Abstract submission has now closed. Thank you to all contributors for your valuable submissions!

• DEADLINE EXTENDED: 29 October 2024
• Notification of Accepted Abstracts: November 15, 2024

11th annual SWAAC ELSO Conference (South West Asia and Africa Chapter of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization) is honored to invite you to submit abstracts that showcase initiatives and innovations in ECLS education, ECMO program quality improvements initiatives, ECLS evidence-based medicine or practice.

We welcome the following professions to participate in our upcoming conference in Abu Dhabi in February of 2025. Abstract submission is open to intensivists, residents, fellows, cardiac surgeons, pediatric intensivists, cardiologists, ECMO nurses and nursing administrators, ECMO specialists, physiotherapists, clinical dietitians, speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, technologists and perfusionists to submit abstracts that showcase initiatives and innovations in ECLS education, ECMO program quality improvements initiatives, ECLS evidence-based medicine or practice.

Abstract Presentation Formats:

Abstracts may be submitted for:

• Oral Presentations
• Poster Presentations
• For Oral presentations, presenters will be allotted a 8-10-minute slot with 2 to 5 minutes designated for questions and answers. On-site presentation recordings will be available for on-demand listening after the event.
• For Poster presentations, the primary author and / or co- author will be allotted 5 minutes to present by their e-poster display
• Instructions of the abstract presentation will be sent by email upon submission acceptance.

The abstracts may include:

• Novel findings, initiatives for improving ECMO program quality, evidence-based medicine focused on ECLS, center experience, program development and / or program improvements and experience in addition to, original research, case report, case series, metanalysis, and controlled trials.
• Ongoing projects or projects that may have been published or presented elsewhere within the last year if relevant to the conference theme.

Preparing Your Abstract for Submission:

Abstract Contents:

• The total word count cannot exceed 300 words.
• The email address of the presenting author should be provided, and all authors are required to state their department name and institution, city and country. Authors may have multiple affiliations.
• The abstract must include the Background/Introduction, Methods, Results, limitations, and Conclusions.
• The abstract should be written in Times New Roman or Arial font 12pt., single-spaced, without spaces between paragraphs, and justified paragraph alignment.
• Abstracts may include up to 1 figure and 1 graph.
• Statement of ethical approval or exemption with committee name and reference number is required, if ethics approval is pending please make a note of it.
• Only complete submissions are considered for evaluation; ensure your entry clearly shows a full abstract. Before submitting the abstract to the submission portal, it is advised to ensure that your abstract is in adherence with the submission requirements.
• The abstract’s format should be relevant to the project being presented.
• The abstract must be submitted by the presenting author.
• A co-author may also be designated as co-presenter, and will also need to register to the conference
• Posters will be displayed as e-posters and must be submitted prior to the conference. Please refer to the submission deadline to ensure we receive your poster on time.
• E-poster sizes should be 120 c.m. (h) X 90 c.m. (w) (Portrait Format)
• The author must specify the type of presentation format they prefer (Oral Presentation or Poster Presentation) however, the scientific committee reserves the right to change the requested presentation format.

Submission Requirements:

• Presenters must disclose any potential conflicts of interest relating to the content they will be presenting (such as financial interests, vendor affiliations, and/or royalties received) and guarantee that their abstract presentations will not be used to promote any specific goods or services. If a conflict of interest is uncovered after acceptance, the committee has the right to revoke the approval of an abstract.
• Presenters are responsible for covering their own expenses, including travel, accommodation, and other expenditures.
• The presenting author serves as the point of contact for all correspondence with the committee and is also the corresponding author.

Submission Process:

• There is no limitation to the number of abstracts submitted by an individual author.
• All accepted abstracts’ presenting authors are required to sign up for the conference. Co-authors must sign up for the conference in order to present with the presenting author.
• When the abstract is properly submitted, a confirmation email will be sent automatically to the presenting author’s email address (approx. 2-3 weeks after the submission deadline).
• Presenters must upload their presentation materials on the website before the conference time (complete instructions will be sent by email).
• After the submission deadline, incomplete abstract submissions will not be accepted for assessment or consideration for presentation.

Review process

• At least two reviewers will independently evaluate each abstract.
• The reviewing is blind; reviewers are not aware of the submitters’ names or institutional connections.
• The reviewers will use the scoring rubric for abstract evaluation.
• The reviewers will consider the following criteria:

• 1. Relevance – to the overall theme of the conference and topics listed above.
  2. Scientific Merit – direction toward developing a new or improved diagnostic procedure or idea.
  3. Organization – well organized, easy to follow, and understandable.
  4. Practicality – should be available, logical, and feasible.
  5. Clarity – should be clear and brief and show understanding of the subject matter.
  6. Novelty – of the topic (e.g., the case addresses a new question or problem or approaches traditional questions from a novel perspective.
  7. Technical quality – the idea must stand up to scrutiny. Facts and data have scientific backing.

Figures and graphs and photos:

• Figures must be submitted as either tif- (tagged image format) or eps- (encapsulated postscript) files.
• Tables should be presented as images.
• Photographs, micrographs and scanned images; 1200 dpi for diagrams, scanned line drawings and line drawings in bitmap formats. Please note that artwork downloaded from the Internet (jpeg-, gif-, or pdf- files) cannot be used.
• Consider showing individual data points for bar graphs if doing so would better illuminate the distribution of the data.
• Patient consent is required for any figures containing patient images. Your institutional consent form should suffice, provided that there is a photo release clause as part of the form. Please include a statement below the abstract text.

The registration fee will be waived for all delegates with accepted abstracts