ABOUT AABIP
Welcome to the home site of the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology!
AABIP was founded in 1992-1993 with the primary goal to foster excellence in Bronchology and other Interventional Pulmonology related areas. The AABIP has grown over the last decade and has brought together a large number of physicians with strong interests in Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. More importantly, it has established international contacts with Bronchologists and Interventional Pulmonologists contributing to patient care in nearly every country in the world. We hope that your visit to this website will stimulate your interest in Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. Our goal is to make your visit an interesting and stimulating experience! We encourage contact with our visitors and hope that you will join the ranks of our growing membership. If you are already a member, we hope this visit will prove useful to your bronchological and interventional pulmonology practice.
Dr. Daniel H. Sterman at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is the new President of the AABIP (read his message here), David J. Feller-Kopman at Johns-Hopkins Hospital is the current President-Elect, and Momen M. Wahidi at Duke University Medical Center is serving as Secretary-Treasurer of our organization. Along with the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, we will work hard to assure that membership in the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology is a worth-while experience for physicians with interests in Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. We seek input from members and non-members, and would be happy to hear from anyone who would like to contribute to our organization.
Membership in the AABIP is not just for physicians. We have a very enthusiastic Affiliate’s Forum made up of nurses and respiratory therapists who are involved in pulmonary interventional procedures. We also offer reduced rate membership for fellows and residents.
The Journal of Bronchology & Interventional Pulmonology is the official journal of the AABIP and is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Dr. Udaya B.S. Prakash was the first editor of the JOBIP and the founding president of the AAB. Atul C. Mehta, M.B.B.S., is the current editor of the journal. Dr. Mehta is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. He is a Staff Physician in the Respiratory Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. David J. Feller-Kopman also serves as the Associate Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
We encourage you to support the journal by submitting articles that would be of interest to other colleagues and members. The “Instructions for Authors” are located on website below.
Submit manuscripts online at www.bronchology.com or send to:
Atul C. Mehta M.B.B.S.
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Bronchology &
Interventional Pulmonology
9500 Euclid Avenue – A90
Cleveland, OH, USA 44195
The annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology will be held on Saturday, October 20, 2012 during CHEST 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. The agenda for this meeting will be posted under Upcoming Events. The annual business meeting for the AABIP is held after the lunch break at the Scientific Meeting. All members are encouraged to attend the business meeting as well as the wine and cheese reception at the end of this special 1-day scientific meeting. The officers encourage input from the membership regarding future programs and the mission of the AABIP.
The 17th World Congress for Bronchology (WCB) and 17th World Congress for Bronchoesophagology (WCBE) will be held on June 15-18, 2012. Start planning now to attend!
Upcoming meetings and courses are posted on the web site. Please keep us informed of other courses.
Current fellowship programs in interventional pulmonology are also listed on this web site. Those interested in IP fellowships should contact the various program directors directly.
Keep in touch with the AABIP website. A Members-only section and an interesting Case Forum has been created under the leadership of Dr. George A. Eapen.
The Revolution is Here…Long Live the Revolution
Daniel H. Sterman, M.D.
President, American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (AABIP)
Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery
Chief, Section of Interventional Pulmonology and Thoracic Oncology
University of Pennsylvania Medical Center
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Daniel.sterman@uphs.upenn.edu
Remarkable changes have occurred in Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology over the past several years. The initial revolution was the general introduction of endobronchial ultrasonography (EBUS) almost 10 years ago. [1] This novel technology changed the way pulmonologists and thoracic surgeons diagnose and stage lung cancer, and also opened up access to a host of mediastinal and hilar abnormalities to safe and cost-effective means of sampling. EBUS has since spread from a few high-volume bronchoscopy programs to community hospitals with tremendous benefit to the patient, aided by concerted efforts by industry, centers of excellence and Pulmonary societies to provide high-quality training to foster the adoption of this new technology.
