The ECHSA Meeting 2019 took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from June 20 to 22, 2019.

For the first time this historic meeting brought together pediatric cardiac surgeons from the European Congenital Heart Surgeons Association (ECHSA) and the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery (WSPCHS).

The invited faculty consisted of world-renowned experts and the Scientific Program featured presentations on major clinical issues in congenital heart surgery, clinical and database research, traditional exciting best-worst case presentations, video sessions, and oral and poster abstract presentations.

A unique new feature of this Congress was the innovative Hands-On Surgical Simulation Workshop: using 3D printed cardiac models in a dry-lab format: “The Arterial Switch Operation for Transposition of the Great Arteries”.  This workshop  represented a fantastic opportunity for more junior colleagues to practice the arterial switch operation on accurate 3D printed models of the hearts of babies with transposition, under the guidance of established experts in the field.