Convergence Today Preview 2023 - 12

12
ACR Convergence Today | Preview Edition
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Specialty Sessions Spur Creative Thinking
I
n addition to the scientific sessions at ACR
Convergence 2023, a number of specialty
programs will provide interactive and intriguing
opportunities to gain new insights
into the emerging science and continuing
trends in rheumatology. Here's a look at
what to expect from returning favorites and
new additions to the ACR Convergence lineup.
KNOWLEDGE BOWL
One of the most fun events at every annual
meeting is the ACR Knowledge Bowl. In this
quiz show-style trivia game, fellows form
teams to compete for top prizes. Winners
receive the glory, their names on a traveling
trophy, and complimentary registration and
housing for next year's annual meeting.
The deadline for 2023 team applications
has passed, but there's still time to add the
Knowledge Bowl to your conference itinerary
to cheer on colleagues.
The Knowledge Bowl occurs in three rounds:
a preliminary round and semifinal round that
will take place in the same session on Sunday,
Nov. 12, beginning at 1 p.m. PT, followed by a
final round on Monday, Nov. 13, also at 1 p.m.
All rounds will be in Ballroom 20B-C of the San
Diego Convention Center.
Teams comprise two fellows and one
attending. In the preliminary and semifinal
rounds, only fellows compete. In the
preliminary round, teams - usually three
at a time - compete in a single-elimination
tournament to identify the three teams
that go on to the
semifinals.
In the semifinals,
the top three teams
from the preliminary
round compete
against one another
through two 25-question
boards, and the
top two scorers move
on to the finals, where
CURRY KOENING,
MD, MS
they compete against the reigning champs.
The final event has four parts: three game
boards followed by a final round. In the first
and third game boards, only fellows compete.
In the second round, the attending member
of the team joins the fellows, and the points
for this game board are doubled. The attending
again joins the fellows for the final round.
THIEVES MARKET
Fascinating clinical cases with dynamic
imagery take center stage in Thieves Market:
Show Me Your Best Cases! Two interactive
sessions - one featuring adult cases and one
featuring pediatric cases - will be presented
Tuesday, Nov. 14. Adult cases will be featured
starting at 2 p.m. PT in Room 6A-B, and
pediatric cases will be featured starting at 4
p.m. in the same room.
" It's a fun and exciting program where
trainees have the spotlight focused on themselves
and have an opportunity to present
complicated and interesting cases. It's a
HANNA KIM, MD,
MS
ROBERT SPIERA,
MD
question-and-answer-based theme presentation
where the audience is not supposed
to know the answer to the case until the very
end, " said Curry Koening, MD, MS, Associate
Professor of Medicine at the University of
Texas Dell Medical School and one of the
moderators for the adult session.
" Every case is different. One case might
feature a typical presentation of a rare
disease, while another is a rare presentation
of common disease. Perhaps it's a case that
discusses an unusual side effect of a medication
or an illness that mimics a rheumatologic
diagnosis, " said Dr. Koening.
Hanna Kim, MD, MS, Assistant Clinical
Investigator and head of the Juvenile
Myositis Pathogenesis and Therapeutics
Unit at the National Institute of Arthritis and
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National
Institutes of Health, a moderator for the pediatric
session, said the cases selected are relatable
to providers, and have relevant laboratory
studies and imaging to support the case.
" These sessions are nice because they're
always interactive, " she said. " There's always audience
involvement questions along the way to
make you think about how you would approach
the case and what you can learn from the case
and apply to your own patients at home. "
The deadline for submitting cases has
passed, but both Thieves Market sessions are
open to all ACR Convergence participants to
attend. They will be livestreamed and available
for on-demand viewing following the meeting.
Cases are selected for both oral and
poster presentation.
GREAT DEBATE
CALL FOR
PROPOSALS
IS OPEN
Share your standout session ideas for ACR Convergence
2024! Take advantage of this opportunity to share your
expertise with colleagues from around the world in
Washington, D.C.
Visit rheumatology.org/annual-meeting-callfor-proposals
to learn more and submit your
session proposal.
The deadline to submit proposals is
November 28 at 11:59 PM ET.
There's no argument here. The Great Debates
are some of the most anticipated sessions of
the annual meeting. One presents a question
related to treatment of adults living with
rheumatologic disease, and one presents a
question related to pediatric patients.
Adult Great Debate
#ACR24
The Adult Great Debate asks whether polymyalgia
rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis
(GCA) should be treated with advanced
therapies at disease onset. Philip Seo, MD,
MHS, Associate Professor of Medicine at
Johns Hopkins University and Director of
The Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center, will
make the case for doing so. Robert Spiera,
MD, Director of the Scleroderma, Vasculitis,
and Myositis Center at Hospital for Special
Surgery, and Professor of Clinical Medicine
at Weill Cornell Medical College, will present
evidence for the opposing stance. The
debate will begin at 9 a.m. Monday in Exhibit
Hall A-B.
" It's nuanced on both sides, which is exactly
why it's a great debate, " Dr. Spiera said.
YUKIKO KIMURA,
MD
PETRA HISSINK
MULLER, MD, PhD
Many patients with GCA have PMR symptoms
as well. Likewise, a substantial number
of patients with PMR develop GCA.
" We know that steroids work to control
disease activity in both of these disorders. We
also know that treatment with steroids alone
is often inadequate, " Dr. Spiera explained.
" And it's been demonstrated that long-term
glucocorticoid therapy has been associated
with substantial toxicities. So, for years, there's
been a search for effective, safe steroidsparing
modalities in these two disorders. "
Pediatric Great Debate
Presenters in the Pediatric Great Debate will
weigh whether to initiate early combination
therapy or step-up therapy for polyarticular
juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The session
will begin at 12 p.m. Monday in Room 6A-B.
" As physicians treating children with
juvenile arthritis, this reflects an issue we're
faced with on a daily basis, " said Petra
Hissink Muller, MD, PhD. " If we have a new
patient, we can really register disease activity
in a concise manner and start treatment.
But it's not really clear yet what the best
treatment option is to start with. "
Dr. Hissink Muller, a pediatrician specializing
in rheumatology and immunology at Leiden
University Medical Center, The Netherlands,
will take the side of step-up therapy, while
Yukiko Kimura, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at
Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, will
take the side of early combination therapy.
" There's increasing evidence that a window
of opportunity exists and that most patients
should be started on the most effective therapy,
which is biologics in combination with
methotrexate. In a recent study assessing
these different treatment strategies, threeyear
outcomes were better if they got started
on biologics earlier, " Dr. Kimura said.
MEET THE PANEL
New to the ACR Convergence schedule, six
themed Meet the Panel sessions will explore
the dynamics of a specific aspect of the applicable
disease.
* Case-Based Interstitial Lung Disease,
Sunday, Nov. 12, 9-10 a.m., Ballroom 20D
* COVID-19, Sunday, Nov. 12, 11 a.m.-12
p.m., Room 6A-B, livestreamed
* Challenging Cases in Adult and Juvenile
Myositis, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2-3 p.m., Room
29A-D
* The Latest in Lupus Treatment, Monday,
Nov. 13, 7:30-8:30 a.m., Room 6A-B,
livestreamed
* Rheumatoid Arthritis, Monday, Nov. 13,
11-11:45 a.m., Room 6A-B, livestreamed
* To Inject or Not to Inject an Osteoarthritis
Knee: That Is the Question, Wednesday,
Nov. 15, 9-10 a.m., Ballroom 20D *
http://www.ACRConvergenceToday.org http://www.rheumatology.org/annual-meeting-call-for-proposals
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