September is a perfect season for a short visit to
Catalonia. The weather is still warm, and places
are not as crowded as in summer. We will be
offering you a wide range of leisure and sport
activities to be enjoyed in the days before or
after the Conference, of course including
diving excursions to Costa Brava or to Balearic
Islands.
Following what is an ICHM tradition, a 3-4
days Hyperbaric Tour through the country will
be organized, visiting some of the main Centres
of Hyperbaric Medicine located in beautiful
resorts, like Santander, Malaga, Cartagena,
Alicante, and Palma de Mallorca.
We hope we have convinced you that 2005
offers you an excellent opportunity to combine
the best conference of the year with an
enjoyable leisure experience, and may be a part
of an unforgettable holiday. Make a bookmark
in your 2005 diary; you will not be
disappointed.
Jordi Desola, President XV ICHM
CRIS-UTH
Barcelona, Spain
Editorial
(Continued from Page 2)
differences which the several meetings that
the two groups have organized so far have
not yet harmonized.
This is even more evident if the Euro-
American situation is compared with the
status of Hyperbaric Medicine in Asian
Countries, such as Japan and, more so, China,
not to speak about the growing use of HBOT
in developing Countries, where it can
represent an affordable method to treat certain
ailments in the absence or limited availability
of certain pharmacological agents or more
sophisticated treatment techniques.
Similar considerations have lead to the last
meeting between the UHMS and the ECHM,
organized in Sydney last May 2004, which
was also extended to Hyperbaric Medicine
Societies or Specialists from Japan, China,
Latin America and other Asian as well as
African Countries.
Although some progress has been made, the
International Hyperbaric Medical Community
is still far from reaching at least a common
standard for internationally accepted
indications for HBOT, let alone for treatment
protocols.
The action of the ICHM can be particularly
effective in this regard. Traditionally the
ICHM has been perceived as "non partisan"
and "neutral" with respect to the other more or
less "national" groups. As such it has always
been an effective theatre for confrontation and
comparison of different approaches and
modalities of application of HBOT and many
innovative ideas have originated from the
ICHM Congresses.
.
Once more the 2005 Congress will be a Joint
Event, again uniting the ICHM with the EUBS
been a similar meeting in Australia since the
International Congress in 1987). Quite simply,
Sydney was a desirable destination
highlighted by the 2000 Olympics that seemed
to go so well, Sydney was one of the global
`hot'destinations.
September 2001 changed the world, but not the
determination of the Diving and Hyperbaric
community to get to Sydney and enjoy the
annual scientific meeting. After a long and
increasingly anxious period of planning, the
registrations came in and we were underway.
Fall 2004
Page 5
HBO Congress
(Continued on Page 6)
The Undersea and
Hyperbaric Medical Society
Annual Scientific Meeting
(Continued from Page 1)
