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While science
sometimes seems far away from our daily clinical activities
and is seen by some as the domain of a small cadre
of academic anesthesiologists and Ph.D.s working on
complex and esoteric subjects, a small amount of reflection
reveals that the status of our specialty is the product
of such activities. Nearly everything we do today
has been influenced by the research efforts of someone
in the past — sometimes last month, sometimes
half a century ago. It is difficult to imagine what
our specialty would be like today without this work,
or whether it would even exist at all as a respected,
professional medical discipline. Moreover, who of
us has not asked ourselves or a colleague, “I
wonder why that happens?” or “I wonder
if this is the best way to handle this problem?”
or “I wonder what happens to ABC when I give
this drug?” Yes, some research work is incredibly
complex and difficult to understand. Nearly all of
us have a small bit of the researcher inside us, however.
It is simply called curiosity.
These comments also apply to the future. Without the
creation of new knowledge and its eventual translation
into practice in the operating room, the intensive
care unit, the pain clinic and elsewhere in medicine,
our specialty will stagnate. Without efforts to encourage
and support new ideas being generated by new, young
anesthesiologists, there will be no future researchers.
If we only concentrate on our immediate practice problems,
it is easy to forget or overlook these facts.
ASA clearly recognizes the importance of the science
being done by our members, by anesthesiologists in
other countries and by investigators in other disciplines.
ASA, along with the Foundation for Anesthesia Education
and Research (FAER) and through its journal Anesthesiology,
is a major supporter of research and the dissemination
of the results of that research. Since the first Annual
Meeting, ASA has provided a forum for anesthesiology
researchers to present their work, meet with each
other and help others to translate their findings
into clinical practice. However, it is time to reinvigorate
that forum.
Under the guidance of ASA President James E. Cottrell,
M.D., the Society is starting a major effort to enhance
the quality and visibility of research activities
at the ASA Annual Meeting. In keeping with that goal,
a number of special lectures, symposia, scientific
sessions, etc., have been organized for this year
on October 11-15 in San Francisco, California. These
are summarized below. In addition, there are more
than 1,500 scientific papers being presented and many
other scientific exhibits.
The Annual Meeting is very, very large and complex,
and trying to decide between Refresher Course Lectures,
panels, workshops and poster sessions, etc., is often
difficult. I urge you, however, to take some time
from your busy schedule to attend one or more of the
following sessions. You might be surprised at what
you will learn.
Emery A. Rovenstine Memorial Lecture
This year’s Rovenstine Lecture is titled “Postoperative
Cognitive Dysfunction: The Next Challenge in Geriatric
Anesthesia” and will be given by Terri G. Monk,
M.D., University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
As our society ages, more and more elderly patients
are moving through our operating rooms and clinics.
Many of these patients do not recover as quickly as
the young, and it is apparent that anesthesia and
surgery may have much longer-lasting effects than
we once believed.
The Rovenstine Lecture will be held from 11:15 a.m.
to 12:15 p.m. on Monday, October 13, in Room 134 of
the Moscone Center.
Celebration of Research
The First Annual Celebration of Research is intended
to highlight certain important ASA award winners and
their activities. Speakers will include the 2003 winner
of ASA’s Award for Excellence in Research, Mervyn
Maze, M.D., Ch.B., Imperial College, London, United
Kingdom; and the winner of the First Annual Presidential
Scholar Award, Peter J. Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. In addition,
meet (and hear) the work done by our “next generation,”
the first-place winner of the Residents’ Research
Essay Contest.
The Celebration of Research will be held immediately
following the Rovenstine Lecture from 12:30 p.m. to
1:45 p.m. on Monday, October 13, in Room 135 of the
Moscone Center. Lunch will be available!
Third Annual FAER Honorary Research Lecture
FAER has supported the research activities of young
anesthesiologists for several decades, and it represents
one of the best sources of research funds for new
investigators. Each year a prominent recipient of
FAER funds presents an overview of his or her scientific
career. This year’s speaker will be Jeanine
P. Wiener-Kronish, M.D., University of California-San
Francisco, who will speak on “Critical Infections
— From Genes to the Bedside.”
The FAER Honorary Research Lecture will take place
immediately after the Celebration of Research from
2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, October 13, in Gateway
Ballroom 102 of the Moscone Center.
12th Annual Journal-Sponsored Symposium
For 12 years, Anesthesiology has organized
and sponsored special symposia dealing with subjects
on the cutting edge of our specialty. This year’s
topic is “Preconditioning Against Ischemia and
Reperfusion Injury.” Preconditioning is the
phenomenon by which exposure of an organ (heart, brain,
spinal cord, etc.) to some stimulus (e.g., brief ischemia)
can result in a dramatic increase in the organ’s
tolerance to a subsequent severe ischemic result.
We now know that certain volatile anesthetics are
among the most potent preconditioning agents known,
and we also know that this phenomenon has very real
clinical importance. The symposium will include posters
from more than 20 researchers from around the world
and lectures by well-known experts in this area, including
Stefan De Hert, M.D., Ph.D., University Hospital Antwerp,
Antwerp, Belgium; Garrett Gross, Ph.D., Medical College
of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Michael Zaugg,
M.D., University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
The actual abstracts can be found on the CD-ROM mailed
with the September issue of the journal or on the
Anesthesiology Web site at <www.anesthesiology.org>.
The Journal Symposium will take place from 9 a.m.
to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14, in Gateway Ballroom
102 of the Moscone Center.
SOAP-Anesthesiology “Innovative Research
in Obstetric Anesthesia” Oral Presentation Session
Anesthesiologists have been caring for women in labor
since Sir James Simpson cared for Queen Victoria,
and obstetrical anesthesia is one of our core subspecialties.
This year the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and
Perinatology (SOAP) joined forces with the editors
of Anesthesiology to solicit and select a
series of eight papers covering what they believe
to represent the most innovative work being done in
this area today. This will be a completely oral scientific
presentation with many members of our profession present
to ask questions and provide commentary.
The actual abstracts can be found on the CD-ROM mailed
with the September issue of the journal or on the
Anesthesiology Web site.
The SOAP-Anesthesiology special session will
take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, October
14, in Gateway Ballroom 102 of the Moscone Center.
Also remember that these activities are only a tiny
piece of the scientific activities taking place at
the ASA Annual Meeting. We hope to see you there.
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Michael M. Todd, M.D., is Professor, Department
of Anesthesiology, University of Iowa, Iowa
City, Iowa. |
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