Annual Meeting Preview

By R. Scott Dingeman, MD, FAAP
Program chair

March is rapidly approaching, and the program for this year’s Society for Pediatric Pain Medicine’s 5th Annual Meeting is complete.  Please review the Mobile Meeting Guide online.

The program is divided into three focused sessions, The Science of Pain, Acute Pain & Regional Anesthesia, and Chronic Pain & Palliative Care, but first please join your colleagues for breakfast to discuss one of eight diverse and stimulating PBLDs. 

We open the conference with a controversial topic.  Dr. Jeff Galinkin will speak candidly about the new challenges we are all facing in our practices with the progressive legalization of medical and recreational marijuana in several states.  Dr. Senthil Sadhasivan will introduce us to some provocative and novel analgesics that are emerging in research.  He will also share innovations in pharmacogenetics that are helping pediatric anesthesiologists personalize their postoperative pain treatment plans.

We are delighted to start Session Two with Dr. Doralina Anghelescu will challenge our traditional approaches to pain management by exploring the potential harm opioids and other analgesics cause to children living with cancer.  Dr. Peter Marhofer will show us how to individualize our regional anesthesia techniques to minimize opioid administration peri-operatively.  Don’t miss the lively debate over the use of nitrous oxide that follows by Drs. Rosalie Tassone and Stefan Friedrichsdorf. 

For the first time at SPPM, we will attempt to have an interactive patient session with Dr. Singhal. Afterwards, Dr. Rashmi Bhandari will introduce us to Learning Health System registries.  Finally, we are excited to have both Dr. Gerard Banez and Dr. Navil Sethna take us on tours of their exceptional pain rehab programs. 

The day doesn’t end there.  The authors of the award-winning abstracts will share their research with all of us.  You can also hear about the other exceptional abstracts that were submitted this year in-person during the moderated poster session that follows.  Finally, don’t forget to sign up for one of several sensational workshops.  They’re filling up quickly!  We cannot wait to see you all in Phoenix for SPPM’s 5th Annual Meeting.  We promise that this meeting will be an educational experience you won’t forget!