Clinical Science Program Includes New ILD Guidelines and Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Guidance, as well as Meet the Panel for Multiple Diseases

New guidelines and interdisciplinary considerations highlight the close to 60 sessions in the clinical science program at ACR Convergence 2023.

“In order for rheumatologists to know what treatments are coming, how to use the treatments that are available, and how to navigate the risks of both disease and potential therapies, the national meeting offers a comprehensive program that touches on these important concepts,” said Tracy Frech, MD, MS, Chair of the Clinical Science Team for the Annual Meeting Planning Committee (AMPC) and a rheumatologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “The AMPC starts a year in advance identifying the hot topics that ACR members have identified and bringing the experts to the meeting, so there’s a yearlong effort to making sure we are getting cutting-edge information for attendees.”

New guidance to be presented addresses musculoskeletal ultrasound for inflammatory arthritis and for soft tissue disorders, and a new guideline features interstitial lung disease. On Sunday, Nov. 12, ACR Guidelines: Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) will begin at 7:30 a.m. PT in Ballroom 20D. Later in the day, ACR Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Guidance Update for Inflammatory Arthritis will begin at 11 a.m. in Room 31A-C, followed on Monday, Nov. 13, by ACR Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Guideline Update for Soft Tissue Disorders and Procedures at 7:30 a.m. in Room 31A-C.

“These guidelines have input from expert rheumatologists, so they are key to the latest recommendations in the field. Another hot area where we have multidisciplinary input that can guide our recommendations is Check In With Checkpoint Inhibitors,” Dr. Frech said. “Checkpoint inhibitors are certainly associated with rheumatic conditions and treating physicians need to know how to best manage their patients.” The Monday session will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 31A-C.

Many rheumatic diseases and the agents used to treat them are also associated with a multidisciplinary approach, which are highlighted in the clinical science program.

“Our challenges are learning how to properly implement therapeutics, so when you look at the annual meeting, learning about the new therapies and how to prescribe them is one of the advantages of featuring interdisciplinary topics,” Dr. Frech said. “These are areas where rheumatologists need to understand what treatments are available and how we interface with other subspecialty specialties.”

On Monday, Challenging Complications of the Nervous System in Sjögren’s Syndrome will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 1A-B. On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Cardiovascular Rheumatology: Lessons Learned from Targeting Inflammation to Modulate CV Risk will begin at 12 p.m. in Ballroom 20 B-C, and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension for the Rheumatologist and Immunologist will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 7A-B.

“There is a growing focus on making sure we’re adequately addressing health disparities, so Mitigating Health Disparities Through Inclusion and Diversity in Clinical Trials is an important topic that hasn’t been previously showcased at ACR Convergence,” Dr. Frech said. The Tuesday session will begin at 7:30 a.m. in Room 29A-D.

Also new to the program this year are Meet the Panel sessions addressing clinical science.

• Meet the Panel: Case-Based Interstitial Lung Disease, Sunday, Nov. 12, 9–10 a.m., Ballroom 20D
• Meet the Panel: COVID-19, Sunday, Nov. 12, 11 a.m.–12 p.m., Room 6A-B
• Meet the Panel: Challenging Cases in Adult and Juvenile Myositis, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2–3 p.m., Room 29A-D
• Meet the Panel: The Latest in Lupus Treatment, Monday, Nov. 13, 7:30–8:30 a.m., Room 6A-B
• Meet the Panel: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Monday, Nov. 13, 11–11:45 a.m., Room 6A-B
• Meet the Panel: To Inject or Not to Inject an Osteoarthritis Knee: That Is the Question, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 9:15–10:15 a.m., Ballroom 20D

A consistently popular session, the Great Debate, will return on Monday, Nov. 13, beginning at 9 a.m. in Exhibit Hall A-B. This year’s debate is Should PMR and GCA Be Treated with Advanced Therapies at Disease Onset?

“The topic changes every year, and we will be showcasing leading experts in the field who will review the data around the timing of biologic therapies,” Dr. Frech said.

Trainees and practicing physicians alike will find the clinical science sessions informative.

“We’re excited about the CARE topics this year, which includes CNS vasculitis and rheumatic rashes. Even though they are recurrent themes, they have new information regarding diagnostics and treatment,” Dr. Frech said.

Another recurring session is State of the Art. One session on Sunday, Nov. 12, addresses a hot topic: the microbiome and osteoarthritis (OA).  Another session, on Tuesday, features IgG4-Related Disease from Bench to Bedside.

“Both from a diagnostic and treatment standpoint, understanding the advances in diagnostics, complications of rheumatic disease and what treatments may be available for those complications is incredibly important for ACR attendees,” Dr. Frech said.

