Objective of the course: The value of prevention is taught poorly in Medical Schools. The main duty of doctors has always been perceived to be patient care and many doctors see this as their unique role. However, prevention is very important in medicine because the disease is not pleasant, hospitalization costs and the restoration of health is not always feasible. The main purpose of the course is to transfer knowledge and information to medical students in order to increase their awareness of ways to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

Course content: Cardiovascular disease (coronary events, strokes, aortic aneurysms, carotid arterial disease, peripheral arterial disease) is the modern global epidemic and atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathophysiology. Atherosclerosis is a complex chronic inflammatory process that affects the medium and large sized arteries of the body. Atherosclerosis begins early in life, progresses slowly and silently for decades and unfortunately has an unpredictable outcome in many cases; half of the patients still die suddenly.

The topics of the course include:

• Clinical presentation of cardiovascular diseases. The concept of risk factor.
• Arterial Hypertension. Basic rules of prevention for the general clinician.
• Obesity and Diabetes; Role of nutrition.
• Smoking; Abdominal aortic aneurysms - Cerebrovascular events.
• Cardiovascular Risk Assessment: Usefulness and Limitations of Common Risk Scores.
• Treating dyslipidemia.
• Sudden cardiac death.
• Peripheral arterial disease and carotid disease: From pre-clinical detection to treatment.
• Compliance with treatment.

Mode of teaching and learning outcomes: The teachers of the course are practicing in their respective subjects. Teaching is performed via clinical examples that are given to students to resolve. A comprehensive discussion between trainees and trainers regarding specific clinical problems provides a great opportunity for learning.

Hours of training per student: 26

From the 7° Semester

ECTS: 2