Most attended sessions of ESRA Virtual Meeting 2021

This year, ESRA chose to go virtual, since the conditions that would allow both the organization of large face-to-face events and speakers / participants travelling without restrictions were not met. This was caused by rising of COVID-19 cases in various European countries.

We opened and closed this congress to the tones of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony “Ode to Joy”, which you can enjoy by clicking here whilst you carry on reading our newsletter.

The attendance was massive. We have welcomed the participants from all corners of the world with more than 1700 participants registered during the 3 days of congress. For 3 whole days (1 day open forum and 2 days online congress) there was a unique close connection between ESRA and its associates / delegates. The feedback received was excellent, both by the participants and by the speakers.

In total, the time spent online by all participants for open forum day was over 1144 hours and for the online congress 3395 hours. We have also identified the 5 countries with the highest number of participants online: United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal and Saudi Arabia.

During every congress there are some sessions more popular than others. There are many reasons for this popularity, but just to name a few: relevance / novelty of the topic, latest research, applicability for daily clinical practice, eloquent and knowledgeable speakers or practical tips “how I do it”.
Traditionally, in order to guarantee the place in the room one needs to get there quite early, some will actually put the alarm on their phones as a reminder of the session. Just to get a chair in the room for the most popular sessions. Online meeting allows everyone attend any session as there are no limitations for participants numbers in online world.

The most popular sessions of this congress were as follows:

• Open forum day sessions
  – RA Career Opportunities
  – Education and training in RA, the next level
  – Cadavers for RA hands-on training.
• Congress sessions
  – Pitfalls during US guided blocks: All the structures you should not miss. All steps clear?
  – Update on thoracic blocks
  – RA & antithrombotic agents: A literature update
  – RA and the difficult patient
  – Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS): Unnecessary gadgetry or evidence-based medicine?.

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Engraved in ESRA’s DNA is the appreciation for the discussion of research and sharing of clinical experience (case reports). The most viewed e-posters were: Lumpectomy under interpectoral block and pecto-intercostal fascial block (121 views), Ultrasound guided costoclavicular brachial plexus block for proximal humerus fracture with pneumothorax in an elderly patient – a case report (54 views), Comparing the efficacy of pericapsular nerve group block (PENG) block versus supra-inguinal fascia iliaca block (FIB) in hip arthroplasty (45 views), 185 Neuraxial drug administration errors from 40 countries – practical issues and human factors (44 views) and Low-dose, opioid-free subarachnoid block and US-guided suprainguinal FICB as an anaesthetic analgesic technique in patients with a symptomatic, mild to moderate aortic stenosis undergoing hip fracture surgery (31 views).
The award-winning abstracts of this 2021 ESRA Virtual Congress are presented

Engraved in ESRA’s DNA is the appreciation for the discussion of research and sharing of clinical experience (case reports).
The most viewed e-posters were:

• Lumpectomy under interpectoral and pecto-intercostal fascial block (121 views)
• Ultrasound guided costoclavicular brachial plexus block for proximal humerus fracture with pneumothorax in an elderly patient – a case report (54 views),
• Comparing the efficacy of pericapsular nerve group block (PENG) block versus supra-inguinal fascia iliaca block (FIB) in hip arthroplasty (45 views),
• 185 Neuraxial drug administration errors from 40 countries – practical issues and human factors (44 views)
• Low-dose, opioid-free subarachnoid block and US-guided suprainguinal FICB as an anaesthetic analgesic technique in patients with a symptomatic, mild to moderate aortic stenosis undergoing hip fracture surgery (31 views).

During the virtual ESRA congress, abstract committee had a difficult task to choose three best abstracts for regional anaesthesia and chronic pain categories. We have invited the authors to present their work in their own words for our readers. We would like to sincerely congratulate all winners for their great achievement.

Regional anaesthesia

1st Prize for regional anaesthesia
Manabu Yoshimura (Ube, Japan): COMPARISON OF PERIPHERAL NERVE BLOCK WITH GENERAL ANESTHESIA AND GENERAL ANESTHESIA ALONE IN TERMS OF POSTOPERATIVE DELIRIUM AND COMPLICATIONS USING A NATIONWIDE DATABASE

2nd Prize for regional anaesthesia
Ellen Veef (Leuven, Belgium): PROSPECT GUIDELINE FOR ELECTIVE CAESAREAN SECTION: UPDATED SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND PROCEDURE-SPECIFIC POSTOPERATIVE PAIN MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

The pain after caesarean section is often underestimated and undertreated, nevertheless it may have negative impact on maternal recovery and wellbeing, but also on the mother-child bonding and the breastfeeding.
Several new techniques have been developed and the attention has shifted towards reduced opioid consumption and enhanced recovery after surgery. A total of 145 studies were included (126 RCTs + 19 systematic reviews and meta-analyses). PROSPECT working group provided recommendations based on recent literature on pain after elective caesarean section under neuraxial anesthesia, which consists of multimodal analgesia (paracetamol, NSAID’s, dexamethasone) and intrathecal morphine. Peripheral nerve blocks can be used when neuraxial anaesthesia is not used.

3rd Prize for regional anaesthesia
Freideriki Sifaki (Athens, Greece): EFFECTIVENESS OF ULTRASOUND – GUIDED BILATERAL ERECTOR SPINAE PLANE BLOCK IN LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMIES. A RANDOMIZED, CONTROLLED, DOUBLE BLIND, PROSPECTIVE TRIAL

Authors demonstrated, that patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy who received bilateral ESP blocks with ropivacaine or ropivacaine+dexmedetomidine had lower opioid consumption at 24 hours, lower NRS pain scores and shorter time to mobilisation compared with the control group who received saline to ESP blocks. Patiets with ESP blocks had also higher satisfaction scores than control group. Addition of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine has not resulted in any difference in above variables compared with ropivacaine alone.

Chronic  pain

1st Prize for chronic pain:
Caner Genç (Samsun, Turkey): EFFECTS OF ULTRASOUND-GUIDED ERECTOR SPINAE PLANE BLOCK AND PECTORALIS NERVE BLOCK ON POSTOPERATIVE ACUTE AND CHRONIC PAIN IN PATIENTS WHO UNDERWENT BREAST CANCER SURGERY

2nd Prize for chronic pain
Raquel Vela (MADRID, Spain): RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMORBIDITIES IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN UNDERGOING INTERVENTIONAL PAIN MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES, AND PATIENT SATISFACTION AND CLINICAL RESPONSE

Patients with failed back surgery syndrome and neuropathic pain have lower response rate and lower satisfaction to commonly performed interventional pain techniques – lumbar interlaminar epidural, lumbar caudal epidural and facet joint infiltration. Patients with these clinical features may be resistant to the interventional techniques offered or they may require different or more specific techniques than the ones performed.

3rd Prize for chronic pain
Ana Amorim (Funchal, Portugal): KNEE PAIN: EXPERIMENTAL RADIOFREQUENCY

Social Media

In terms of visibility on social media, #ESRA2021 achieved about 7,574M impressions. The top 5 influencers were ESRA, Amit Pawa, Steve Coppens, Ed Mariano and Clara Lobo.

Some statistics figures on Twitter with the top 10 influencers: @ESRA_Society, @amit_pawa, @Steve_Coppens, @EMARIANOMD, @claralexlobo, @RegionalAnaesUK, @OTJOnline, @ajrmacfarlane, @PeterMerjavy, @cdrrogers

Both congress days ended with a Wrap Up session where, in a calm environment, the most important messages of the day of each track were shared and discussed.

To view or review your favorite sessions of The ESRA Virtual Congress 2021 you can access the platform for 1 year, here.