Road to ATS - San Diego - Wrap Up

Another element to the medical conferences that I find fascinating are the poster sessions. These are where researchers will present the initial results of studies they have done in the hopes of getting feedback prior to seeking to submitting their work for publication in a medical journal. It is not often that I can attend the part of the session where one of the researchers or investigator is present to explain their work to whoever will listen.

This year and this conference I was fortunate to have help with the booth (thanks Joanne), to listen in on comments made by one of our board members and a researcher in his own right Dr. David Rapoport.

The posters this year, as they often are at the ATS meeting, were from all over the world - Perth Australia: The Effect of CPAP on Lower Esophageal Sphincter Function; Valencia Spain: Prevalence of Sleep Apnea Syndrome in Patients with Severe Pneumonia; Fukuoka, Japan: Influence of Cigarette Smoking in OSAS Patients; Santa Catarina, Brazil: Clinical Symptoms and Polysomnography Findings of OSAS - to identify only of the few of the dozens presented.

I make an effort to visit the posters at every conference I attend or at least read over the abstract in the abstract book published for the conference. This is usually where the new developments in diagnosis, treatment and co-morbidity are presented.

Occasionally I have the opportunity to attend the meeting of the local A.W.A.K.E. support group in the conference city. I attended the meeting held in Vista, just outside of San Diego, on Tuesday night. I appreicate having the chance to speak with patients in person and to let them know what the association is doing back in DC. At this meeting I had the chance to see the CPAP device to approved by the FDA - a mobile CPAP manufactured by Hoffman Laboratories.

A treat this year for me was to attend the Respiratory Neurobiology and Sleep section dinner, courtesy of the section Chair. The section is made up of ATS members with similar interests. There was an after-dinner presentation by Dr. Sean Drummond of UC San Diego on sleep deprivation/OSA and cognitive ability from a neuro-imaging prespective. This was something a preview for me of a presentation that I am organizing for the Industry Roundtable meeting at the Sleep meeting next month.

The final day of the conference had two symposiums with an added dimension exclusive to ATS - courtesy of the Public Advisory Roundtable of which the ASAA is a founding member - the patient's perspective. In its wisdom the ATS has welcomed a patient who lives with a condition being discussed to share their story with the attendees. The patient at the two sleep apnea related presentations did just that and was warmly received by the physicians.

I close this installment of the journal with an image of me at the Kansas City Barbeque restaurant - a locale used for the filming of Top Gun... they make a decent BBQ sandwich there as well.

The ATS marks, for me, the start of the conference season. The Sleep meeting is next month in Salt Lake City and the ACCP meeting is in October (also in Salt Lake City). Unlike previous years, this year I will be attending the World Congress on Sleep Apnea. It will be held in Montreal in September.

Watch this space for dispatches from my travels.

On the road to ATS - San Diego II

Exhibiting at medical conferences is something the ASAA has done for a long time. It is one of the best ways to get our patient education material into the hands of the physicians who treat sleep apnea patients. It is also a way to make them aware of the other ways the ASAA is there to help patients who are already diagnosed - through the A.W.A.K.E. Network of support groups.

Of the three sleep-related conferences I attend - this one, the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (now know as Sleep) and the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) - I am always most impressed with the presentations at ATS.

While sleep related disorders forms a small part of the overall areas of interest to the physicians who are participate in ATS - these physicians tend to be more involved in research than in clinical care. The presentations at the ACCP meeting, on the other hand, tend to more oriented to clinical care. The Sleep meeting, of course, has both aspects in their program.

May 22nd was the first day of the general session and the exhibit hall. The day starts pretty early here. At 8:15 there was a scientific symposium entitled - Sleep Apnea Pathogensis: The Various Pieces. The first presentation after a tribute Dr. James Skatrud was on the role of the Pre-Boetzinger Complex in sleep disorder breathing. This basic research presented looked at this system in the brain responsible controlling breathing and the possibility that damage to this center could related sleep apnea. Heady stuff - there was an news item last summer that talked about this (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8871356/), but here was a presentation of the next steps in the research being done by Dr. Feldman.

The other part of attending these meetings is the exhibit hall. It is here where I join the dozen and dozens of other, mostly commercial interests (i.e. drug companies, instrument manufacturers and CPAP companies) and hawk our wears.

ATS was the first medical conference I attended as the executive director of ASAA. I had been on the job exactly six weeks. There I was going toe to toe with pulmonologists about sleep apnea... sharing with the wealth of information the association has for their patients. It was fun then and still fun now.

Visitors to our booth fall into two distinct catagories: the curious and the curious-ier.

The curious are those doctors who are getting into sleep medicine and need educational material for their patients. They are pleased find our patient education bulletins that have no commerical brand connected with them. Given that a number of the participants in the conference are from other countries I am always getting the question - is this available in X (pick your language) and usually it is Spanish. I am now pleased to say that it will be, thanks to Dr.Servin and that the Apnea Support Forum will have a Spanish language section as well.

