The Irish Thoracic Society (ITS) annual conference is taking place in Derry – the firsr time it has been held outside of Belfast.
Over 300 clinical experts from across Ireland are attending the event being held in the city’s Millennium Forum and all are in agreement that patients with respiratory conditions need access to specialist and cutting edge treatment and support.
Recent developments aiming to improve such services are being discussed by the guest speaker Professor David A. Schwartz, University of Colorado who will discuss “Understanding IPF: genetics and genomic approaches.”
Professor Schwartz is an eminent world expert on this devastating and poorly understood disease.
Dr Martin Kelly, Respiratory Consultant with the Western Trust and local organiser of this year’s conference said: “It has been a pleasure to welcome my colleagues both clinicians and nursing from across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to our city.
“The work being showcased at this event reflects the very best of respiratory medicine and healthcare through the island and beyond.
“There will be over 200 presentations reflecting the high quality and innovative work taking place in research centres here also.”
He continued: “In particular, some work performed within the Trust was showcased. This includes some findings looking at the distribution of a lung condition called Sarcoidosis that seems very prevalent in the Trust area.”
Dr Kelly concluded: “This work was performed in collaboration with Dundee University. Some work examining the investigation pathways for lung cancer patients was also highlighted and outcomes from recent pulmonary rehabilitation programmes in the Trust.”