The PANLAR 2021 Congress has a rich scientific program, including discussion sessions, workshops, as well as education for physicians who do not necessarily have a specialization in Rheumatology. This is the case of GLADEL, the Latin American Group for the Study of Lupus, which is organizing two sessions this year.
One of them, held on August 15, will deal with controversies on SLE in 2021 and the title is 'Change in the paradigm in the management of lupus nephritis', with Dr. Graciela Alarcón and Guillermo Pons-Estel. Two major topics of interest will be presented, currently worldwide in the management of patients with lupus nephritis, the first one is related to diagnosis, regarding whether or not to 're-biopsy' patients with lupus nephritis after these patients have been treated and according to the evolution there is a tendency that says that this should be done and others that, due to morbimortality and costs, say that it should not be done.
Dr. Frederic Houssiau will speak in favor of the subject, with the aim of better understanding the pathological anatomy and assessing the need to continue with maintenance treatment, the need to start a new induction treatment or to interrupt it as well.
Against will be Dr. Mercedes Garcia, from Argentina, who will discuss the morbimortality of renal biopsy and why patients with lupus nephritis should not be re-biopsied according to their clinical characteristics.
And the second major debate that will take place is on the management of lupus nephritis, as to whether we are ready to abandon monotherapy with mycophenolate or cyclophosphamide for dual therapy -with two drugs for active lupus nephritis-. Dr. Richard Furie, from the United States, and Dr. Brad Rovin, also from the United States, will speak on this point.
Another workshop will be held on August 14. It will be 'Is this lupus? Education for primary care physicians in the Americas'. It is an education session on the disease with three presenters.
The first is Starla Hairston, from the United States, who belongs to the ACR and will address the knowledge of lupus and its management by primary care physicians and the experience of the American College with a program called COIN.
Guillermo Pons-Estel, from Argentina, will give a talk on the needs and opportunities we have in Latin America to improve education in this disease, with a focus on what are the needs of primary care physicians to know more about this disease and how to work on those needs to generate new opportunities in knowledge. Finally, Dr. Cristina Drenkard, who lives in the United States and is Argentinean, will present the program to improve knowledge for primary care physicians in the management of both lupus and lupus nephritis by the GLADEL Group.
