Annual Meeting Preview

By R. Scott Dingeman, MD, FAAP
Program chair

We have created a unique and exciting program this year for the Society for Pediatric Pain Medicine’s 5th Annual Meeting that focuses on the new challenges we are facing in our current practices.   

Is medical marijuana legal or about to be legal in your state?  Do you have an adolescent patient who says that “vaping weed” or “taking CBD oil” every day is the only thing that helps her chronic abdominal pain?  Come hear Dr. Jeffrey Galinkin, of Children’s Hospital Colorado speak frankly about the most up-to-date cannabis research. and the future of its clinical applications, particularly in pediatric pain management.  Afterwards, listen to Dr. Senthil Sadhasivan of Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University, as he will introduce us to some novel analgesics that are emerging in the literature. He will also share innovations in pharmacogenetics that are already helping clinicians personalize their postoperative pain treatment strategies for individual patients. 

The second session will continue to challenge our traditional approaches to pain management.  Dr. Doralina Anghelescu will explore the negative impact opioids and other analgesics may have on children living with cancer and then ask if we have the power to decrease recurrence.  Dr. Peter Marhofer, joins us all the way from Vienna to show us how to customize and improve our regional anesthesia techniques to minimize the need for opioid administration in the post-operative period.  Session Two will close with a lively debate over the use of nitrous oxide by non-anesthesiologists, for sedation and analgesia in children undergoing minor procedures, such as IV placement, with Drs. Rosalie Tassone of Palm Beach Children’s Hospital and Stefan Friedrichsdorf, the Medical Director of Pain Medicine, Palliative Care & Integrative Medicine at Children’s Hospital & Clinics of Minnesota. 

The final session will commence with our very first patient interview.  Many of us are confronted in our daily practice in pain clinic, in the operating rooms and on the floors with somatization and conversion disorder.  Dr. Neil Singhal of Phoenix Children’s Hospital will introduce us to a few of his patients who are willing to share their perspective after being diagnosed and successfully treated with this puzzling disorder.

Dr. Rashmi Bhandari, a clinical psychologist from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, will introduce Learning Health System registries and how they can help direct treatments and enhance collaboration and research for pediatric chronic pain.  Dr. Gerard Banez at Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Navil Sethna at Boston Children’s Hospital will enlighten us on their exceptional programs, and let us know how and when to refer patients to pain rehabilitation programs. 

Come join us in Phoenix for SPPM’s 5th Annual Meeting at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge.  We promise that this meeting will be an educational experience you won’t forget!