More than 1300 speakers and 950 Sessions Chairs and Coordinators will bring the scientific programme to life during the five-day duration of the ERS 2010 Annual Congress. The vast array of knowledge on offer day-by-day includes:

Symposia, classic scientific sessions ♦ Hot Topics, sessions targeting current news ♦ Grand Rounds, interactive sessions during which cases are presented and the audience is challenged to make a diagnosis ♦ Clinical Trial sessions, with the results of recently completed clinical trials presented for the first time ♦ Practical workshops, where delegates can acquire hands-on knowledge of medical equipment  presented by industry in a relaxed but nonetheless pedagogic atmosphere ♦ Postgraduate courses and Meet-the-Professor sessions. (Register when registering for Congress – supplementary fees apply).

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Grand Rounds

Eight Ground Rounds are programmed, three of which will take place on 19 September: the Pneumology Grand Round; the Ethical Grand Round, focusing on end-of-life decisions and targeting not only medical practitioners but social workers, psychologists and members of the clergy; and the Infectious Diseases Grand Round.

Monday 20 September will see a further three, the Clinical Grand Round, featuring four case studies with distinct problems of diagnosis and treatment, and the Occupational Grand Round, providing information on the diagnostic developments and the diverse diseases covered by the term occupational asthma.

The third, the Thoracic Oncology Grand Round, covers the practical aspects for the management of patients with thoracic malignancies.

The Imaging Grand Round on 21 September focuses on characteristic imaging findings in patients with infectious diseases based on the individual history and imaging strategies for different patient populations.

On the same day, the Paediatric Grand Round seeks to engage the audience in discussions about best clinical care and diagnostic procedures based on case studies of paediatric patients and difficult clinical questions.

Hot Topics

Hot Topics start on 19 September with a session looking at ‘Interleukin-17 cytokines and Th17 cells in human lung disease’, with the aim of understanding their clinical relevance, identifying the critical “blind spots” and inspiring new research.

On the same day, following the Yernault Lecture [Link to week 19, Yenault Lecture to focus on ‘the ventilatory “efficiency” issue’] a Hot Topic session is set to focus on exercise testing, notably issues such as gas exchange, new measurement techniques and why COPD patients stop exercising.

In the afternoon, a ‘Paediatric Year in Review’ session looks at clinically relevant news in four important areas of lung diseases in children including H1N1 infection. In parallel, sessions are scheduled on ‘Airway sensation: the emerging role of the transient receptor potential (TRP) channels’ and the ‘Frontiers in sarcoidosis research’.

The programme for 20 September comprises four Hot Topic Sessions, ‘Bronchiolitis: an old disease with still many open questions’, covering issues such as infants with bronchiolitis who need ventilatory support; a Scientific Year in Review; Clinical reviews of the ERS's 20th Anniversary Year: COPD, smoking cessation, tuberculosis and noninvasive ventilation; and ‘Effective tobacco fighting: international, national and individual approaches’.

Tuesday 21 September will see sessions on ‘Advances on breath monitoring of inflammatory airway disease’; further ‘Clinical reviews of the ERS's 20th Anniversary Year: asthma, lung cancer, interstitial lung disease and pulmonary hypertension’; as well as a session that asks the question ‘Fat tissue and pulmonary diseases: a new link?’.

A session in the afternoon ‘Donation after Cardiac Death (DCD) donors for lung transplantation’, looks at nonheart-beating lung donation in the light of the world shortage of donors. In parallel, a session on ‘Mesothelioma and engineered nanotubes: cause for concern?’ will look at the evidence supporting the hypothesis that carbon nanotubes have a similar potential to amphibole asbestos to induce pulmonary mesothelioma, including possible mechanisms of action.

Two sessions scheduled on the last day of Congress, 22 September, focus respectively on ‘New advances in the use of lasers for treatment’ and ‘Monitoring chronic respiratory diseases in Europe: what we know, new challenges and new opportunities’.

The former outlines the latest developments in the field and their potential application in the daily management of lung cancer patients. The latter reviews what developments are required to assess the burden of asthma and COPD, presents the protocol and discusses the methodological issues of the IMCA-Respiratory Health Survey in the Elderly and identifies and discusses the new opportunities and priorities for setting up a monitoring system for chronic diseases in Europe.