Two sessions today will focus on actual cases that have confronted fellows and master clinicians. The first will be the “Fellows Case Conference” from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., which will be followed by “Great Cases: Clinical, Radiologic, and Pathologic Correlations by Master Clinicians.” Both will be held in the Four Seasons Ballroom 3-4 (Lower Level) Colorado Convention Center.

During the morning session, fellows will offer new insights into disease pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment. They will be given the opportunity to present cases to an expert panel of physicians who will provide a candid commentary while guiding the audience through their thought processes and decision-making.

Jennifer McCallister

“Audience participants will enjoy observing the camaraderie and candor of the members of the panel, while taking away high-yield facts about some very interesting cases. It’s an honor for the fellows to be chosen to participate in this venue, and for the audience to have the opportunity to observe such a casual approach to cases that would stump the majority of practicing clinicians,” says ATS Training Committee Chair and Fellows Case Conference Chair Jennifer McCallister, MD, associate professor of clinical internal medicine and director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program, Ohio State University, Columbus.

Planners selected six cases from 300 case reports based on quality of writing, the wide representation of diagnoses within several disciplines in pulmonary critical care medicine, and how well they would garner input from the panel. The panel comprises three pulmonary clinicians, a radiologist, and a pathologist. The panelists will offer their respective differential diagnoses until finally the fellows reveal the confirming diagnoses.

The session is sponsored by the ATS Training Committee and three assemblies—Allergy, Immunology, and Inflammation; Behavioral Science and Health Services Research; and Clinical Problems.

In the afternoon session, sponsored by the ATS Council of Chapter Representatives, fellows will present seven cases as unknowns, which were selected from 927 submissions, to a panel of master clinician, radiologist, and pathologist discussants.

Robin Gross

“The interactive Great Cases session gives attendees the opportunity to observe the thought processes of experts in clinical medicine, radiology, and pathology, and to see the collaborative process involved in generating diagnoses of unknown cases,” says ATS Council of Chapter Representatives Chair Robin Gross, MD, who is chair of the session.

Dr. Gross, associate professor of internal medicine at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, notes that the Council of Chapter Representatives helped prepare trainees or early career professionals for case presentations to the experts, who will have received minimal information about the cases prior to the session.

Challenging diagnostic questions will be posed to the audience, and responses tallied. The final diagnosis then will be presented with a brief literature review and discussion.