The curious-ier ones are the ones that have sleep apnea themselves and are looking for an insight that perhaps they missed. There are still others who have a bone to pick with someone and we are the ones they choose to pick it with. There was one physician who worked with very young children (less than 2 years old) who have sleep apnea and his comment was that there were no masks available to fit their faces in the US. There some available in Austrialia, but not here. We mentioned that ResMed had recently had a approved a CPAP machine and mask approved by the FDA. I could not tell if he had heard of it or not, only that he had a bone to pick.

Working the exhibit hall is great, in spite of the bonepickers, but it is long hours and can, especially if the conference is not well attended, get boring - waiting for the attendees to come around. During these intervals I get the chance to visit with other exhibitors, which is always educational.

Next - the ATS wrapup.

On the road to ATS - San Diego I

I am in San Diego for the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society (ATS). This the third meeting of theirs I have attended (it being the first medical conference I attended after becoming the E.D. for the ASAA). At the right is a picture of street performers playing the didgeridoo. I was tempted to ask them whether they snore - but figured that it would end up costing a lot more than what it cost to take the picture.

The plane ride to San Diego was interested. Many of the people on the plane were on their way here. I could tell because they looked like medical students and they were all carrying the tubes with contains the "poster" for the research they are doing and will be presenting at the conference. In addition, my seat mates were in route to the meeting, but one was coming to present a talk on the future of scholarly publication in light of the changing laws about public access to published research funded with government money (yawn). This is actually important stuff. He is based in Bethesda and is the E.D. for a professional association there. He is someone I'd like to get to know.

The second was a young woman who represents a drug company. She is coming to the meeting to participate in the trade show. She was very talkative on the plane... something that took me and the other fellow a bit aback, but we got into with her. That is until she found out what I do and the conversation changed - as it usually does, especially when there is someone with sleep apnea. Well it turns out that she thinks her dad has sleep apnea - not diagnosed. He snores loudly and has had a number of serious problems with his heart. He is fortunate to still be alive. She reported that her grandfather died of a heart attack at a young age and that he was a snorer. Looking at this attractive slender young woman you would not think she is a candiate for the "fellowship of the mask" but in fact she complains of excessive daytime sleepiness and looking closely at her I noticed that she had something of an overbite - a recessed jaw being a physical condition that can contribute obstructive sleep apnea. I gave her my card and suggested she get a sleep study. She thanked me - another life saved....

The higlight of the day was my dinner meeting with Dr. Alberto Servin Diaz, a pulmonolgist and sleep doctor from Tijuana. Here is a link to his web site http://www.ronquido.net/ronquido2/index.php

We have corresponded for sometime and we took this opportunity to meet and discuss where we might work together. It turns out that one of his patients is very interested in the A.W.A.K.E. support group concept that we sponsor. I let Alberto know that I would happy to furnish the materials necessary for him to establish a group in Tijuana. He indicated that knows of other sleep docs in Mexico and Central America who would be intrested the support group model and working through the ASAA to provide educational resources to their patients. The discussion went as far as to talk about establishing a Mexican version of the ASAA, but we stopped ourselves and said first things first.

Another item discussed was making our resources available in Spanish. Albert indicated a willingness to help there. I suggested that we add a "topic" on the Apnea Support Forum for to ask and answer questions in Spanish. Now we have to get to the implementation.

I was pleased with my first day here - except for the delay in the booth material getting here. No matter, it is was a beautiful and very productive day (we are heading south of the border).

Sleep Apnea Awareness Day (SAAD) 2006 - reflections (Part 2)

What I write here truly constitute reflections with the amount that has passed since Sleep Apnea Awareness Day. I had prepared something closer to the event, but through technological ineptness lost it... so, discouraged, I left it for awhile.

March 30th was Sleep Apnea Awareness Day and ostensibly it was "during National Sleep Awareness Week" but we weren't collaborating at the same level with the National Sleep Foundation.

The most frustrating element of the lecture this was, find a speaker. That process took far too long and actually jeporadized the entire event. (Note to self: start looking now - for someone to do it in 2007) Yes, I want every much to have a lecture in 2007, though who will be speaking is another question.

When were not able to secure the first speaker we had identified, I used a connection and was able get the former senior policy advisor to the administrator to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to speak.

I felt we had allowed enough time to get the word out about the event and I made efforts to follow up with the A list invitees. The showing was not as impressive as it might have been. And certainly my marketing of the event to more patients was not as extensive as it might have been.

The lecture was held at the Carnegie Institution, which continues to be the most beautiful place to hold an event like this. The caterering was splendid as it was last year. It would have nice to have a few more - many more people.

Enough good things can not be said for the American College of Chest Physicians - Sleep Institute, our partners in the venture of the lecture. In addition to the much appreciated financial support we receive from them for the expenses of the lecture; their guidance and collaboration on "getting the word out" makes a difference every year. Pictured to the left with is Dr. Charles Atwood who is the Chair of the Sleep Institute. I am grateful for their continuing support and look forward to continuing our association on this important event.

As I think about next year's event - I know the following: choose a speaker early, initial the marketing efforts early and (perhaps most importantly) find a volunteer to take responsiblity for running with it.