Profile: The Charing Cross Symposia – The Silver Jubilee

The first Charing Cross International Symposium, held back in 1978, addressed stroke research. According to Greenhalgh, notable speakers at this inaugural included, “My teacher, Professor Gerry Taylor, of Barts and Dr Jesse Thompson of Dallas, each of whom were superb carotid technicians. Interestingly they looked a little alike.” Bill Fields, the distinguished neurologist, from Houston, also spoke at this first meeting, which was supported by ICI, as did Professor Jim Yao of Chicago. At the time, carotid endarterectomy was performed well by a number of excellent practitioners, but it was by no means accepted across the board.

The following year, the 1979 meeting tackled the ambitious topic of “Smoking and Arterial Disease” and a distinguished speaker was Peter Martin doyen arterial surgeon of the Hammersmith at the time. “He usually wore a bow tie,” recalled Greenhalgh. “His other distinguishing feature was that he had extremely large hands and held an audience brilliantly. He had a look of Noel Coward about him.” One of Martin’s great admirers at the time was Dr John Bergen, then a professor of Surgery at Northwestern Chicago, and Bergen also came to the meeting and spoke. In 1980 the topic chosen for the Charing Cross meeting was “Hormones and Vascular Disease”, which sought for gender differences in arterial disease. Greenhalgh remembered: “The title caught the imagination and the book was translated into Russian and Portuguese and Spanish!”

Hampton Court and Princess Anne
The Charing Cross International Symposium continued annually, but on the meeting’s fifth year in 1982, the guest of honour was Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne (not yet the Princess Royal). “We dined in Hampton Court Palace,” said Greenhalgh. “The Earl and Countess of Westmoreland were also present and Felix Eastcott was a notable speaker and then vice-President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Jean Natali, from Paris, showed us his amazing techniques of aortic arch surgery and Dr John Mannick made his first visit to the Charing Cross Symposium of which he became a great supporter for life.

“This was also an occasion for William J von Liebig, the President of Meadox. He enjoyed the occasion greatly. There was support also from Bard, and the then vice-President Guy Guarch.”

The 1984 meeting saw the first edition of Vascular Surgical Techniques: the Atlas. This was a major work and a tremendous achievement by Sean Duggan, who was the commissioning editor. Alastair Karmody and Tom Fogarty attended this meeting, with Karmody describing the in situ vein bypass technique, but sadly very shortly afterwards he died of stomach cancer. This meeting’s reception was held in Madame Tussaud’s.

Denton Cooley visited the 1985 Charing Cross International Symposium, while Roger Baird was a regular supporter and always prominent in the meetings.

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The European Society for Vascular Surgery
In 1987, Michael DeBakey honoured the meeting with his presence alongside Henner Muller-Wiefel and Professor Paulo Fiorani. The 1987 symposium was a particularly important meeting because it featured the inauguration of the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS). At the meeting, Michael DeBakey called upon every European country to support the ESVS and, with the exception of France, this happened. At the meeting the society was convened. Already, in January 1987, the journal had begun and was published by Grune and Stratton. In no time the ESVS became independent of Charing Cross and the society’s next meeting was planned for September in Rotterdam. Since its early association with the Charing Cross Symposium, the ESVS has gone from strength to strength, but it was from the Charing Cross mailing list that the ESVS was launched and convened.

The 1988 meeting, saw one of the early visits from Frank Veith and Jonathan Towne, as well as Andrew Nicolaides and Bert Eikelboom and newly appointed professor in Lisbon, Fernandez e Fernandez and Wilhelm Sandmann from Dusseldorf. Peter Bell, John Mannick, Bernhard Nachbur and Wilhelm Sandmann, as well as Norman Rich and Michael DeBakey were present once again in 1989.

“1990 was an extraordinary year”, reflected Greenhalgh, “ in which we were visited by the then Minister of State, Virginia Bottomley, and also by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, who witnessed the Charing Cross 4-layer bandage technique.”

The meeting switched to the topic “Maintenance of Arterial Reconstruction” in 1991, and “Emergency Vascular Surgery” in 1992, supported by Norman Rich, Cal Ernst, Peter Bell, Jonathan Towne, Jimmy Yao and Professor Norman Brause. In 1989, there was the second edition of the Vascular Surgical Techniques: the Atlas, but in 1994 the Atlas 3rd edition was recast as Vascular and Endovascular Surgical Techniques. Greenhalgh said: “This was the major change introducing endovascular surgery in a major way at this early stage.”

In 1995, the symposium concentrated on vascular imaging for surgeons with notable contributions from Eugene Strandness. This was the first appearance of Alun Davies, who joined Greenhalgh’s department following Kevin O’Malley.

The “Trials and Tribulations of Vascular Surgery” in 1996, honed down on the trials and the need for evidence to prove ones position. “This was a very successful meeting and the beginning of the tendency towards evidence-based medicine, which has become a feature of the Charing Cross symposium in recent years,” said Greenhalgh.

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