SpA Congress, Belgium

The annual International Congress on Spondyloarthritides took place in Ghent between 5 and 7 September.  This unique event brings together the world’s leading clinicians and researchers, focussing solely on the disease area of spondyloarthritis.  The congress is an important yearly event, ensuring that those working to develop better understanding of, and treatments for, spondylarthritis get the opportunity to share their work and hear from other experts in the field. 

ASIF was represented at the event by Marco Garrido-Cumbrera, who alongside Denis Poddubnyy and Victoria Narvarro-Compán (IMAS scientific committee), presented six posters from the International Map of Axial Spondyloarthritis (IMAS).  IMAS was well represented at the congress with six out of a total of 28 posters in the first poster session. 

Two posters were presented on regional differences observed in IMAS; one on the differences in clinical phenotypes and another in patient journey and healthcare utilis.

ation.  One poster looked at factors associated with poor mental health and another with factors associated with pain intensity.  A fifth poster covered the methodology and main findings of IMAS; and the final poster looked at demographic, disease and geographic elements of the diagnostic delay.

Whilst many sessions at the SpA congress were highly scientific in nature, there were several sessions that are of interest to patients and patient organisations. Felicie Constantino (France) gave a presentation on ‘severe axSpA’ and how the severity of the disease is, or could be, assessed.  We were pleased to see that, during the presentation, she used a slide from the European Map of Axial Spondyloarthritis (EMAS) to demonstrate the impact of the disease on working life.

The congress ‘clinical grand debate’ was about how people respond to treatment and whether the main treatment target should be pain or inflammation.  The motion proposed was ‘control of pain is the key outcome in SpA’, which was argued by Kurt de Vlam (Belgium).  Opposing the motion was Atul Deodhar (USA), who argued that inflammation is the key outcome measure.  He argued that, by focussing on pain, other key outcomes, including inflammation are likely to be overlooked; and that using pain reduction as the key target would be a step backwards in the management of Spondyloarthitis.

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