CSI Asia-Pacific 2019 was successfully held on February 22-24, 2019 in Guangzhou, China. This congress is a top-level event in the field of structural heart disease in Asia and even across the globe. It is also the first time that CSI Asia-Pacific Congress was held in China. Leading experts in the field of interventional cardiology were invited to deliver discussions and exchange ideas focusing on interventional therapy for congenital, structural and valvar heart disease through live transmissions and keynote speeches, highlighting the latest progress on the catheter therapy for congenital, structural and valvar heart disease in the Asia-Pacific region. Multiple interventional cardiologists attended CSI Asia-Pacific 2019 to promote mutual learning and communication, and accelerate persistent development of the discipline. The congress provided an innovative and diverse academic platform for face-to-face communication among globally leading interventional cardiologists.

As a founder of transcatheter patent foramen ovale (PFO) interventional therapy in China who performed the most cases of PFO interventional therapy, Professor Zhang Yushun from the First Affiliated Hospital of Jiaotong University was invited to attend the congress and make a keynote speech entitled “The current status and future of PFO closure in China”, illustrating the current status and prospect of PFO closure in China to the experts and scholars from all over the world. Professor Zhang also delivered in-depth analysis, discussion and communication with many world-renowned specialists and professors in the field of PFO intervention, especially Professor John Carrol, PI of the RESPECT trial conducted in the United States, which not only promotes the combination of the ongoing projects in our hospital with the latest innovative research worldwide, provides a novel idea for multi-center trial of PFO and abnormal embolism in Chinese population, but also accelerates the progressof randomized controlled trial of PFO closure for stroke prevention in China.