7 Must-Attend Sessions at ISICEM 2017

1. Opening

In the opening session, Professor Jean-Louis Vincent will welcome delegates and discuss developments towards the future of intensive care, before opening the floor to a report of the round table conference on ECMO.

Next, what many of us have been keenly waiting for, the results of some key recent clinical trials and studies will be presented.

Among the studies to be presented are “The Effects of a National Norepinephrine Shortage on Patients with Septic Shock” from Dr. Hannah Wunsch and colleagues.Clinical trials to be reported on include a randomised controlled trial on lung recruitment in ARDS from Prof. Marcelo Amato and his team, as well as a meta-analysis of early goal-directed therapies from Dr. Kathryn Rowan and colleagues.

2.  The Future

Scheduled to take place on Thursday 23 March, this stimulating session will discuss developments, challenges and threats within the critical care arena, as well as enlighten delegates about what the future might hold, and what they could do to help move the healthcare field in the right direction. Will everything be telemedicine? Well, this is an intriguing topic that Prof. Jeremy Kahn will address. Another exciting topic to be discussed is the hospital of the future, which Prof. Jean-Daniel Chiche will help us to visualise.

Some other pressing topics that will be discussed here include the threat of unaffordable innovative medicine, the future of haemodynamic monitoring and the potential of redesigning healthcare delivery with a factory-like approach.

If the clinical trial of the future is another subject you have pondered, then you’ll be pleased to hear that this will be discussed by Dr. Stephen Brett.

Foreseen changes in a variety of specialist areas will be discussed, including a presentation on the future of lung protective ventilation by Prof. Arthur S. Slutsky, and a talk about the future of renal replacement therapy from Prof. Claudio Ronco.

3. New insights into multi-organ failure (MOF)

This presentation, moderated by Prof. Peter Pickkers (Netherlands) and Dr. Peter Radermacher (Germany), will involve contributions from various active figures with new insights into MOF.

Among speakers involved, Prof. Tom van der Poll will discuss Transcriptional networks in sepsis, Prof. Olav Rooyackers will talk about the role of autophagy, and Dr. Charles Esmon will present about the role of histones.  
Later in this two-hour session, Prof. Jawed Fareed with treat the interphase between inflammation and thrombosis, and Prof. Olivier Huet will treat the question: should we still talk about reactive oxygen species?  
For any medical professional dealing with cases of MOF, this standard presentation, drafted for Tuesday 21 March, is a key session at the congress.

4. Early Resuscitation in Sepsis

Running over four hours, this standard presentation will include involvement from a number of physicians who have expertise in this key area of critical care management.

Prof. Jean-Louis Teboul discusses how to make choices for haemodynamic monitoring in sepsis, Dr. Ivor Douglas will speak about the practical applications of prioritising fluids or vasopressors, and Dr. Fuhong Su asks: is liberal oxygen administration acceptable?

After some open discussion time, Prof. Peter Rimensberger will talk about ECMO in treating paediatric septic shock, and Prof. Mervyn Singer will provide his answer to the question, how important is early antibiotic administration? To close, Prof. Konrad Reinhart will discuss what can be improved in this vital area of clinical care.

5. Individualised Nutrition

This session on Friday 24 March is a must attend for the most up-to-date information on this essential topic in intensive care medicine.

Prof. Michael Hiesmayer will begin by addressing the question: can energy requirements be reliably estimated? A number of ways to target specific needs will then be discussed, including a talk on targeting muscle wastage by Danielle Bear, a talk about optimal composition from Prof. Pietro Vecchiarelli, as well as a focus on the risks of nutrition (early overfeeding, late underfeeding) by Prof. Jean-Charles Preiser.

Other key areas discussed include indirect calorimetry, metabolomics-directed nutritional therapy and how to tailor nutrition therapy to illness and recovery.

6. For a Better ICU Team

We all want the ICU team to collaborate and operate together efficiently, so this one for everyone. This session can help to inform and remind members of the critical care team how to make improvements so that even better results can be attained.

Dr. Niall Ferguson will begin by giving advice on how to be a leader in the ICU, after which Prof. Jeremy Kahn will explain methods for team learning. Valuable presentations on how to deal with burnout syndrome as well as way to address bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment will also take place

7. Quality of Care

There are a huge variety of factors that can affect the quality of care that is provided to each patient within an ICU unit. This session will address some important topics, including the variability in decision making for haemodynamic management, improving mechanical ventilation, and the good application of severity of illness scores. “Intensive care delivery is becoming a business” is the topic of Dr. Andrew Shaw’s talk, whilst Dr. Stephen Brett will address human factors in decisions and safety in the ICU. For all concerned with quality of care, this session on Tuesday 21 March will be worth attending.

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