Bacteriophage therapy for multidrug-resistant bacteria, new insights into sepsis treatment, and bioengineering approaches to respiratory medicine are all in the spotlight at the upcoming American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2018 International Conference in San Diego.
Bacteriophage therapy will be discussed in the settings of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine.
“There will also be discussions of therapy for people who have incurable bacterial infections while vacationing abroad. And there will be results from research by infectious disease experts who have worked with the US navy using a phage library to target treatment,” said Jess Mandel, MD, from the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, who is conference chair.
Many advances in the treatment of sepsis will also be addressed. The reason sepsis patients are so often back in the intensive care unit after 90 days, and what can be done to better manage these patients, will be examined in one presentation. And socioeconomic factors related to specific treatments for sepsis will be explored in another.
Bioengineering and Lessons From Seals
Bioengineering approaches “will change how we think about progression when we think about disease and therapy” Mandel told Medscape Medical News.
Cellular and tissue-engineering approaches, such as the “lung-on-a-chip” model, and matrix-based recellularized tissues will be discussed during one session. There will also be presentations on lung organoids — lungs grown in a Petri dish — and the in vivo tissue engineering of human airways.
A keynote speech, delivered by Polly Parsons, MD, from the University of Vermont in Burlington, will examine hypoxemic and ischemic protection in deep-diving seals.
“Seals can do things humans can’t; we can learn from that,” said ATS President Marc Moss, MD, from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. “Maybe we will have the opportunity to think about new strategies for human lungs.”
In other hot topics, researchers will present data on the effects of oral contraception on asthma risk in women, and on the effects of asthma treatments, including the combination of fluticasone furoate and vilanterol, on patient-reported outcomes.
Also addressed will be physician and healthcare professional wellness. “This is a big issue in healthcare. You can’t open a medical journal without reading something on this,” Moss told Medscape Medical News.
Physician Wellness
In another of the keynote series, Darrell Kirch, MD, president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, DC, will look at the need for transformation in the nation’s healthcare system to prevent burnout in healthcare providers.
And a keynote on what physicians can do to reduce burnout and promote engagement will be delivered by Tait Shanafelt, MD, from the Stanford University Medical Center in California, who was named the first chief wellness officer at Stanford last year, in the first program of its kind.
Also exploring burnout will be a session entitled Battling Burnout: Overcoming the Biggest Threat to Health Care Quality and Safety, and a Joy in Medicine exhibit booth, which will raise awareness of burnout and disseminate information on preventive and treatment strategies.
Training is another aspect of the meeting, said Moss.
The 29 postgraduate courses being offered will cover topics such as endobronchial ultrasound, echocardiography, and bronchoscopy. And a hands-on course will examine the assessment of mitochondrial function at the bench.
In addition, the President’s Symposium — Metacognition in Medicine — will look at ways changes in thought processes around teaching, learning, and patient care can improve medical education.
Global issues are emerging in the field of thoracic medicine, as demonstrated by the fact that ATS members hail from 102 countries.
Air Pollution
“A unifying theme for our different societies around world is air pollution causing increasing exacerbations of lung diseases, like asthma,” Moss explained. “We need to work collectively on the impact this has on all of us.”
During the conference, members of sister societies from Japan, Turkey, and other countries will meet to network and talk about issues specific to their regions.
A new Science & Innovation Center, offering free breakfast, will serve as a networking hub for everyone attending the meeting. Topics of daily talks presented there will include allergy, immunology and inflammation, pulmonary infections, and respiratory structure and function. This is also where the science innovation award ceremonies will be held.
“We’ve done a better job this year of providing sessions and opportunities for discussion and for people to connect,” said Moss. “Poster sessions are always good for that, too.”
Mandel and Moss have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Follow Medscape on Twitter @Medscape and Ingrid Hein @ingridhein
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