The 118th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons

Abstract

The 118th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) took place on June 1–5, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. The convention was attended by 1883 physician registrants and included broad international representation. The Welcome Reception was held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located on the shore of Lake Erie near the convention center in downtown Cleveland. The meeting included workshops on advanced robotic surgery, transanal total mesorectal excision, methods of rectal prolapse repair and advanced endoscopy. Symposia topics included diverticulitis, pelvic floor, the geriatric patient, social media, robotics, healthcare economics, hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes, anal dysplasia, inflammatory bowel disease, enhanced recovery strategies, management of advanced and recurrent rectal cancer, avoiding burnout, advanced endoscopy/intraluminal surgery, new technologies, and the difficult and unexpected operative scenario. The international flavor of the convention was enhanced by the first ever US-China Colorectal Surgery Symposium which included a large contingent (> 100 surgeons) of colorectal surgeons from the Republic of China representing Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Furthermore, a Latin-American Symposium was delivered entirely in Spanish with English translation available. The ESCP “Best Paper” recipient Merle E. Stellingwerf (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) presented “Therapy refractory ulcerative colitis patients may benefit from appendectomy; Long-term clinical results from a multicenter prospective cohort series”. The Killingback Award Winner, E. MacDermid (NSW, Australia) presented “The impact of social deprivation on stage of presentation of colorectal cancer in a Western Sydney population”. The 2019 ACPGBI Traveling Fellow, Meara Dean (Cambridge, UK) presented “Prioritizing safety in exenterative surgery”. The 2018 ACPGBI Traveling Fellow, Anil T. George (Sandwell and City West Birmingham NHS Trust) had his 2018 experience at the ASCRS Annual Scientific Meeting in Nashville, TN and two clinic stops (Cleveland Clinic, Weston, Florida and Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA) published in the May 2019 issue of Diseases of the Colon and Rectum [1]. The ASCRS Barton Hoexter Best Video Award went to Rodrigo Perez (Sao Paolo, Brazil) for “Laparoscopic lateralnode dissection for rectal cancer: See one, do one & teach one?” Of the named lectureships, the “Masters in Colorectal Surgery Lectureship” (a senior surgeon who has made a considerable contribution to the specialty and the ASCRS) was delivered by ASCRS President-elect Tracy L. Hull to honor Ian C. Lavery (both of the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA). The Harry E. Bacon lectureship, “Challenges”, was delivered by Mark Malangoni, former Associate Executive Director of the American Board of Surgery. The Ernestine Hambrick lectureship was presented by Nancy Baxter of the University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario) on the topic, “Mentoring in the #Metoo Era”. The Norman D. Nigro Research Lectureship, “Colorectal cancer in patients under the age of fifty”, was delivered by James Church (Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH). A memorial lectureship honoring ASCRS Past President Philip H. Gordon, “Colorectal cancer screening: Is 40 the new 50?”, was presented by Carol Ann Vasilevsky (both from the Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada). The 2019 Presidential Address “Personal adversity” was delivered by ASCRS President David A. Margolin (Professor and Director Colon and Rectal Surgical Research, Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, LA, USA). The business meeting saw the transition from outgoing 2018–2019 ASCRS President David A. Margolin (Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, LA, USA) to 2019–2020 ASCRS President Tracy L. Hull (Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA) (Fig. 1) with Neal H. Hyman * W. C. Cirocco [email protected]