COSM 2009: Six Societies Address Hot-Button Issues

While the Arizona sun beats down on the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix at the end of this month, hundreds of leading otolaryngologists will be indoors sharing and learning about new developments in both basic and clinical research. This year, members of six societies, along with international guests, are meeting at the Combined Otolaryngological Spring Meeting (COSM) for four days. Here, ENT Today provides a preview of some of the meeting’s highlights.

American Broncho-Esophagological Association (ABEA)

Exciting topics are lined up for sessions in the ABEA section, according to the ABEA’s Program Chair, Dana M. Thompson, MD. For one, there will be a talk from the UK’s Martin Birchall, MD, who was senior author of a pivotal paper on the first stem cell tracheal transplantation in a patient. Dr. Birchall will speak to attendees about the transplant and progress one year later. Adding to the stem cell theme, there will also be two sessions devoted to tissue engineering, first of the larynx and second of the trachea.

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Figure. This year’s COSM features the annual meetings of (clockwise from top left) the ABEA, AHNS, ALA, ANS, AOS, and the Triological Society.

The roles of vagal nerve function and dysfunction in laryngotracheal and bronchoesophagologic disease are topics that will also be addressed at the conference. A scientific session and a keynote speaker will be devoted to this rapidly evolving topic.

In total, 37 podium presentations and 33 poster presentations are scheduled for the meeting.

American Head and Neck Society (AHNS)

This year’s AHNS program will showcase the latest advances in head and neck surgery. The program features 45 oral presentations and 119 posters representing the very best of head and neck cancer clinical and translational research, as well as expert opinions by leaders in the field, according to Christine G. Gourin, MD, this year’s AHNS Program Chair.

Highlights include three controversial and emerging areas impacting head and neck surgery practice. The emerging application of robotic technology to head and neck cancer surgery is the topic of Robotic Surgery: Fad or the Future?, a panel showcasing robotic transoral resection of oropharyngeal malignancy, robotic laryngectomy, robotic thyroidectomy, and robotic free flap reconstruction. The controversial topic of endoscopic skull base surgery for malignancy is the focus of this year’s Jatin Shah Symposium, moderated by Dennis Kraus, MD.

Finally, the increasing pressure by external forces to implement quality measures into clinical practice is the focus of a panel of experts who will discuss the challenges to incorporating quality measures in head and neck surgery practice, and will also be discussed by Gerald Healy, MD, Otolaryngologist-in-Chief at Children’s Hospital, Boston, in the keynote lecture, Challenges to Surgery and Our Profession.