The World Scleroderma Foundation (WSF) will host the 5th Systemic Sclerosis World Congress from Feb. 15-17, 2018, in Bordeaux, France. All meeting attendees will have the opportunity to get together at the Bordeaux Congress Centre to share their knowledge and latest discoveries about systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Registration to attend the meeting is now open through Feb. 9, 2018, after which only on-site registration is possible. Early fee registration prices are applicable until Nov. 5, 2017. For more detailed information on registration fees please consult the congress’s website.

The WSF has organized and hosted the SSc World Congress since 2010. Previous congresses in Florence, Madrid, Rome, and Lisbon have promoted the gathering of clinical practitioners of different specialties, junior trainees, health professionals, and patients, giving a starting point and supporting the important journey of knowledge for systemic sclerosis.

Along with the clinical component of the meeting, the patient program has grown throughout the years, with increasing attendance and more lecture subjects.

The 2018 World Congress will continue the efforts made at previous meetings and combine hands-on workshops, lectures, oral presentations, and satellite sessions for all who devote their work to or share their lives with this disease.

Opening lectures will be presented by Daniel E. Furst, MD, the Carl M. Pearson Professor of Medicine and chairman of rheumatology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and Armando Gabrielli, MD, a professor at the Università Politecnica delle Marche in Italy. Their presentations will highlight the clinical and research progress made in SSc since the 2016 Lisbon World Congress.

The meeting’s scientific program will cover cardiac involvement and pulmonary complication in SSc; the most recent advances in SSc diagnosis and biomarker identification; and recognition of the underlying mechanism of fibrosis and its relation to SSc development and progression.

Other discussion topics will include patient follow-up strategies and treatment regimens. The first day the meeting will offer a series of hands-on clinical workshops for educational purposes.

A round-table session will discuss the most recent achievements and the vision of SSc patient registries around the world. Representatives of Eustar, Canada, Australia, Deutsches Netzwerk Sklerodermie DNSS, and the U.S. will be included.

For additional information on the 2018 Systemic Sclerosis World Congress, please visit the meeting’s website, send an email to [email protected], or contact meeting representatives by phone at +39 06 330531.