Introduction

Canadian Rheumatology Association Meeting

DUNCAN A. GORDON, MD
Editor

The 62nd Annual Meeting and 15th Winter Workshop of The Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA) was held at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Lake Louise, Alberta, February 21–24, 2007.

The program consisted of presentations covering original research, symposia, workshops, the Royal College debate, the Dunlop-Dotteridge Lecture, and special awards and presentations, including the CRA Distinguished Rheumatologist, Distinguished Investigator, and Young Investigator.

A course for Fellows preceded the meeting proper; chaired by Alf Cividino, the program covered practical aspects of rheumatology.

The annual meeting program began with the National Journal Club covering topics including cardiovascular risks in rheumatic diseases, and scleroderma lung disease.

CRA President Gunnar Kraag introduced podium presentations by trainees, with Sindhu Johnson presiding as Chair. Presentations were followed by a state-of-the-art lecture on "vertebroplasty" by Dr. Jacques Dion. Concurrent workshops covered a diversity of topics and were well attended.

This year's Royal College debate, entitled "Be it resolved that the conduct of clinical trials is ethically questionable," was moderated by Dr. Joanne Homik of Edmonton. Drs. Denis Choquette and Bob McKendry argued in favor, while Marty Atkinson and Dianne Mosher opposed the resolution. Despite the intensity and passion of the presentations, clinical trials were deemed as here to stay.

A number of awards were presented: The Basic Science Award went to Dr. Vinod Chandran, University of Toronto. He and his colleagues examined familial aggregation of psoriatic arthritis and noted that the risk ratio for recurrence for both psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis was high in first-degree relatives and siblings of patients with psoriatic arthritis. His study suggests that both psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis have strong heritable components.

The P.S. Rosen Award went to Dr. Navjot Dhindsa from the University of Manitoba. He described a high risk of cardiovascular events in First Nations women with combined rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.

The Ian Watson Lupus Award went to Dr. Carolina Landolt-Marticorena for her paper on sustained T cell activity promoting disease activity in lupus. Her findings suggest that perturbations in the T cell compartment, in the context of a primed B cell compartment, promote disease activity.

The award for the Best Overall Paper went to Dr. Steven Katz, of Winnipeg, presenting data from a multicenter, multiethnic Canadian lupus cohort. In this study of 1000 Canadian Faces of Lupus it was observed that the most damage appeared to accumulate in aboriginal Canadian patients. Identification of this high-risk group indicates their possible benefit from aggressive risk management reduction and education.

The award for Best Paper by an Undergraduate Student was presented to Dr. Ruben Tavares, University of Toronto, on behalf of a multicenter Canada-wide study of 400 randomly selected patients. His message was that lag time before rheumatology referral needs improvement to prevent delay for patients starting disease modifying antirheumatic drugs.

Dr. Carol Hitchon, University of Manitoba, received the Young Investigator Award for her work in early arthritis. Her presentation noted that a significant proportion of patients with early inflammatory arthritis have persistent disease activity, despite failing to meet American College of Rheumatology criteria for rheumatoid arthritis, yet testing positive for the presence of antibodies to cyclical citrullinated peptides.

The Distinguished Rheumatologist Award went to Dr. Arthur Bookman of Toronto for his overall contributions to Canadian rheumatology at the highest professional and voluntary level.

Dr. Henri Ménard of McGill University received the Distinguished Investigator Award for his sustained original clinical and scientific contributions to our better understanding of inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

The meeting concluded with the Dunlop-Dotteridge lecture, presented by Dr. John Stone of Harvard Medical School, on the topic "Insights into Vasculitis."

The enthusiasm of Canadian rheumatologists and the greater than ever attendance at the meeting is well reflected in the abstracts of the meeting, which we publish in this issue.