, which generates numerous problems for many of us, similar to many other medical disciplines and specialties.
Wishing you above all good health, I hope for the swiftest possible return to the phlebology we know, which the many patients waiting for highly specialised treatment in your centres and practices would also wish for. However, none of us can probably say today when this will be possible.
Planned Events
The ongoing epidemic has affected, and unfortunately may continue to affect, a number of activities PTF planned for 2020. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the lymphological conference in Wrocław organised by Prof. Andrzej Szuba and the PTF Lymphology Section was moved from April to the first week of September 2020.
The "Phlebology in Kalatówki" conference is planned for 11–13 September 2020 – we will let you know whether it will be possible to organise it at a later date. This will undoubtedly depend on the epidemiological situation in Poland. The next planned event is the Aesthetic Phlebology Conference on 7 November 2020 in Warsaw. More than a month after Aesthetic Phlebology, on 11–12 December 2020, we would like to invite you to another regular meeting – the International Symposium on Venous Interventions in Kraków.
Phlebological Review and Training
Hoping that the COVID-19 pandemic will subside as soon as possible in Poland and worldwide, I would also like to remind you about our Society's journal - Phlebological Review. We cordially invite you to submit papers and share your observations, knowledge, and experience.
Another area where I would like to encourage you to broader cooperation is the establishment in Poland of training centres and training systems in line with the proposals of the committee affiliated with UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists) for Phlebology (Multidisciplinary Joint Committee on Phlebology).
Congress 2021
Finally, one more invitation concerning an event planned for 2021. On 10–12 June 2021, at the International Congress Centre in Katowice, we plan to hold the International Congress of the Polish Phlebological Society. The congress will be combined with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of PTF, which falls in the coming year.
Wishing you all, above all, good health in this difficult time of the pandemic, I once again sincerely thank everyone actively involved in the work of PTF. To all Members of the Polish Phlebological Society, I wish you perseverance and success in pursuing your plans.
With best wishes
Prof. Tomasz Urbanek
President of the Polish Phlebological Society
