Last weekend, I attended an academic conference where I not only met old friends, but also listened to a lot of meaningful lessons and gained some new perspectives. At this meeting, I met Dr. Wang of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, who I had introduced in an article on my previous public account that she and her team had diagnosed a difficult case of pulmonary hypertension. I've always been curious about how they diagnosed the extremely rare cases that currently have only 5 cases in the world, and she told me that they had not figured out what the problem was in the first few years, and then once attended an academic conference, at which I heard a lecture from the Shanghai Children's Medical Center, which had a case that was very similar to this patient's condition, so I took the initiative to find the doctor here, exchanged ideas, and finally diagnosed the case with the help of the pediatrician.
Every time I attend a large academic conference, such as the National Respiratory Annual Conference, I often go to the venue of some relatively unnoticed disciplines, such as interstitial lung disease and pulmonary vascular disease, and also share some cases. Listening to the thoughts and opinions of relevant professionals in these meetings can often be enlightening and reflect on the cases we have treated ourselves. There are many times when it is difficult to diagnose diseases that you have never encountered before, but if you know or even only hear about them, then when you first encounter such a disease yourself, at least where do you look for such literature. In the process of this academic exchange, we will continuously improve our understanding, improve the level of diagnosis and treatment, and then return to specific work to benefit patients.
In the process of academic conference exchanges, we must also have the courage to take the initiative to contact and discuss with peers. At a national academic conference in 2015, I took the initiative to communicate with an expert on lung interstitial diseases in a well-known hospital across the country, but I did not expect that we were alumni (her undergraduate and my graduate school were the same school), which suddenly brought us closer. Later, she was invited to give lectures and exchanges with the National Committee of the same department (through her invitation). In my communication with her, I learned that the cause of diffuse cystic degeneration in the lungs was lung light chain deposition, and it was also the first from her to know the myositis spectrum to help diagnose myositis-related interstitial diseases and related treatments; it was also from her that inflammatory myofibroblastoma was also an IgG4-related disease.
Of course, because the experts are very busy, we must pay attention to efficiency in the process of communication, that is, you can't take a few CTs, and then verbally introduce the medical history and test results to seek the help of experts. It should be prepared to make the patient's situation into a PPT, and it is simple and clear, so that people can understand the situation of difficult patients in the shortest possible time, so as to help get real guidance and help. At the same time, take the initiative to obtain contact information from experts. Of course, this can not be forced, after all, the expert himself is very busy, does not want to be easily disturbed, and is asked to ask for help may take a certain risk, so this situation depends on fate and sincerity.