5th National Conference of ISBMR

The fifth annual conference of ISBMR was held at Hotel Inder Residency Udaipur on 8th October, 2009, preceding the Annual Conference of the Endocrine Society of India (ESICON) which was held from 9-11 October at the same venue.

The conference was very well attended with over 120 participants from all over India. It had four very interesting and informative sessions as a result of which we continued to have a full house attending the meeting right till the very end.

In the first session, Dr. Ambrish Mithal, the lead author of the report presented Asian Audit of Osteoporosis (covering 16 Asian Countries), which was released in Beijing in September 2009 by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF). He emphasised on the prevalence and cost involved in management of osteoporosis in Asian countries.

Dr N. Chattopadhay highlighted the current status of Calcilytics in management of osteoporosis, with special emphasis on the physiology and pharmacology of this new class of agents. Dr Sushil Gupta, from SGPGI, Lucknow, reviewed and presented literature on the role of a range of micronutrients and trace elements I the pathophysiology ad management of osteoporosis.

Dr (Major General) RK Marwaha, INMAS and Professor Nikhil Tandon, AIIMS, then gave an overview of the available information of bone mineral density in Indian adults and children. They presented original data generated by work conducted by their research group, and compared Indian data with available data from other populations.

Professor Claus Glueer, from Germany, in an elegant and imgae-packed presentation, described in detail the various modalities available for imaging travecular bone. Special emphasis was given to the role of micro CT in the assessment of trabecular bone mineral density. Professor Marius Kraenzelin gave a talk on the clinical utility of bone markers and provided updated information in their precise role for diagnosis and follow up of patients with osteoporosis.

Dr Sanjay Bhadada, PGI, Chandigarh, presented data on unusual presentation of primary hyperparathyroidism, and contrasted the clinical spectrum seen in our country with data from the developed world. The contribution of low dietary calcium and poor vitamin D status on the clinical spectrum of disease was also discussed. Dr Sudhaker Rao, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, discussed the impact of excess PTH secretion on bone mineral density and provided information regarding secular trends. He also discussed the influence of gender and location on the relationship between PTH excess and BMD. Professor Subhash Kukreja, Chicago, discussed the contentious issue of safety of bisphosphonate use, especially in the Indian context.

The last session saw an energetic and animated debate on the need for country specific T scores. Both Dr Rao and Kukreja put across cogent arguments in favour of their position. The house finally agreed that we should consider generating country specific T scores.

The scientific proceedings were followed by presentation of the ISBMR Bone Health Award 2009 instituted with an unrestricted educational grant from Ortholands Ranbaxy. The first and second prize were awarded to Salam Ranabir, former DM student at the Department of Endocrinology, AIIMS (guided by Dr Nikhil Tandon) and Dr RS Nisha, former DM student at the Department of Endocrinology, SGPGI, Lucknow (guided by Dr Sushil Gupta). The final administrative component to the day’s proceedings was the election of Dr RK Marwaha as President of the ISBMR, after Dr Ambrish Mithal decided to relinquish the post after several years of committed leadership.

The day ended with a memorable dinner at the scenically magnificent Ambrai Restaurant, looking over the lake and an illuminated Udaipur Palace.