ASCVP Annual Scientific Meeting,
Townsville October 2006

On 27–28 October, 2006, nearly 100 people congregated in Townsville for the Annual Scientific Meeting and AGM. Townsville put on a weekend of perfect weather. The venue- Jupiters Hotel and Casino- is by the sea giving spectacular views and a tropical atmosphere. People who chose to spend time in our beautiful city will now know why we live up here.

Richard Newland headed the Scientific Organising Committee and they did a wonderful job of organising the scientific program. This year’s invited speaker was John Murkin from Ontario, Canada. The Faculty included Ben Bidstrup, Rob Baker, Tim Wilcox, Kate Kingsford Smith, Hayden Dando, Richard Newland and Chris Morley. Twenty four papers were delivered on many varying and interesting topics. The controversial drug aprotinin was discussed with all sides of the latest debate being presented. Evidenced based practice, which is also very topical at the moment, was discussed and it’s relevance to perfusion. Cerebral monitoring is a new area of expertise for many and it was good to get overviews of BIS, Invos Cerebral Monitors and Trans-Cranial Doppler. Other new techniques were discussed in the free papers and old problems were addressed.

The AGM was well attended and with much discussion on the topics on the agenda. It is good to see the members having input into the society.

The weekend finished with a wonderful trip to Magnetic Island. This is the last conference for the ASCVP. Next year it will be the ANZCP meeting.

Helen Scarrott