14 October 2019
For the silver anniversary of the Annual Combined Northern and Yorkshire Rheumatology Meeting, our Head of Publishing, Francesca Cockshull, headed back to the Conference Centre at the National Railway Museum in York. Here she reports on the experience.
Almost 200 delegates and exhibitors turned up, representing the entirety of the rheumatology specialty, many of whom were society members. The meeting began with a session on concurrent translational and clinical cases, chaired by member Dr Ed Vital, where six abstracts were presented. After this came three clinical case discussions on acute ward referrals and urgent presentations, chaired by members Alice Lorenzi and Mike Green.
Dr Bridget Griffiths provided an in-depth overview of 20 years of progress in the management and treatment of systemic sclerosis (SSc). This celebrated local expertise, gave information on key symptoms to look out for, and discussed how to diagnose and treat SSc, as well as recognising comorbidities.
After this came a clinical abstract presentation covering pulmonary hypertension in SSc patients, and then a combined clinical abstract on at-risk patients presenting with autoimmune connective tissue disease.
Lunch was well-received in the cavernous and historic Station Hall area of the museum. Over lunch, there was much interest in the society’s new campaign to promote rheumatology as a career; I had a fascinating conversation with a member delegate on the definition of a happy doctor and the variances in happiness levels in different medical specialties.
The afternoon session began with clinical conundrums and treatment developments, chaired by member Jonathan Heaney. First up was a second celebration of local expertise, with member Professor Phil Conaghan presenting an intriguing talk asking whether there will be any new pharmacological therapy for osteoarthritis.
This was preceded by two clinical science abstracts on infection risks in repeat cycles of rituximab for the treatment of rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease, and a longitudinal study on quality of life for at-risk primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients.
Member Professor Stuart Ralston rounded off the session with a thought-provoking update on new developments in osteoporosis and other bone diseases. We then had our final coffee break of the day before the highlight (!); an overview of British Society for Rheumatology activities and how to get involved regionally.
Member Professor Dennis McGonagle chaired this session and the following two clinical abstract presentations on diagnosing giant cell arteritis at Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust, and the first reported case series on reporting early onset neutropenia in rituximab-treated patients.
Professor Stuart Ralston then introduced and presented awards to the Jewels in the Crown abstract winners for this meeting, for the translational abstract ‘In vitro human enthesitis model with induced IL17A and TNFα from CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes and effect of pharmacological antagonism with janus kinase and retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor γ inhibition’, and for the clinical abstract ‘USEFUL I: Musculoskeletal ultrasound to identify patients with lupus arthritis with better response to therapy’. Congratulations to the winning abstracts of the day!
The meeting was an excellent insight into the hard work and dedication of our regional members, and a great showcase for the translational and clinical research happening in the Northern and Yorkshire rheumatology regions. Here’s to many more years of this meeting, following its silver anniversary in 2019.