Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne

Successful third Cologne Symposium on Ageing Medicine covering high performance medicine in advanced age

22/01/2019

January 19, 2019

The Cologne Symposia on Ageing Medicine focus on translating critical aspects of the ageing process such as heterogeneity and complexity in the management of our older and oldest-old patients. The 3rd Cologne Symposium on Ageing Medicine took place on January 19, 2019 and was opened by the Dean of the Faculty Prof. Thomas Krieg.

The concept of high performance medicine in advanced age was introduced by Prof. Dr. M. Cristina Polidori, the organizer of the symposium. She pointed out that many lives can be saved today thanks to the progress of high-performance medicine, but also display considerable limitations especially in older adults that should be carefully taken into account by healthcare professionals.

“We were delighted to welcome an interdisciplinary audience including physicians and scientists from various medical disciplines and representatives from institutions focusing on aging research, medical and nursing schools as well as rehabilitation & therapy schools and interested students” commented Prof. Dr. M. Cristina Polidori.The program fo the Symposium and further information: https://www.cmmc-uni-koeln.de/events/3rd-cologne-symposium-on-ageing-medicine-2019/


The participants enjoyed the inspiring lecture of the honorary guest speaker Prof. Dr. Andreas Kruse, director of the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Heidelberg, one of the leading gerontological research institutions worldwide. During his talk Prof. Dr. Kruse covered psychological and philosophical aspects of vulnerability as well as the potentials of older adults in the final phases of their life. He accompanied his lecture with a musical contribution by playing the piano and offered the audience the possibility to envision the scientific evidence on existence in advanced age in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose compositions were not only deeply inspired by his religious beliefs and his scientific education, but also represent scientific evidence of the influence of aging.

The second part of the symposium was dedicated to high performance medicine in older adults, in particular to the challenges and opportunities of management of myocardial infarction presented by Dr. Samuel Lee, transplantation medicine presented by Prof. Christine Kurschat, orthopedic surgery presented by Dr. Henning Kunter and oncology presented by PD Dr. Valentin Goede.

The experts of the University Hospital Cologne introduced the innovative concept highlighting an early in-hospital multidisciplinary treatment. During his talk Prof. Paul Brinkkötter pointed out that this approach will be implemented for older patients undergoing high performance medicine in the coming month at the University Hospital of Cologne.

During the poster presentation the participants had the possibility to gain detailed insights into and to discuss the results of several studies from the Ageing Clinical Research Group of the Department II of Internal Medicine of the University Hospital of Cologne (https://nephrologie.uk-koeln.de/forschung/klinische-altersforschung/).

After the international 2016 kick-off symposium "From Ageing to Geriatrics", the further editions of the Cologne Symposia on Ageing Medicine focus on translating critical aspects of the ageing process such as heterogeneity and complexity in the management of our older and oldest-old patients will take place on an annual basis.


Contact
Prof. Dr. Dr. Maria Cristina Polidori
Geriatrician and Gerontologist, Ageing Clinical Research
Dept. II of Internal Medicine - University Hosptial of Cologne
maria.polidori-nelles[at]uk-koeln.de