17 to 19 May 2024 saw Bone heads coming in from all over the Asia Pacific to attend the APCO Singapore Osteoporosis and Other Metabolic Bone Disorders Summit (APCO SOOMBODS) and to listen to international giants in the bone field who took to the stage to deliver impactful lectures ranging from the latest updates in Osteoporosis Pharmacology to Rare Bone Disorders to the use of Advanced Imaging and AI in Musculoskeletal Health. This unique premier metabolic bone disorder congress in the Asia Pacific was supported by 13 sponsors who showcased and interacted with our local and international summit attendees. The summit comprised of the IOF-ISCD Osteoporosis Essentials (OE) Course from 17 to 18 May, followed by the Main Congress that started on the afternoon of 18th May and continued on till the evening of 19th May.
The IOF-ISCD Osteoporosis Essentials (OE) Course that attracted close to 100 participants was an intense but delightful experience for all the attendees. Going far beyond the basic principles of densitometry, the insightful clinical tips by experienced clinical lecturers on how to perform it effectively and manage patients with osteoporosis enthralled the audience, who too made use of the opportunity to ask their many burning questions ranging from why use T-scores and not Z-scores to make the diagnosis of osteoporosis, to how to interpret forearm DXA scans and what to do after discontinuation of denosumab. It was heartening to us to hear some of the attendees opining that this iteration of the popular OE course was like no other that they had previously attended.
The Main Congress started with a phenomenal lecture from Prof Jean-Yves Reginster, sharing his experience with osteoporosis management spanning the last 30 years which left the audience spellbound. Prof Manju Chandran was honoured to present Prof Reginster with a token of appreciation from APCO celebrating his lifelong commitment to musculoskeletal health. The main congress had topics ranging from Rare Bone Diseases to challenging Clinical Cases to the latest updates in Imaging Technologies and Musculoskeletal Health. Many summit delegates expressed their delight at being able to hear and interact with so many international giants in the field. One attendee opined “ It was like a dream come true. Everywhere I looked, there was an expert whose works I have had only the chance to read so far”
The Plenary Lectures were delivered by 4 powerhouses in Musculoskeletal health namely Prof Manju Chandran (The latest Pharmacotherapy in Rare Bone Disorders), Prof Ambrish Mithal (Vitamin D Clinical trials), Prof Eugene McCloskey (Osteoporosis Intervention Thresholds) and Prof Claus Glüer (AI in Osteoporosis). The many remarkable Symposia lectures given /chaired by renowned Experts such as Prof Didier Hans, Prof Yumie Rhee, Prof Peter Ebeling, Dr Philippe Halbout, Prof Atsushi Suzuki, Dr Hew Fen Lee, Dr Rashida Vasanwala, Dr Wong Jiunn, Dr Thanut Valleenukal, Dr Tet Tun Chit were noted for their clarity of delivery and scientific content.
One of the highlights at the Main Congress, and its most entertaining session was the Golden Dragon Debate. This thrilling battle of wits saw Prof Eugene McCloskey and Adj Prof Lau Tang Ching spar on the topic of ‘Osteoporosis Management in a low resource environment is an impossible task’. Both sides put forth convincing arguments with Adj Prof Lau transforming into “Can” a nurse practicing in a remote hillside village and arguing that with resources such as FRAX, even health care providers working in remote inaccessible regions could deliver osteoporosis care effectively, but ultimately Prof Eugene McCloskey demonstrated that “Persuasion is an Art” and won the duel! His droll sense of humour and tongue in cheek rebuttals of Prof Lau’s nay Can’s arguments swayed the audience in his favour and convinced them of the impossible i.e osteoporosis management in a low-resource environment is an impossible task. In his own words, “The fun is in arguing against what I believe in”!
The summit also allowed APCO to showcase its APCO Collective Intellect Clinical Case Discussion Platform (CICCDP). CICCDP which is usually held virtually on Zoom, was held face-to-face for the first time at APCO SOOMBODS 2024. Young promising clinicians, Dr Charlotte Choo (Singapore) and Dr Kashish Gupta (India) presented two extremely complex clinical cases which had the audience involved in providing their input alongside the sage advice by the CICCDP panelists- Profs Manju Chandran , Prof Peter Ebeling, and Prof Ambrish Mithal. The session was expertly moderated by Adj Prof Lau Tang Ching . Several audience members were impressed by CICCDP and expressed their interest in registering for future CICCDP sessions. Click here to register for future APCO CICCDP sessions.
APCO’s commitment to building up the careers of future stars in the field and to provide opportunities for them to present before an international audience saw 6 young upcoming researchers from across the Asia Pacific earning their place to present their abstracts orally at the main congress. These investigators presented their studies which ranged from normative data reference points collection to deriving country-specific FRAX based intervention thresholds and future technologies and tools for bone health assessment. This unique opportunity allowed them to present their research while also marking their footprints in the bone health field. This session was chaired by Prof Didier Hans and Dr Hew Fen Lee and was noted for the kind and encouraging comments by them to the presenters some of whom were presenting on an international stage for the first time.
The summit was uniformly praised by the delegates, who were impressed and inspired by both its content and what they felt was the flawless organization of it. One of the young delegates who also presented her poster at the conference said ‘Everyone attending was made to feel included and important. Each one of the questions and doubts we had were answered. This was especially so at the OE course where even the most complex of questions was answered by Prof Manju. I will cherish this experience for a long time. I am grateful to have been given the stage and the opportunity to meet and to experience the company of STALWARTS in the field under one roof’.
Another opined ‘I am a Geriatrician. I have learned so much and am so inspired to go back and implement what I have learned from the summit including about secondary fracture prevention.’
APCO also used this unique opportunity to encourage clinicians attending the summit to complete the APCO ASia PacifIc Rare Bone Disorders Engagement (ASPIRE) survey. This is one of the projects that APCO has selected to work on for 2024-2025 since our goal is to also advance the cause of Skeletal fragility due to Rare Bone Disorders. This survey which was designed by a Steering Committee of several international experts in the field is intended to assess the baseline awareness of Rare Bone Disorders amongst Health Care Professionals across the Asia Pacific region. A raffles draw saw two lucky winners from those who did the ASPIRE survey winning a unique Singapore-made prize each. More news on the ASPIRE survey and its results will be shared in future updates.
We have some great news! The summit recordings will be made available at a special price for CLINICIANS who missed the experience but are looking to go on an educational journey in bone health. The recordings will be made available for just USD 100. For more information send an email to secretariat@apcobonehealth.org.
We would also like to use this opportunity to thank Mr Alexandre Loillot, APCO SOOMBODS 2024 Event Secretariat and his company Prime for his incredible help in organising the summit as well as Ms Satpreet Kaur our Project Manager who oversaw the organization of the summit from start to finish with Prof Manju Chandran.
We would also like to express gratitude to our event sponsors for their remarkable contributions to the summit.
- Platinum Sponsors: Kyowa Kirin & Promedius
- Gold Sponsors: Amgen
- Silver Sponsors: UCB
- Bronze Sponsors: 3D-Shaper Medical, DKSH, Medimaps, Medical Imaging Systems & Zuellig Pharma
- Contributors: Hyphens Pharma, idsMED Group, ITS Science & Medical, Euro Asia Medico and the Lee Foundation
