December 2018 issue
December 31, 2018 | More than 300 interventional pain physicians, fellows, and other medical professionals attended the 9th annual California Society of Interventiional Pain Physicians conference held at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara, CA last month. The event was supported by diamond sponsor Boston Scientific, and gold sponsors Medtronic, Abbott, and Nevro, along with many others.
New to CASIPP this year was a Mobile Cadaver Lab conducted in the resort parking lot. The Mobile Lab accommodated six stations and eliminated many of the challenges often found at resort hotels in hosting cadaver labs.
Despite being a regional meeting under the umbrella organization, ASIPP, the California meeting brought in some notable non-Californian residents to present, including Robert Levy, editor of the journal Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface, David Kloth of Connecticut Pain Care, Steven Falowski from St. Luke’s in Bethlehem, PA, and others.
Jason Pope, president of CASIPP, along with his team led by co-chairs Eric Lee and Ramana Naidu, were pleased with this year’s record-breaking turnout. “CASIPP continues to increase in membership as the field of interventional pain medicine continues to grow, resulting in the largest CASIPP to date,” stated Pope. “I’m delighted to see more and more young physicians and fellows attending the conference, particularly in light of the need to address the opioid crisis and the need for increased advocacy from our community.”
This year’s program covered many areas of pain management, with a particular focus on neuromodulation. Other sessions included presentations and discussions on intrathecal therapy, regenerative medicine, innovations in RF ablation, and the continued opioid crisis.
The meeting attracted and presented 16 abstracts and posters: eight on spinal cord stimulation, two on intrathecal pumps, and five others (MILD procedure, opioids, SI stabilization, motor paresis, and vertebral osteomyelitis). Of note was 12-month data presented on Saluda Medical’s closed-loop SCS system using evoked compound action potential recordings to automatically maintain stimulation intensity. The study, presented by Lawrence Poree, found that most subjects experienced “profound and sustainable” pain relief through 12 months.
Michelle Byers, executive director of CASIPP, recently announced the 2019 meeting in Lake Tahoe, CA October 24-27, 2019.
