7th National Conference of ISBMR

The ISBMR National conference was held on October 1 and October 2,2011 at the Taj Coromandal Hotal in Cennnai. It was attended by delegates from all over India along with international faculty from Srilanka , Singapore, Austria and the U.S. The ISBMR president Dr. Raman Marwah, the entire executive committee and the CEO Brigadier Satish kukreja were present.

The first session of the meeting included talks in the field of Steroid Induced Osteoporosis. These talks were delivered by Prof. Bart Clark from Mayo Clinic in USA and Dr. Sarat Lacamvasam from Galle, Sri Lanka. The next session was on Male Osteoporosis. The first talk was delivered by Dr. M.S. Sheshadri who provided interesting new information on the extent of Osteoporosis in males both globally and in India. The management options in male osteoporosis were discussed by Dr. Subhash Kukreja from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

These two sessions were followed by a case discussion on ‘Rare metabolic bone disorders’. This session was conducted by Dr. Sanjay Bhadada from PGI and Dr. Rajesh Khadgawat from AIIMS.

The first post lunch session was focused on Vitamin D deficiency. The first talk by Dr. Ambrish Mithal discussed the optimal levels and supplementation strategies for Vitamin D. This was followed by a talk on ‘Non-bone effects of Vitamin D’ by Dr. Sudhakar Rao from Detroit, USA. The final talk discussed potential strategies for improving bone mass in children.

The last session of Day 1 included talks on the interaction between diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis. The final talk of the day was on the New anti-osteoporosis drug, Denusomab.

The second day began with a ’Meet the Professor’ session which included discussions on Vitamin D, Steroid induced osteoporosis and Male osteoporosis. This was followed by a session discussing various aspects of post fracture management. This included the Role of imaging and bone markers (Dr. Manoj Chadha, Mumbai) and New agents for treatment (Dr. Sudhakar Rao).

This was followed by a free paper session which included two oral presentations by young investigators. The last session of the meeting included talks on Post transplantation osteoporosis (Dr. Thomas Paul), Recognition of vertebral fractures (Prof. Tamara Vokes, University of Chicago, USA), and Fracture data from India (Dr. Dinesh Dhanwal). The presentations by Dr. Tamara Vokes on vertebral farcture assessment, atypical fractures by Prof. Sudhakar Rao emerging therapy by Prof. Bart Clarke were much appreciated by the delegates.

It provided ample opportunity for discussion and establishing contacts with other investigators in the field. The feedback has been excellent with delegates appreciating the high quality of presentations, audience interaction and faculty excellence.