The CARE sessions and State of the Art OA session are among select sessions that will be livestreamed for online viewing in real time. All ACR Convergence sessions will be available on demand for registered participants following the meeting. The full list of livestreamed clinical science sessions includes:

• Review Course, Saturday, Nov. 11, 7:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m., Exhibit Hall A-B
• Controversies and Updates in Osteoporosis Management, Sunday, Nov. 12, 7:30–8:30 a.m., Room 6A-B
• Year in Review, Sunday, Nov. 12, 7:30–8:30 a.m., Exhibit Hall A-B
• State of the Art: Microbiome Niches in OA, Sunday, Nov. 12, 9–10 a.m., Exhibit Hall A-B
• Meet the Panel: COVID-19, Sunday, Nov. 12, 11 a.m.–12 p.m., Room 6A-B
• CARE: Central Nervous System Vasculitis, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2–3 p.m., Exhibit Hall A-B
• Meet the Panel: The Latest in Lupus Treatment, Monday, Nov. 13, 7:30–8:30 a.m., Room 6A-B
• Reducing Health Disparities in Rheumatology, Monday, Nov. 13, 9–10 a.m., Room 6A-B
• Meet the Panel: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Monday, Nov. 13, 11–11:45 a.m., Room 6A-B
• Clinicopathologic Conference, Monday, Nov. 13, 1–2 p.m., Exhibit Hall A-B
• Navigating Cardiovascular Risk for Inflammatory Arthritis: View from Cardiology, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 9–10 a.m., Exhibit Hall A-B
• CARE: Rashes in Rheumatology, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2–3 p.m., Exhibit Hall A-B
• Thieves Market: Show Me Your Best Cases!, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2–3 p.m., Room 6A-B

Additional clinical science sessions

Sunday, Nov. 12

• Pearls and Pitfalls in Diagnosing Nonradiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis, 9–10 a.m., Room 24A-D
• Lupus Prevention and Disease-Modifying Anti-Lupus Drugs (DMALDs): Are We There Yet?, 9–10 a.m., Room 11A-B
• ACR Legislative and Public Policy Update, 9–10 a.m., 31A-C
• Putting Our Best Foot Forward: Managing Foot/Ankle Involvement in Rheumatic Diseases, 12–1 p.m., Ballroom 20D
• Advances in Sarcoidosis: Pathophysiology, Screening and Monitoring, and Organ-Focused Treatment Paradigms, 2–3 p.m., Room 1A-B
• Optimizing Clinical Care in Gout, 2–3 p.m., Room 23A-C
• FDA Update on Safety issues in the Treatment of Rheumatic Diseases, 4–5 p.m., Room 29A-D

Monday, Nov. 13

• ACR-EULAR Criteria for Clinical Responses in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis: A Composite Outcome Measure, 7:30–9 a.m., Ballroom 20A
• Evidence-Based RA: The Key Lessons Learned From Worldwide Registries, 7:30–9 a.m., Ballroom 20D
• The Future of Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS): 2023 ACR/EULAR APS Classification Criteria and Beyond, 9–10 a.m., Room 31A-C
• New Frontiers in Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease Care: Optimizing Diagnosis and Clinical Outcomes, 12–1 p.m., Ballroom 20D
• Geriatric Rheumatology: Are You Ready for the Silver Tsunami?, 2–3 p.m., Room 23A-C
• Antisynthetase Syndrome: A Distinct Entity, 2–3 p.m., Room 11A-B
• IgA Vasculitis, 4–5 p.m., Ballroom 20D
• Health Disparities in Osteoarthritis: What Does the Data Tell Us and Considerations for Practice, 4–5 p.m., Room 24A-C
• Vasculitis Cookbook, 4–5:30 p.m., Room 6A-B

Tuesday, Nov. 14

• Climate Change for the Rheumatologist, 7:30–8:30 a.m., Room 33A-C
• Fast-Track Clinics for Rapid Diagnosis and Treatment of Giant Cell Arteritis, 7:30–8:30 a.m., Room 31A-C
• Fertility Preservation in Rheumatic Diseases, 7:30–8:30 a.m., Room 6D-E
• Anatomy for the Clinician I: Evaluation of the Shoulder – Mechanical or Inflammatory?, 7:30–8:30 a.m., Ballroom 20D
• Curbside Consults: Oral Ulcers, Autoimmune Hearing Loss, and Nerve Entrapment, 8:30–10 a.m., Ballroom 20B-C
• Iatrogenic Rheumatology: What Rheumatologists Need to Know About Drug-Induced Manifestations of Rheumatic Diseases, 9–10 a.m., Room 33A-C
• Lupus in Africa, 9–10 a.m., Room 11A-B
• Anatomy for the Clinician II: Evaluation of the Hip – Mechanical or Inflammatory?, 9–10 a.m., Ballroom 20D
• Advancing Non-Invasive Biomarkers in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis and Lupus Nephritis: A Translational State of the Art, 11 a.m.–12 p.m., Room 31A-C
• Tele-Rheumatology Research: Where Are We Today?, 2–3 p.m., Room 11A-B
• Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and Joint Hypermobility Syndrome: A Not-So-Benign Disorder?, 2–3 p.m., Room 1A-B
• Personalized Nutrition for Patients with Rheumatic Diseases, 4–5 p.m., Room 1A-B
• Myositis Pearls for Diagnosis and Management, 4–5 p.m., Ballroom 20D

Wednesday, Nov. 15

• RA Treatment: Are We Good Enough?, 8–9 a.m., Room 24A-C
• Distinguished Investigator: The Evolution of Clinical Research in Vasculitis: Lessons Learned for the Study of Rare Diseases, 9:15–10:15 a.m., Room 6F/6C
• Clinical Year in Preview, 10:30–11:30 a.m., Room 6F/6C