The Committee on Scientific Papers selected 1,565 abstracts for presentation at the ASA 2003 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. These abstracts will be presented on Monday, October 13, through Wednesday, October 15, in 44 poster and 36 poster-discussion sessions, in addition to a journal symposium session and a special Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) symposium. Each session is arranged by subject matter, and knowledgeable experts will facilitate all scientific abstract presentations. This year, the poster sessions will be scheduled in their own designated area in Hall D of the Moscone Center and available for viewing throughout the day, independent of exhibit hours. Abstract authors will be present for two hours to discuss their work with attendees, and expert facilitators will be available at each poster session to interact with the abstract authors and attendees. The poster-discussion sessions, containing eight abstracts and lasting 90 minutes each, permit more in-depth exchange. The posters will be available for review for the initial 30 minutes of each poster-discussion session followed by a discussion of each study coordinated by two expert moderators who also will invite dialogue and questions from attendees.

Electronic Submission, Selection and Presentation
All abstracts were submitted and graded electronically by the 15 scientific papers subcommittees (see listing in box) using an efficient Web-based process. Based upon the evaluation of the subcommittees, 82 percent of the 1,949 abstract submissions (received from 41 countries) were accepted and grouped into sessions containing presentations on similar topics. We are indebted to the 186 ASA members who have volunteered substantial time and expertise to serve on these subcommittees. Although space precludes recitation of their names in this article, the subcommittee members will be listed in the front of the 2003 Annual Meeting program book.

All abstracts presented at the ASA Annual Meeting will be published on a CD-ROM that will be included with the September issue of the journal Anesthesiology; like last year, no print version of the abstracts will be distributed. The CD-ROM will contain the 2000, 2001 and 2002 Annual Meeting abstracts, which will be searchable by topic and author, as well as the abstracts presented at the SOAP and American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists meetings in Orlando on Friday, October 10. The Annual Meeting abstracts will be accessible on the ASA Web site <www.ASAhq.org> and the Anesthesiology Web site <www.anesthesiology.org> and also during the Annual Meeting at several computer kiosks at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Attendees will be able to print a paper copy of abstracts for reference while attending specific scientific paper sessions.

Journal and SOAP Symposia
The 2003 Journal Symposium “Preconditioning Against Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury,” sponsored by the editorial board of Anesthesiology, will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14, in the Gateway Ballroom 102 of the Moscone Center. Zelijko Bosnjak, M.D., and David Warltier, M.D., the organizers of the symposium, will serve as moderators for the 21 abstracts that have been selected for presentation. The symposium will offer an important look at a newly discovered phenomenon, preconditioning by volatile anesthetic agents against ischemia and reperfusion injury. In addition, Anesthesiology, in conjunction with SOAP, has scheduled a special symposium on Tuesday, October 14, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Gateway Ballroom 102 of the Moscone Center. In an effort to promote and highlight new and innovative research in both basic science and clinical research in obstetrical anesthesia, eight abstracts have been selected to be presented orally, which will be moderated by James C. Eisenach M.D., and Richard C. Wissler, M.D., Ph.D.

The Committee on Scientific Papers anticipates that you will find this year’s scientific paper presentations valuable. The diversity of the many concurrent scientific sessions provides you with a unique educational opportunity only experienced at the ASA Annual Meeting. We encourage you to attend these meeting sessions, which represent the most current research and scholarly efforts in the medical discipline of anesthesiology. Interacting with the authors of these research papers and with the moderators and facilitators is a wonderful way to gain knowledge and exchange ideas, and we hope that you will find the time to benefit from the tremendous intellectual opportunities offered in these sessions.

Rebecca S. Twersky, M.D., is Professor of Anesthesiology, Vice Chair for Research and Medical Director of Ambulatory Surgery Unit, State University of New York (SUNY), Brooklyn, New York.