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| Drs. Reisner and Pue |
The Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology held its Thirty-Third Annual Meeting April 25-28, 2001 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Diego, California. There were 448 registered attendees. On the morning before the official commencement of the meeting, forty-five interested guests attended a tour of the Sharp/Mary Birch Hospital for Women led by meeting co-host Alex Pue. This freestanding women's hospital has one of the largest delivery services in California. Dr. Reisner and Dr. Pue officially opened the meeting at 14:00 on Wednesday, April 25, 2001 with an audio-visual presentation set to the music from the movie "2001-A Space Odyssey".
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| Political Panel |
First on the program was a lively session dealing with "Lawsuits
in OB Anesthesia" moderated by Dr. Pue. He presented a theoretical obstetric
anesthesia case with a bad outcome and three experts discussed their approach
to the resulting lawsuit. Ken Sigelman, J.D., M.D., discussed the approach of
the plaintiff's attorney, David Nugent, J.D. discussed the approach of the defendant's
attorney, and Gershon Levinson, M.D. discussed the role of the expert witness.
This was followed by a session dealing with "Politics and OB Anesthesia"
moderated by McCallum R. Hoyt, M.D. The panelists represented a variety of perspectives.
Patsy Dailey, M.D. discussed state and national specialty politics.
Opening Reception
Maryland State Senator Andrew Harris, M.D. discussed governmental politics at a state level. Finally, Tom Joas, M.D. discussed his most recent political experience as a member and chairman of the Medical Board of California. SOAP members opting instead to refresh their clinical knowledge were able to attend simultaneous refresher course lectures. David Gambling, M.B.B.S. gave the first lecture entitled "Combined Spinal Epidural Analgesia and Patient Controlled Epidural Anesthesia". Barbara Zucker-Pinchoff, M.D. then discussed the perils of "Latex Allergy". SOAP attendees then participated in a wine and cheese reception on the hotel's outdoor patio.
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 William Camann, MD |
 Brett Gutsche, MD |
The next morning began with a continental breakfast and viewing of scientific exhibits and posters. Alan Santos, M.D. moderated the presentation of papers selected for the Gertie Marx Symposium. Six papers were presented. The winning paper was "The ED95 of Intrathecal Bupivacaine with Opioids for Cesarean Section" by Mirikitani et al. of Stanford University, presented by Edward Mirikatani, M.D. There was a tie for the 2nd place award, awarded to presenter Jeremy Davis, F.R.C.A. and his colleagues from the Royal Free Hospital, London for their paper entitled "Platelet Function in Preeclampsia: Platelet Function Analyzer (PFA-100) vs. TEG". The other paper honored with the 2nd place award was "Low Dose Lidocaine Causes Toxic Changes in Neuronal Morphology", presented by Pushkar Dadarkar, F.R.C.A. on behalf of his colleagues at the Mayo Clinic. Next, David Gambling, M.B.B.S. provided a thoughtful and thorough discussion and analysis of the first group of twenty-five poster presentations. Gary Vasdev, M.D. followed by moderating the first group of four oral presentations, which dealt with the topic of cesarean section.
David Birnbach, M.D. ushered in the afternoon session by moderating a stimulating debate titled "An Anesthesia Provider Should Be Present For Vaginal Delivery In All Patients Receiving Neuraxial Analgesia".
Brett Gutsche, M.D. presented the pro side of the argument and William Camann, M.D. fielded the con opinion. The audience then learned about "What's New in In Vitro Fertilization" in a presentation by Christo Zouves, M.D. This well-presented lecture dealt with the issues of trans-vaginal egg retrieval, multiple pregnancy, pregnancy induced hypertension, heparin/aspirin therapy, advanced maternal age and the management of the ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome. Lively and knowledgeable audience participation in the question and answer period demonstrated that this was a timely topic. Lawrence Tsen, M.D. then artfully conducted the second poster review session of twenty-nine posters. The afternoon meeting concluded with simultaneous sessions on "Hemodynamic Control in Obstetrics" by Chris Rout, FFARCS and "Research Works in Progress" moderated by Robert D'Angelo, M.D.
