Sleep 2006 part two - The SHOW

For an apnea patient I can imagine that entering an exhibit hall filled with CPAP machines and masks could be like a child entering a toy store near Christmas (maybe not).

I can't say that I have become jaded having been to several exhibits of sleep apnea therapeutic devices, but with some of the machines out there the changes are subtle and it takes a user to appreciate them fully.

But then, there are the new kids on the block... folks who come up something so very different, even I have to stop and say Wow. Last year was Aeiomed's battery-powered machine... the Everest. This year, for me the show stoppers were the mobile CPAP - BreathEx and the new mask - Hybrid. I was familiar with the BreathEx - Tom Hoffman having spent some time on the Apnea Support Forum asking questions and getting input from the participants. I had also gotten a preview at an A.W.A.K.E. meeting I had attended in San Diego.

I was unfamiliar with the HyBrid, in fact I would have missed for all other masks there if there hadn't been a comment on the Forum. Certainly it is a clever design... nasal pillows combined with a full face mask. It is one more example to support my comment - there is a mask for every face and person.

Having an exhibit at the Sleep meeting is very important. If you are in the sleep field as someone who distributes anything to others in the sleep field... if you are not there, you have dropped off the planet (period, full stop). I am not sure I can say that about the other meetings we attend as exhibitors, I can without a doubt say that about Sleep.

Working the booth gives you the opportunity to put a face with many of the voices over the telephone during the course of the year. It is also the chance to make new friends and to make them aware of the work of the organization... yes there are still people out there who don't know about the ASAA.

I enjoy speaking with the physicians and the other exhibitors who stop by the booth to say hello and looking for new material... but my favorites are the sleep techs, the women and men who are on the frontlines of patient care in the field of sleep medicine, many of whom run support groups affiliated with the ASAA through the A.W.A.K.E. Network. I was always happy to give them a gold pin with ASAA logo.

Next the sessions.

Sleep 2006 part one

Unlike the other conferences I attend on behalf of the ASAA, the Sleep meeting has the most content on sleep apnea. I am likely to be overwhelmed by trying to recount every detail of the meeting affecting my topic of interest... witness my earlier post.

The science is important, very important, but for me so are the people. The sleep field is filled with charactors, some of whom I have mentioned in this journal.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to become friends withDr. William C. Dement. He is considered by some to be the father of sleep medicine. I am not certain about that claim, but what I do know for certain is that he has for many years been the most vocal person around about the importance of sleep and sleep research. If he is speaking and there is a way for me to get there I go to listen to him. This time he was providing the keynote address to Sleep Research Society trainee day. Bill was relating experiences from the early days of his sleep research. In his powerpoint presentation he included pictures of himself with a narcoleptic dog (included here). The photographer doing a story about the research Dr. Dement was doing with these special dogs, wanted Bill to hold the dog until it had a bout of cataplesy and went limp. Bill related that holding the dog in sun made it a whole lot longer to happen. Everyone got a good laugh.

The Sleep meeting also afford me the chance to with a group, last year only two, physicians, surgeons actually who also attend the meeting. Dr. Edward Weaver and Dr. Tucker Woodson are Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeons who are very interested in sleep medicine. They offer a very different perspective from what hears the pulmonologists - who make up a large portion of the sleep physician community.

Ed, Tucker and I had pizza and beer on Sunday with a couple of other ENTs and Dave Hargett (the ASAA board chair). To hear them tell it... they have a strong commitment to PAP therapy in OSA patients. If one accepts Dr. Guilleminault's assumption that sleep apnea starts at the tip of the nose, the ENT very definitely has a role to play in the treatment of sleep apnea.

Next the exhibit hall...