Abstract presentations at the Third European Airway Congress

Trends in Anaesthesia and Critical Care 12 (2017) 19

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Abstract presentations at the Third European Airway Congress

Fifty-one abstracts were presented at the Third European Airway Congress in Valencia, Spain. Researchers from around the globe presented their latest projects e this included researchers from many European countries and places as far away as Russia and Singapore. The abstract presentation sessions had a fantastic turnout with a high level of attendance and very interesting discussions, which often continued way beyond the end of the sessions. Abstract topics covered a broad range of airway management. Special cases of airway management were discussed in several case reports, such as reports about management of patients with trismus, penetrating neck injury, ankylosing spondylitis, Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome, Saethre Chotzen Syndrome, progressive supranuclear palsy, bony syngnathia, and tracheobronchial compression. One case report discussed a retropharyngeal haematoma that required embolization of the ascending pharyngeal artery after nasal intubation as a rare complication of airway management. Also, several randomized controlled trials and observational trials assessed a variety of supraglottic airway devices and videolaryngoscopes in different scenarios. Other important topics were simulation training for fibreoptic bronchoscopy, airway management of highly contagious patients with different isolation techniques, extubation strategies for patients with difficult airways, and institutional approaches to improve airway management. Important goals for abstract presentations are to give researchers a chance to present their work, to get feedback from peers to improve their current or future work and to network

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tacc.2017.01.002 2210-8440

with colleagues who are interested in similar clinical and research topics. Apart from this an important goal for abstract presentations, particularly for young researchers, is to train how to deliver a short and concise presentation. This can be quite challenging for reasons such as language barrier, nervousness, difficulty to keep time, and the difficulty to focus on the main points of the research that will “tell the story” of the project. As expected, presentation techniques varied at the EAC in Valencia. This was noticed for both the visual and the oral presentations. In general, it is recommended to use graphs, photos or other visual work that will help to bring the message across, to minimize text, to use bullet points, and to avoid full sentences in the visual presentations (posters). For the oral presentations, practice is needed to deliver a concise presentation of a research project. One very positive point about the abstract presentations in Valencia was that many young researchers were present and got the chance to present their work. Only a few abstracts were presented by the senior researchers who already have a lot of practice at presenting research at international conferences. In summary, the abstract presentations in Valencia were presented by a broad range of researchers, covered a broad range of airway-related topics, and led to very interesting discussions. Thanks to everybody who contributed to the success! Maren Kleine-Brueggeney, EAMS Section Associate Editor TACC