ASBMR 2012

I am attending the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 2012 annual meeting.  This is actually a major international meeting with about half of the presentations from Asia and Europe and with all continents represented.

The majority of the presentations are non-human studies of basic science.  However, the emphasis is changing over the years.  Increasingly clinical trials on humans, and studies of community bone health and its treatment in the general population are being presented.

Sessions start at 0800 and extra learning opportunities are offered into the evening (nearly 2200 tonight).  We have over 1500 poster presentations to choose from.  Oral presentations run in 5-6 different venues at once.  Twice daily “Meet the Professor” sessions in up to 8 rooms vie with the oral presentations.

Interesting new trends include studies combining different osteoporosis medications.  We are also seeing reports from studies of a new class of antiresorptive which appears to be part anabolic as well.  These are mostly from Asia.  Similar studies have begun in the US, but are not yet completed.

Tonight’s presentation was about Finite Element Analysis.  Over the last 20 years, some labs have used engineering techniques to estimate strength (and therefore fracture risk) of vertebrae and hips in cadaver specimens.  Recently live patients have been studied as well.  This may be available to regular patients in the future.

Lots more when I return home and go through my notes.

Jay Ginther, MD

Categorised in: Osteoporosis