The 24th Annual Meeting of the American Venous Forum (AVF) took place at the Loews Royal Pacific on February 8-11, 2012, in Orlando, Florida.

The meeting started bright and early on February 8 with the David S. Sumner Venous Summit. The format this year was the ever-popular debate session, headed by RobertMcLafferty, MD, who is the new AVF president. The debates focused on the role of inferior vena cava filters in trauma patients, the role of endovascular treatment in chronic cerebrospinal venal insufficiency and multiple sclerosis, foam sclerotherapy as a primary treatment for varicose veins, the role of American College of Cardiology versus American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery guidelines in venous thromboembolism prophylaxis, and the role of primary valve dysfunction in the development of varicose veins. These were lively debates and all participants made balanced points. The audience response devices allowed all participants to be engaged in the debate outcomes as well. 
Later that day, the first scientific session focused on superficial vein disease and sclerotherapy. This session included the best paper from the Royale Society Venous Forum, lead by F. J. Slim, MD from the United Kingdom. Attendees discussed venous imaging and other topics. The day concluded with a welcome reception in the exhibit hall. 

On Thursday, the scientific sessions continued with a focus on deep vein thrombosis, which included both clinical and translational science papers. Later that morning, a mixed group of abstracts included such diverse venous topics as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency and design of a venous valve.  During the lunch session, the Villavicencio Symposium on Lymphology and AV Malformations was well received. That session was followed by the American College of Phlebology Symposium, which was moderated by John Mauriello, MD and Lowell Kabnick, MD.  Later that afternoon, Mark Passman, MD, and Joseph Raffetto,
MD, moderated two well-received poster sessions.  

On Friday the presentations started with a session on chronic venous insufficiency, which included recent data on the prevalence of venous ulcers, as well as a review of both interventional and medical therapy for this issue. That was followed by the highly anticipated President's Session. At the session, the Servier Traveling Fellowship awardees, Frank Vandy, MD, University of Michigan; and Emily Wood, MD, Stony Brook University; and the BSN Jobst Research Award winner, Rabih Chaer, MD, University of Pittsburgh, were introduced. Following updates on the venous registry and venous screening, AVF President Seshadri Raju, MD, gave a speech in which he melded historical vignettes with a hypothesis related to venous hypertension that he has been studying for many years. 

The business meeting followed the President's Session. The business meeting included a specialty symposium that brought together some of the world's most renowned experts in various areas. Susan Kahn, MD, and Thomas Wakefield, MD, chaired the session on vascular medicine and thrombosis. Notable panelists for that session included Anthony Comerota, MD; Susan Kahn MD; Paolo Prandoni, MD, PhD; Thomas Wakefield,MD; and Jeff Weitz, MD.
Roger Kamm, PhD, and Geert Schmid-Schönbein, PhD, chaired the session on biomechanics and bioengineering, which included interesting presentations on venous hemodynamics by Roger Kamm, PhD; Fedor Lurie, MD; William Marston, MD; Colleen Moore, MD; Andrew Narracott, PhD; Seshadri Raju, MD; and Geert Schmid-Schönbein, PhD.  

William Marston, MD, and Hugo Partsch, MD, chaired the session on wound care and compression, which included presentations by William Ennis, MD; Robert Kistner, MD; William Marston, MD; and Hugo Partsch, MD.    

On Saturday, the scientific session began with a focus on chronic venous diseases.                 C. R. Lattimer, MD presented the best paper from the European Venous Forum.

Paolo Prandoni, MD, PhD was the Eugene Strandness lecturer this year.  Paolo Prandoni, MD, PhD is an international expert in the epidemiology of venous thrombosis, and he is the primary author of the Calisto trial, which has changed how we treat superficial thrombophlebitis. He spoke on the similarities and differences between venous thrombosis and arterial thrombosis. He clearly showed that the evidence is present to suggest that the two processes are related much more than has been appreciated in the past. More importantly, he demonstrated data that linked unprovoked venous thromboembolism with arterial cardiovascular events, and he presented data for the first time that showed that small doses of aspirin can inhibit venous thrombosis after a course of standard anticoagulation. He also spoke of the data concerning statins, and his data and discussion suggest that at some point in the not-too-distant future, we may be treating patients with venous thrombosis and venous disease very much as we treat patients with arterial disease. The data presented by Professor Prandoni is a call to action for scientists to understand better the basic mechanisms of thrombosis and to better define the links between arterial and venous thrombosis.
Later that day, the annual meeting culminated with the presentation of the Founder's Award to two luminaries in the field of venous disease. The Founder's Award recognizes individuals who have made important contributions to the fields of venous and lymphatic disease and whose exceptional efforts have left an indelible mark on the American Venous Forum.  Andrew Nicolaides, MD, from Cyprus and Hugo Partsch, MD, from Vienna, were honored with the award. 

Other awards given included the best poster awards, presented to Jose Diaz, MD, University of Michigan (3rd year in a row); Christopher Lattimer, MD, Ealing Hospital, London; and Fedor Lurie, MD, Kistner Vein Clinic, Honolulu.

Finally, AVF recognized the team from the association management company Administrare', Inc., for its many years of service to the organization. In 2004, Administrare' was founded and AVF was its first client. Recognizing the explosive growth of AVF and the need for significantly more services, Administrare'  tendered its resignation so that a larger management company with more resources could be secured to assist with that growth. The  AVF recognized Eila Zay for 19 years of service as the organization's meeting planner, as well as Administrare' team of Angela Wetherbee and Janet Reade.