In 2011, however, the bronchoscopist was being asked to do more than just obtain a cancer diagnosis or to access lymph nodes for staging. We are increasingly asked to be able to obtain sufficient material from primary lesions and lymph nodes to send for molecular testing. This new area of interest is driven by the development of molecular targeted therapies for lung cancer such as Erlotinib and Crizotinib, which require documentation of the presence of a mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or a gene rearrangement in the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) fusion protein. [2,3]
It is anticipated that – in the not-too distant future -- many more genetic mutations in lung cancer will be identified, with new targeted agents being developed, such as those for k-RAS mutations. It is also likely that bronchoscopists will be asked even more than currently to perform repeat bronchoscopy on patients already diagnosed and staged, who have progressive lesions, to identify whether they have mutations that can be targeted with approved or experimental targeted agents. It will be common in the future to perform an initial bronchoscopy with EBUS needle aspiration for diagnosis and staging, and then repeated sampling of tumor over the course of therapy to assess for the evolution of the molecular abnormalities and to help guide therapy. This is true not only for the application of novel molecular agents, but also for determination of sensitivity to standard chemotherapy agents such as Cisplatin and Gemcitabine.
Not only will these additional tasks dramatically increase the potential number of procedures for the bronchoscopist, but they elicit new challenges that were previously of minimal concern, such as the proper apportionment of cytology materials for immunohistochemical diagnosis and for molecular analysis. More importantly, however, the new imperative for mutation analysis brings Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology fully into the age of molecular genetics. No longer will it be sufficient for bronchoscopists to be superb proceduralists and clinicians; it is now of paramount importance for all physicians caring for patients with a known or putative diagnosis of a thoracic malignancy to have a working knowledge of the molecular pathways that engendered and/or perpetuate these neoplasms. In other words, we all need to go back and become - to some degree - scientists as well.
Ultimately, bronchoscopists may be asked to deliver targeted therapies in a targeted fashion – i.e. delivery of molecularly-targeted agents to both primary lesions and lymph nodes using the technological advance of EBUS. The era of molecular diagnostics is also rapidly spreading to evaluation of the indeterminate pulmonary nodule, particularly with screening programs that detect small peripheral nodules in patients who have an intermediate risk of lung cancer. We are not too far away from the routine clinical use of unique multi-gene signatures identified on material obtained from bronchial brushings to guide decisions in whether to resect or observe nodules detected on screening. [4]
It is a thrilling time to be involved in Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology with dramatic changes being seen on a monthly both in the realms of endoscopic technology and in the adjunctive clinical science. The American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (AABIP) is fully committed to take a prominent role in the development of this new hybrid approach, and to training the clinical and scientific leaders of this new revolution in the care and management of patients with thoracic malignancies.
References
- Herth FJ, Rabe KF, Gasparini S, et al. Transbronchial and transoesophageal (ultrasound-guided) needle aspirations for the analysis of mediastinal lesions. Eur Respir J 2006; 28:1264-1275.
- Kwak EL, Bang YJ, Camidge DR, Shaw AT, Solomon B, Maki RG, Ou SH, Dezube BJ, Jänne PA, Costa DB, Varella-Garcia M, Kim WH, Lynch TJ, Fidias P, Stubbs H, Engelman JA, Sequist LV, Tan W, Gandhi L, Mino-Kenudson M, Wei GC, Shreeve SM, Ratain MJ, Settleman J, Christensen JG, Haber DA, Wilner K, Salgia R, Shapiro GI, Clark JW, Iafrate AJ. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibition in non-small-cell lung cancer. N Engl J Med. 2010 Oct 28;363(18):1693-703.
- Santis G, Angell R, Nickless G, Quinn A, Herbert A, Cane P, Spicer J, Breen R, McLean E, Tobal K. Screening for EGFR and KRAS mutations in endobronchial ultrasound derived transbronchial needle aspirates in non-small cell lung cancer using COLD-PCR. PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e25191. Epub 2011 Sep 19.
- Spira A, Beane JE, Shah V, Steiling K, Liu G, Schembri F, Gilman S, Dumas YM, Calner P, Sebastiani P, Sridhar S, Beamis J, Lamb C, Anderson T, Gerry N, Keane J, Lenburg ME, Brody JS. Airway epithelial gene expression in the diagnostic evaluation of smokers with suspect lung cancer. Nat Med. 2007 Mar;13(3):361-6. Epub 2007 Mar 4.
Daniel H. Sterman
President, AABIP
Associate Professor of Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine in Surgery Chief,
Section of Interventional Pulmonology and Thoracic Oncology
Pulmonary, Allergy, & Critical Care Division
University of Pennsylvania Medical Center
daniel.sterman@uphs.upenn.edu
