Abstract
On behalf of the Program Committee, we are delighted to welcome you and your guests to our American Thyroid Association (ATA) Satellite Symposium entitled Personalized Approach to Thyroid Disorders. As always, the program committee has strived to put together a dynamic, comprehensive, and clinically relevant program that this year focuses on individualized treatment of benign and malignant thyroid conditions. We are incredibly fortunate to feature the presence of world-renowned speakers and we anticipate exciting heated debates during our panel sessions.
Goals of the Program
The management of thyroid disorders is becoming increasingly complex as clinicians and patients strive to develop individualized diagnostic and therapeutic strategies designed to balance evidence-based medicine with patient-specific characteristics and rising health care costs, while also attempting to achieve excellent clinical outcomes. The ATA guidelines have provided much needed frameworks to develop a rationale and evidence-based approach to the management of the disease of the individual patient. By way of example, varying reference ranges according to sex, age, race/ethnicity, and body mass index in pregnant and nonpregnant populations have caused physicians to re-evaluate traditional therapeutic approaches to include alternative algorithms that fit the specific population they treat. Similarly, the risk-adapted information provided by long-term studies and new developments in the molecular characterization of tumors have allowed patients to consider lobectomies and even active surveillance strategies that deviate from the traditional recommendation of total thyroidectomy. Through a combination of lectures, panel discussions, and case-based presentations, we will examine the most important, and sometimes controversial management issues faced by clinicians across the full spectrum of thyroid disorders.
Meeting Highlights
This year, Dr. Tim Korevaar, Chair of the International Consortium on Thyroid and Pregnancy, will present advances in the field of thyroid hormone reference ranges in pregnant women according to race/ethnicity and body mass index. He will discuss the evidence available on treatment indications based on thyroid autoimmunity and highlight recent developments in newborn outcomes. The hypothyroidism section will be composed of three top-notch experts: Drs. Douglas Forrest, Rebecca Sippel, and Cari Meinhold Kitahara. Dr. Douglas Forrest will discuss thyroid hormone resistance syndromes, signaling, and peripheral conversion of thyroid hormone providing the molecular underpinning of the remarkable variability in the clinical manifestations of thyroid disorders. Dr. Rebecca Sippel will describe surgical strategies to improve quality of life in autoimmune thyroid disease, and Dr. Anne Cappola will shed light on combination therapies with triiodothyronine and desiccated thyroid extracts. Based on her intriguing findings on a recent The Journal of the American Medical Association publication, Dr. Cari Meinhold Kitahara will present her results on the association of radioactive iodine treatment for benign thyroid disease with increased risk of secondary malignancies. Dr. Sarah Oltmann will describe current indications for a surgical approach in thyrotoxicosis and Dr. Susan Pitt will demonstrate the application of decision aids and other tools to help personalize the treatment of hyperthyroid conditions. The section dedicated to benign pathologies of the thyroid will conclude with a panel discussion of cases geared to underlining patients' individual risks and preferences and how to best approach their condition.
The second part of the meeting will be focused on the personalized treatment of thyroid cancer. Drs. Patrick Ha, Reese Randle, and Jennifer Sipos will help recognize the utility of molecular testing in combination with ultrasound features for thyroid nodules and low-risk thyroid cancers. Drs. Masha Livhits and Mabel Ryder will concentrate on the individualized management of advanced thyroid cancer. A panel of case discussions will be moderated by Dr. Maria Papaleontiou.
Learning Objectives
We expect that after attending this symposium, participants will have a better understanding of the demographic factors that impact thyroid hormone reference ranges during pregnancy and when to treat this population. We predict that clinicians will better understand challenging scenarios in the treatment of thyrotoxicosis and hypothyroidism. We anticipate that the audience will gain confidence and tailor diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for patients with low-risk as well as advanced thyroid cancer.
CME and MOC Credits Available
The ATA Spring Satellite Symposium offers continuing education accreditation. Additional details regarding accreditation will be posted to the ATA Spring Satellite Symposium website as available and updated at
Join Us
We look forward to having you join us for the ATA Spring Satellite Symposium and cannot wait to share this exciting program with you.
Please visit the Spring Satellite Symposium website to view the meeting agenda and all available event details at
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
Spring Satellite Symposium Program Committee members: Laura Boucai, Co-Chair; Francesco S. Celi, Co-Chair; Ramona Dadu; Douglas Forrest; Joanna Klubo-Gwiezdzinska; Peter Kopp; Maria Papaleontiou; Luca Persani; Wendy Sacks; and Rebecca Sippel. Martha Zeiger, ATA Board Liaison. Adonia Calhoun Coates, ATA Staff Liaison.