The 11th Congress of the Iranian Heart Association in collaboration with the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology was inaugurated by Dr. Fereidoon Noohi, the head of the Iranian heart Association, in Tehran on Thursday the 22 of October. During the opening ceremony, the director of the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology called for close ties between Iran, and other countries of the region such as India, with the Vice President of the society, (and Urdu speaker) speaking a few words in Farsi. The congress is attended by many Iranian experts foreign experts, specializing in many fields of cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, such as interventional cardiology, pacing and electrophysiology, bypass surgery, valve replacement cardiac surgery, heart transplantation, cardiovascular pharmacology and many other fields of cardiology.

The foreign delegates comprises of experts from the Asian and Pacific countries such as Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Thailand and as far as New Zealand and Austria. There were also some ex-patriot Iranian experts from Europe and the U.S. Within the past few years, the field of cardiology and cardiovascular surgery in Iran has improved dramatically, with local experts undertaking the latest forms of life saving operations around such as the latest implantation of a bi-ventricular pacemaker system by Dr. Arashmidos Sanati's team in Dr. Shariati Hospital. A large array of papers from various local and international papers were presented at the congress with a large number of impressive papers presented by local experts.

The congress will continue until the 24 of October.