President's Message

Lynn M. Broadman, MD
President, ASRA

The first thing I would like to do as your newly appointed president is to thank all of you for the support and encouragement I have received during my twenty year association with the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA-PM). I would also like to thank my mentors: the late Harold Carron, Burton Epstein and Raafat Hannallah, who helped guide my research and education so that a position within ASRA-PM was possible.

The second thing I would like to do is brief you on the wonderful Annual Meeting we just held in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Vancouver Convention & Exposition Centre was an outstanding facility. It is located adjacent to the five star Pan Pacific Hotel and just across the street from the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. Restaurants and shopping were all within walking distance. The harbour walking and bicycle trail allowed one to go for a daily jog, bike ride or rollerblade. All of the gardens and parks were in full bloom with rhododendrons and other native flowers. The exchange rate made it a truly affordable meeting. Finally, Vancouver has an international airport with multiple daily flights to Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and Toronto.

Julia Pollock and her Annual Meeting committee put together a new and diversified educational offering. We had 575 people attend the Annual Meeting and the intensive workshop "Mastering the Brachial Plexus" sold out during both the morning and afternoon sessions. This intensive learning package provided attendees with a review of the literature involving more than a thousand journal articles and two hours of cadaveric anatomy involving the axilla and neck. The other workshops, masters classes and Problem Based Learning (PBL) sessions were also sold out. There were lectures on acupuncture, herbal medicine, COX-2 NSAIDS, Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET), and the efficacy of using fentanyl as an adjunct for regional anesthesia. Please visit www.asra.com for Vancouver meeting highlights. The meeting was so successful and Vancouver was such a lovely venue that plans are afoot to return the Annual Meeting to Vancouver in 2005.

I would like to bring you up to date about two new and exciting educational offerings that will be held in the fall. The 8th Annual Comprehensive Review of Pain Management course will be held at the Hyatt Newporter in Newport Beach, California from 2-5 August 2001. Michael Ferrante, the course director, and a panel of nine internationally recognized experts will conduct this intensive three and one-half day review session. Also, an ASRA Conference on Local Anesthetic Toxicity will be held on 17-18 November 2001 at the Fontainebleu Hilton Resort & Towers in Miami Beach, Florida. The faculty will discuss neuro, myo and cardiac toxicity. Discussions will also center on the current concepts of resuscitation and whether we should continue to use bupivacaine. I know many of you will want to attend this conference.

Finally, It would appear that The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concerns about the use of narcotic analgesics for the management of chronic benign pain. The FDA will convene a public advisory committee on 14 and 15 June 2001. The meeting will be at the Holiday Inn, Two Montgomery Village Ave., Gaithersburg, Maryland (a Washington, DC suburb). On both days of the meeting the committee will discuss the medical use of opiate analgesics in various populations, including pediatric patients and patients with chronic pain of nonmalignant etiology, as well as the risk to benefit ratio of extending opiate treatment into these populations. The committee will also address concerns regarding the abuse potential, diversion and increasing incidence of addiction to opiate analgesics, especially to modified release analgesics. The meeting is open to the public. If you would like to make comments in person or in writing, I suggest you get in touch with the contact person, Kimberly Topper, prior to 7 June 2001. You can reach Ms. Tooper by Phone: 301-827-7001, Fax: 301-827-6801 or e-mail <topperk@cder.fda.gov>. Visit the "Items of Interest" section of the ASRA website for more information.

In closing I would like to ask for your help. Neither I nor your Board of Directors can optimally run your society without your input. If you have ideas, suggestions or comments please send them to Society Headquarters <asra@societyhq.com>.

Lynn M. Broadman, MD
ASRA President

ASRA News May 2001