he 2004 Problem-Based Learning Discussions (PBLD) program consisted of 140 cases selected from more than 400 submitted during the open-selection process. Each was offered twice at the 2004 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, thus allowing attendees more opportunities to be involved in the PBLD program. Judged by the ticket sales and initial review of evaluations, the PBLD program continues to be a huge success.

Any ASA member is invited to submit a PBLD case to the committee for review and possible selection for the 2005 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year the instructions for submission will change; we request that the case discussion not be in outline form and ask for not only a list of references to accompany the discussion but also a second, focused “short list” of specific references that will help to guide the attendee in his/her preparation for the case discussion.

The ASA Section on Annual Meeting will continue with critical care medicine and obstetric anesthesia tracks in 2005 and will add cardiovascular and neurosurgical anesthesia tracks as well. Members working in each of these tracks will select their PBLD cases through this open-call process. The committee also, of course, looks for general cases and cases in any of the nontrack specialties. We continually look for new and controversial topics and those that contain diagnostic and treatment enigmas and areas where content gaps exist in the current program.

For the 2005 program, all cases will be reviewed by several members of the committee for relevance, content, scholarship, conformity to the guidelines that appear on the ASA Web site and clarity of presentation. All cases must be submitted online in the Annual Meeting section of the ASA Web site at <www2.ASAhq.org>.

Submission acceptance is expected to begin December 28, 2004. Further information will be available on the Web site at that time.

Meg A. Rosenblatt, M.D., is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Director, Division of Orthopedic and Regional Anesthesiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York.