 Lawrence Tsen, MD |
 Chris Rout, FFARCS |
 Mark Zakowski, MD |
The evening was a special event for the many SOAP attendees who joined the various Dine-Arounds hosted by local SOAP members and SOAP board members. Restaurants of various cuisines were available to accommodate practically any culinary desire, and participants made new acquaintances and renewed old ones. One unique dinner was arranged by co-host Dr. Reisner at Morton's Steak House. Mark Greenberg, M.D., a University of California San Diego pediatrician and anesthesiologist and a consultant to the San Diego Zoo, gave a fascinating presentation of his experiences anesthetizing and caring for animals at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park.
Friday morning, April 27, 2001 began with a refresher course on "Neurologic Complications of Regional Anesthesia in Obstetrics" presented by Mark Zakowski, M.D. SOAP members and guests then went off to compete in a variety of physical activities.
Fifty-two people participated in the Braun Annual SOAP Fun Run/Walk. This year's event was organized by Eileen Pue and was held at scenic Harbor Island. The women's winners were first place Heidi Splete, and second place, Anusasuya Vasudevan. The men's winners were Frank Storniolo, who once again won the race and Jim Flanigan who came in second. Golfers were treated to the Maderas Golf Club where Owen Ellis, M.D. arranged a best ball tournament. Larry Reisner roamed the course offering "Mulligans" and "Free Throws" for sale to provide funds for prizes. First place score was 61 with team members Mark Gunn, M.D. and Robert Parker, D.O. Ginny Ferrari hit the "Longest Drive - Women" and the "Longest Drive- Men" was hammered in by Mark Gunn. Mark Siegman received the award for "Closest to Pin".
The Tennis Tournament was organized and managed by David Gambling, M.B.B.S. and George Wahab, M.D. The weather was conducive to vigorous play and the winning team consisted of Robin Goldsmith, M.D. and her mystery partner. For those interested in seeing San Diego, a Deluxe City Tour and Harbor Excursion was available. This included a visit to the Mission in Old Town, Balboa Park, the Gaslamp Quarter, and a harbor cruise.
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 Alan Santos, MD presents the gavel to Valerie Arkoosh, MD |
 H. Jane Huffnagle, DO |
 Robert Resnik, MD |
After a quick lunch SOAP held its annual business meeting. At the end of the meeting, outgoing SOAP president, Alan Santos, handed over the gavel to the incoming president, Valerie Arkoosh, M.D. SOAP members then listened to six oral presentations moderated by H. Jane Huffnagle, D.O. The topics all dealt with issues of labor analgesia and local anesthetics. This was followed by the four papers, presented by obstetricians, which were entered in the Zuspan Competition. After great deliberation the judges chose "Cardiotocographic Abnormalities Associated With Labor Induction" by Balitona J, Meyer I, Ramin K, Vasdev G, and Ramsey P of the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Patrick Ramsey presented this informative paper.
The final educational session for the day was the "What's New in Obstetrics" lecture delivered by Robert Resnik, M.D. This extremely interesting and enlightening talk delved into the issues of the current role of fetal heart rate monitoring in obstetrics, and the relationship between cervical length, fetal fibronectin, bacterial vaginosis and preterm labor. Dr. Resnik also talked about the management of placenta accreta/percreta, thrombophilic disorders in pregnancy, gestational diabetes, the current role of fetal pulse oximetry, and new concepts in the use of corticosteroids to induce fetal lung maturation. He concluded with the management of Rh isoimmunization and the utilization of the measurement of fetal middle cerebral artery blood flow by doppler ultrasonography. Immediately after this talk, Kathy Zuspan, M.D. and Valerie Arkoosh, M.D. presented the Zuspan Award to Patrick Ramsey, M.D., and SOAP members retired to prepare for the evening banquet.
