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ACR 2018: World's largest rheumatology meeting comes to Chicago
CHICAGO — More than 15,000 clinicians, researchers, academics, practice managers, fellows and other rheumatology health professionals from more than 100 countries are expected to gather at the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals 2018 Annual Meeting this weekend to exchange scientific and clinical information.
Healio Rheumatology will provide live coverage onsite at McCormick Place from Saturday, Oct. 20, to Tuesday, Oct. 23.
“ACR is the meeting in the world where the premiere science comes first, and if you want to get a glimpse of where the cutting edge is, I think this is it,” said Leonard H. Calabrese, DO, vice chair of rheumatic and immunologic disease at Cleveland Clinic and chief medical editor of Healio Rheumatology. “Not that there aren’t other great meetings, like EULAR, but I think everyone looks to ACR to see if their material is meritorious to be presented in that forum.”
This year’s ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting will include 450 educational sessions offering at least 50 hours of continuing education credits. More than 700 speakers hailing from more than 20 countries will present as many as 3,000 abstracts to gain firsthand knowledge and access to new scientific and clinical findings. In addition, attendees will be able to participate in more than 70 “Meet the Professor” sessions and more than 30 workshops to provide hands-on training with microscopes, ultrasound machines and computers.
In addition to presenting informational and networking opportunities, the ACR 2018 Annual Meeting will also gather more than 100 companies in its exhibition hall, showcasing new products and services.
Session topics will include updated classification criteria for large vessel vasculitis, emerging perspectives on the role of the microbiome in metabolic conditions, controversies regarding rheumatic diseases and bone, and newly proposed treatments for systemic lupus erythematosus and osteoarthritis.
In addition, a group of 80 international researchers from North America, South America, Europe and Asia will present and discuss the newly finished ACR/EULAR classification criteria for IgG4-related Disease.
“In terms of highlights of the meeting, there will be a lot on the new wave of kinase inhibitors,” said Calabrese. “I think that will be big — not any one presentation but just scores and scores of presentations on the new drugs, such as filgotinib and peficitinib, and all the late-breaking data. I think that is going to be very important, because that is the next wave of drugs coming down the pike.”
Calabrese, whose own presentation will cover the immune-related adverse events from cancer immunotherapy, added there will also be a major focus on quality of life measures at this year’s meeting.
“In particular, there will be a focus on the emergence of PROMIS scales as a dominant system for tracking quality of life, not only in clinical trials but in practice,” he said. “There are scores and scores of abstracts examining the implications of PROMIS quality of life measures in the whole gamut of rheumatic diseases, so I’ll be looking for that.”
The meeting will also host guest speaker, Jonathan Koch, a television and movie producer who will present this year’s opening lecture. A survivor of a near-fatal illness that claimed his hands and feet in 2015, Koch will share his medical and personal journey to recovery, from being told he had a 10% chance of survival to operating a vehicle and playing tennis 2 years later.
Healio Rheumatology staff will report live on breaking news throughout the meeting. Visit and follow @HealioRheum on Twitter for the latest news emerging from #ACR18. – by Jason Laday
Reference :
ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting; Oct. 19-24, 2018; Chicago.