from the editor

30th Anniversary Celebrations

By Sean Flack, MBChB, FCA
SPA News Editor

Welcome to this fall edition of SPA News, published just in time for our annual meeting in Chicago on October 21. If your calendar allows and you haven’t registered yet, it’s not too late! Dr. Christina Diaz and her organizing team have prepared an excellent program to celebrate our society’s 30th anniversary. As well as an outstanding educational program, you can join fellow members for an evening celebration at the Adler Planetarium! Read more about what you’ll be missing in Dr. Diaz’s article in the newsletter.

This edition of the newsletter has a number of excellent educational articles that I hope members will find useful and instructional. Dr. Elizabeth Yun has prepared a nice summary of recent pediatric articles from the journal Anesthesiology. Drs. Franklin Chiao and Boyoun Jung describe the quadratus lumborum block for us. Also known as a posterior TAP block, this is a very useful technique for truncal surgeries that is effective and easily performed. At my institution, our surgeons have been sufficiently persuaded by the efficacy of this block that they now insist on them for all iliac crest bone grafts. Drs. Jared Hylton and Dean Laochamroonvorapongse describe the mucopolysaccharidoses, their clinical features as well as considerations for the anesthetic and perioperative care of these complex patients. Finally, Dr. Manon Haché provides an update from Wake Up Safe and provides a number of best practice recommendations that I encourage everyone to read and implement in your home department.

I look forward to meeting up with many of you in Chicago soon! If you are interested in contributing to the newsletter or assisting with the society’s website, or have other interests related to communication, I invite and encourage you to join the communications committee meeting on Saturday, October 22, 9-10am in the Mississippi room at the Sheraton Grand Chicago.