 Gertie Marx Award |
 Kathy Zuspan, MD, Patrick Ramsey, MD, and Valerie Arkoosh, MD |
 Charlie Gibbs, Lilly and Mike Finster and Barbara Zucker-Pinchoff |
The SOAP Banquet was held at Sea World and began with a social hour outside of the Penguin Encounter. Guests then entered the Nautilus Pavilion, a large, semi-permanent, tent-like structure, for an excellent meal and entertainment. Gertie Marx herself presented the awards to the winners of Gertie Marx Symposium. The remaining dinner entertainment focused on this year's recipient of the SOAP Distinguished Service Award, Mieczyslaw Finster, M.D. Barbara Zucker-Pinchoff, M.D. serenaded Mike with her beautiful voice and made many accolades to Mike. Charles Gibbs, M.D. offered verbal praises, and Mike, his usual modest fashion, accepted them with grace and charm. Mike is surely an inspiration not only to those interested in obstetric anesthesia, but also to those in academic anesthesia. His boundless energy and exuberance have led him through a long career of research, publishing, educating, editing, and advising. His dedication and service to SOAP are well known and we always await his sage comments during our scientific sessions. After dinner SOAP members enjoyed a spectacular private Nighttime Shamu Show.
 Penny Balem, MD |
 Joanne Douglas, MD |
Saturday morning, the final day of the meeting, was launched with an outstanding Clinical Forum on Coagulopathies and Transfusion Medicine moderated by Shiv Kumar Sharma, M.D., Terese Horlocker, M.D. brought us up to date on the use of low molecular weight heparin and neuraxial anesthesia, while Penny Ballem, M.D. presented a lecture on "Bleeding Disorders, Transfusion Therapy, and the Cell Saver in Obstetrics".
M. Joanne Douglas, M.D then delivered the keynote Fred Hehre
Lecture. Her focus was on "Looking To The Past To Find A Vision For The Future."
She reviewed the historic advances made in regional anesthesia and analgesia as
they relate to obstetric anesthesia over the past several decades.She then defined
those areas that need further consideration and research. Following this entertaining
and informative lecture, Geraldine O'Sullivan, M.D. moderated a debate entitled
"Most OB Patients With A `Wet Tap' Should Get A Prophylactic Blood Patch."
The always-game Brett Gutsche, M.D. was valiant enough to take
on the pro side of the controversy on extremely short notice when the scheduled
speaker was unable to attend. Gary Vasdev, M.D. ably defended the con side. Although
the audience was split, more people changed from the con side to the pro side,
so the moderator declared Dr. Gutsche the winner. Don Penning, M.D. then moderated
seven oral presentations competing for the "Best Paper of the Meeting"
award. After careful deliberation, the judges awarded this honor to "Allopregnanolone
protects against NMDA-induced cellular injury in human NT2-N neurons", by
Ellen Lockhart, M.D. who presented the paper, and her colleagues from Duke University
and the University of Toronto. One of the presentations that all SOAP attendees
look forward to is the Gerard W. Ostheimer Lecture " What's New in Obstetric
Anesthesia". This lecture brings us up to date with the latest and most important
issues in our subspecialty.
Gary Vasdev, MD, Geraldine O'Sullivan, MD, and Brett Gutsche, MD
B. Scott Segal, M.D., expertly and creatively delivered this year's
talk. Dr. Segal gave a thorough and stimulating review of many topics ranging
from "Alternative Medicine" through "Workload, Resources, and Training."
He augmented his lively and creative presentation by providing an outstanding
annotated bibliography with no less than 442 citations. This bibliography alone
was worth the price of admission and is an excellent resource.
B. Scott Segal, MD
Cheryl DeSimone, MD
As the meeting headed for its close, Cheryl DeSimone, M.D. moderated a series of four oral presentations on various topics of interest to obstetric anesthesiologists. For the finale, Laurence Reisner, M.D. elegantly reviewed and discussed the twenty-one papers from Poster Session #3. Don Penning and Valerie Arkoosh then presented the "Best Paper Of The Meeting Award" to Ellen Lockhart
Valerie Arkoosh gave the closing remarks and at 4:30 PM on April 28, 2001, the 33rd Annual Meeting of SOAP concluded. Those attending were exhilarated from the exchange of information and from the exciting social events.
Laurence S. Reisner, MD and Alex Pue, MD
Meeting Co-hosts
Editor's Note: Many thanks to Alex Pue, Larry Reisner,
and Divina Santos for their wonderful photographs.
