36th General Thoracic Surgical Club Annual Meeting
March 14-17, 2024
Palm Springs, CA

(Closed April 14)

Activity Overview
The purpose of this meeting is to provide a forum for general thoracic surgeons to learn the most up to date information on research, patient care, pathophysiology, surgical techniques and educational methods to maintain the optimum surgical care of general thoracic patients. This activity is designed to facilitate improved competence, performance-in-practice and patient outcomes.

Target Audience
This symposium is designed for an audience of physicians, physician assistants and other healthcare providers who practice thoracic surgery.

Objectives
Upon completion of the educational activity, participants should be able to:

Thursday Events

Robert J. Ginsberg Clinical Trial

• Review strategies for identifying practice changing questions and test them in real world clinical trials.
• Discuss how to facilitate enhanced competence, demonstrate improved performance-in-practice, and contribute to positive patient outcomes.
• Review and highlight current and pending trials activated through the cooperative group mechanism and update members regarding accrual.
• Review current and pending trials activated through the GTSC trials network and update members regarding accrual.
• Review active industry trials in thoracic surgical oncology that will be practice changing.
• Discuss how to facilitate enhanced competence, demonstrate improved performance-in-practice, and contribute to positive patient outcomes.
• Review landmark papers published in 2023 relevant to thoracic surgery practice.

Friday/Saturday Events

Lung Transplant Update

• Demonstrate an understanding of recent advancements and current challenges in lung transplantation.
• Summarize key points related to lung preservation, expansion of the lung donor pool, and the application of ECMO in pre-op, intra-op, and post-op stages.

Pain points in benign esophageal surgery

• Examine challenges in benign esophageal surgery, focusing on the impact of obesity on paraesophageal hernia repair. Delineate optimal approaches for achieving successful outcomes.
• Evaluate the impact of gastroparesis on benign esophageal surgery and propose strategic interventions to address challenges. Critically assess current controversies in foregut surgery from a debate format.

Chest Wall resection and reconstruction

• Assess advancements in chest wall resection and reconstruction, with a specific focus on the application of robotic technology in 1st rib resection, aiming to understand the benefits, challenges, and outcomes associated with this approach.
• Critically analyze the current consensus on the use of novel materials in chest wall reconstruction and the application of rib fracture plating, exploring the effectiveness and potential controversies surrounding these techniques to inform decision-making in clinical practice.

Thoracic Surgery for Lung Cancer – what just happened?

• Assess the current landscape of surgery for lung cancer and mesothelioma, focusing on recent developments in mesothelioma treatment, and critically evaluating the role of surgery in contemporary practice.
• Investigate the dynamic considerations in thoracic surgery for lung cancer, with a specific emphasis on N2 disease management and sublobar resection, providing an up-to-date analysis of evolving guidelines and outcomes in these areas.

Re-thinking surgical education

• Formulate strategies for re-thinking surgical education by designing a comprehensive curriculum for resident wellness, aiming to integrate holistic approaches that prioritize the mental and physical well-being of surgical trainees.
• Evaluate the future direction of thoracic surgical education through an analysis of updates from the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS), followed by a fireside chat, with the goal of identifying key trends and potential innovations that will shape the landscape of thoracic surgical training.
• Review and highlight areas in the overall thoracic surgery clinical trials portfolio where we do not currently have studies open and accruing.

GTSC Movie Night

• Review the technical aspects of various general thoracic surgical procedures and provide an open forum for discussion about surgical decision making and techniques.
• Discuss how to facilitate improved competence, performance-in-practice and patient outcomes.

Abstracts

• Review new research results in thoracic surgery.
• Discuss how to facilitate improved competence, performance-in-practice and patient outcomes.

Super Bowl of X-Rays

• Discuss how to facilitate improved competence, performance-in-practice and patient outcomes.

Criteria for Success
Statements of credit will be awarded based on the participant's attendance. A statement of credit will be available upon completion of an online evaluation/claim credit form. If you have questions about this CE activity, please contact AKH Inc at tbrignoni@akhcme.com.

Physician
AKH Inc., Advancing Knowledge in Healthcare designates this live activity for a maximum of 13 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.