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Prof. Silke Ryan is the ERS President Elect.
Silke’s specialist research and clinical interest relates to sleep-disordered breathing. She is Consultant in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at St. Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin and Clinical Professor at University College Dublin, Ireland.
As ERS President Elect, what are you most looking forward to about this year’s ERS Congress?
The annual ERS Congress is the outstanding highlight in our Society’s calendar. It presents cutting-edge, high-quality research, provides us with the latest advances in the management of respiratory diseases and enables professionals to share best practices.
Furthermore, the ERS Congress offers an unparalleled opportunity to foster collaborations and inspire new partnerships that will drive the future of respiratory health. In my role as President Elect I am also excited to engage with our members, hear their insights, and discuss the future direction of our Society.
What in your opinion will be the hot topics for sleep-disordered breathing specialists at the ERS Congress 2024?
Humans and machines: getting the balance right
Throughout the programme, the underlying theme of the Congress is consistently present and highlighted, reflecting the enormous importance of this topic and interest in all areas of respiratory medicine – including in my own field of sleep-disordered breathing. We can look forward to numerous presentations of the opportunities that novel digital technologies can provide for our day-to-day practice and how those can be integrated to improve management of our patients. We will also learn of the risks of such technologies. The effect on patient-doctor relationships, ethical considerations, potential for inequities, and ‘getting the balance right’ will be discussed right through the Congress.
Digital innovations in the diagnosis of sleep apnoea
The current diagnostic approach of obstructive sleep apnoea incorporating a resource- and time-intensive, manually scored sleep study, with the focus on the apnoea/hypopnoea index (AHI) as severity marker, is unable to meet increasing demand. The AHI poorly correlates with symptom burden and clinical outcomes. Novel diagnostic tools including AI and machine learning techniques have the potential to identify better markers, translating to personalised patient care. In line with the Congress theme, we will hear the latest innovations in this field.
Personalised medicine for OSA
Targeted and personalised treatment approaches for the highly prevalent and heterogeneous condition of OSA are urgently required. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is highly efficient in reducing sleep-disordered breathing but its benefit on various outcome parameters, particularly cardiovascular diseases, is highly variable. Defining populations who benefit most from CPAP or other treatment approaches is one of the top research priorities in the field.
Please tell us your top three picks from the Congress programme and explain why?
With the diverse range of excellent sessions and workshops, it is certainly not easy to highlight some topics over others. I would like to draw, however, particular attention to the following:
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Well, I simply cannot wait for the Congress to start! It will be an invaluable opportunity to gain new insights, enhance clinical skills, explore the latest technologies and thus greatly contribute to the advancement of respiratory health. Furthermore, the beautiful and vibrant city of Vienna provides the ideal location to host our Congress and I have no doubt that the event will be a great success!