A Unique Learning Experience in a City Exceptionally Rich in Arts and Culture

San Antonio, a cosmopolitan city ranked as the seventh largest in the United States, captures the independent spirit of Texas, as well as old-world charm. With more than twenty million visitors a year, San Antonio is poised to be a great location for this year’s ASRA fall meeting. Come and see for yourself why the River Walk is the number one entertainment destination in Texas. Stay at the four-star Grand Hyatt Hotel, the meeting venue, which is on the River Walk and enjoy a view overlooking the historic Alamo.

For the first time ever, the fall meeting this year will feature a unique multimedia live session for ultrasound- guided interventional pain procedures that will demonstrate the utility and limitations of ultrasound versus fluoroscopy. This session, scheduled for Friday, November 20th, will be presented by a panel of national and international recognized faculty followed by an interactive audience question and answer period. A special intensive workshop on ultrasound for pain medicine will take place on Thursday, November 19th with the goal of providing an intensive hands-on learning experience. A new feature of this year’s meeting is that the interventional workshops will present both ultrasound and fluoroscopy; providing participants with an in-depth understanding of how these two imaging modalities can complement each other in clinical practice. Early registration is highly recommended for all workshop sessions, as enrollment is limited.

On the opening day, the refresher course lectures will address the basic science and clinical applications of a number of pain medicine topics such as complex regional pain syndrome, neuropathic pain, and lumbar spine pathology. A root cause analysis for complications in pain medicine will be presented by an expert panel. Other meeting highlights for the parallel sessions include presentation of the new pain guidelines such as the nonsurgical, intervention therapies for low back pain, neuropathic pain and the clinical implications of these therapies to the day-to-day practice of pain medicine. Novel and emerging technologies for assessing chronic pain such as genetics and neuro-imaging will be presented by experts in this field. An entire session will be devoted to the patho-physiology and interventional therapy for headache, presented by experts in neurology. PBLDs this year will be in small round table groups, with 10 participants only, to facilitate intimate open discussion with faculty and participants.

Several education programs have been designed especially for residents and fellows attending the meeting. Didactic lectures will include topics such as the changing pain medicine curriculum, and the art of practice of pain medicine in academic and private practices, while the workshops will focus on the use of fluoroscopy and surgical techniques demonstrated by an expert neurosurgeon. In addition, there will be PBLDs sessions designed for residents and fellows and travel awards will be given to three residents judged to have the best abstracts.

A new initiative for this meeting is the introduction of a Physician Assistant (PA) education program that will span two days. The goal is to educate the PAs in the pathophysiology of chronic pain and tracking opioid prescriptions and monitoring, in addition to troubleshooting spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal pumps. This new initiative is important as there are no other national meetings that include programs to educate PAs who are involved in chronic pain management. I encourage you to invite the PAs in your hospital to attend the program and to register early.

This year, all attendees are invited to attend the ASRA President’s luncheon on Friday, November 20th when the President and Committee Chairs will present their reports. These reports will benefit members in addition to enhancing society transparency. Another new feature of the meeting this year is a special VIP program to acknowledge the loyal members who have regularly attended ASRA meetings. On Saturday evening, participants will enjoy a relaxed boat ride on the River Walk to Buckhorn Museum, with an elegant southern style cuisine dinner and wonderful entertainment that includes audience participation. I hope to see you all in San Antonio this November for a great educational and entertaining meeting.

Asokumar Buvanendran, M.D.
Chair, ASRA 2009 Annual Pain Medicine Meeting and Workshops