Skeletal diseases at the center of the tenth Skeletal endocrinology meeting underway in Stresa and organized by Gioseg (Glucocorticoid induced osteoporosis skeletal endocrinology group). Among the various sessions, the symposium ‘Vitamin D: a hormone replacement therapy’ stands out, an opportunity to take stock of the molecule after the recent publication of the revision of Note 96 of Aifa.
The event brings together “an extraordinary number of scientific societies, from different backgrounds, both Italian and international; speakers who are icons in the osteo-metabolic field” and who “rarely are seen all together in our country”. It also includes “sessions on frontier therapies, capable of combining everyday clinical aspects with other more niche ones, to respond to scientific and clinical interests of various kinds”. These are the main features of the 2023 edition, summarized by Andrea Giustina, head of the Endocrinology Unit of the Irccs San Raffaele hospital in Milan, full professor of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, and president of the Gioseg .
At the opening of the two days, the symposium ‘Vitamin D: a hormone replacement therapy’ fits appropriately into the current debate on the update of Note 96 which regulates the prescription of vitamin D-based drugs by the NHS), published last month by the Italian Medicines Agency. “This symposium – underlines Giustina – is an opportunity to take stock of vitamin D levels, dosage and supplementation, as well as the regulatory aspects in the light of the recent revision of Note 96”.
The meeting in Stresa then dedicates space to the theme of fractures – which has both orthopedic and osteometabolic value – and in particular to developments in the assessment of fracture risk thanks to new technologies and increasingly less invasive methodologies, reviewing the innovations on the diagnostic front. Other sessions focus on hyperparathyroidism (clinical aspects and alternative treatments to the standard one) and rare bone diseases. “Progress in this field is gigantic – explains Giustina – thanks above all to therapies aimed at the molecular defects that distinguish rare bone pathologies, diseases that until recently did not have a reference therapy”.
The two final sessions, organized in collaboration with the International Osteoporosis Foundation (Iof) and the Italian Society of Osteoporosis, Mineral Metabolism and Skeletal Diseases (Siomms), revolve respectively around bone and muscle issues and therapy for osteoporosis, with analysis of traditional and innovative drugs.