Report and Abstracts of the Joint Annual Congress of the AMBQ-CAMB 2009
Authors: Gilfix Brian M 
Published: May 2017

The second joint congress of l’Association des Médicins Biochimistes du Québec (AMBQ) and the Canadian Association of Medical Biochemists (CAMB) was held this year from October 7 to 9 in Montreal. The setting was the picturesque Hôtel Place d’Armes, which is situated in the historic Old Montreal district. There were over 60 attendees comprising both Specialists and Medical residents-in-training and representing the breadth of Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The scientific committee composed of Dr. Jean. Dubé (Centre Hospitalier U. de Sherbrooke), Dr. Bernard Fruteau-de-Laclos (Centre Hospitalier AUQ), Dr. Élaine Letendre (Centre Hospitalier U. de Montreal), Dr. Bassam A. Nassar (Capital Health) and Dr. Claude Petitclerc (CHUM) arranged a series of informative and interesting scientific sessions.

Day 1 saw a training session for the medical residents conducted by Dr. Yves Giguère (Centre Hospitalier de l’U. Laval) on Prenatal Screening. A meeting of the specialty committee of the Royal College for Medical Biochemistry followed this. A major topic of this meeting was the re-alignment of the training requirements.

Day 2 began with the business meeting of the AMBQ. The scientific sessions began later that day with a session on “Pharmacotoxicology and the Role of the Laboratory” chaired by Drs. Andre Mattman (B.C. Children & Women’s Health Centre) and Bassam A. Nassar. The first speaker, Dr. Margaret Thompson (Hospital for Sick Children), in her talk “Clinical Toxicology – for the Laboratory” reviewed the role of the Ontario Poison Centre, which may serve as a model for the rest of the country. This was followed by Dr. Zulfikarali Verjee (HSC), who is clearly a master of the subject, with his talk, “Challenges in Urine Drug Screens: Ongoing Issues”. The morning session ended with Dr. Andre Mattman’s presentation “Heavy Metal Toxins – How and Why to Test in the Clinical Laboratory”.

Day 3 moderated by Dr. Élaine Letendre (CHUM) focused on risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The first speaker in the morning was Dr. Jacques Genest Jr. (McGill University Health Centre) who reviewed the new Canadian guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of dyslipidemias. He described in detail the thinking behind the new guidelines. This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Allan Jaffe (Mayo Clinic) who gave the audience a most authoritative description of the soon to be introduced fourth generation high sensitivity assays for troponins. These assays will have a marked impact on the assessment of cardiac damage perhaps even more so than the original introduction of the troponins. The afternoon featured three speakers discussing the pro and cons of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein for the assessment of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Jean Grégoire (Institut de cardiologie de Montréal) presented the pro side of the debate reviewing in particular the recent Jupiter trial. Dr. James Brophy (MUHC) presented the con side of the debate in a most entertaining manner. He even had the audience performing stretching exercises! It was left to Dr. Jean Bergeron (CHUL) to provide a balanced view of the two preceding speakers.

The last day, Day 4, was primarily dedicated to oral and poster presentations by the residents. A jury consisting of Drs. Jean Dubé (CHUS), Yves Guigère (CHUL), and Joël Girouard (CHUL) had the “difficult” task of awarding prizes to the best oral and to the best poster presentations. The winners this year were Dr. Alexis Blaass (U. de Montréal) for the oral presentation entitled “Characterization of a new LCAT mutation causing familial LCAT deficiency (FLD) and the role of APOE as a modifier gene of the FLD phenotype” and Dr. Adell Elsharif (McMaster U.) for the poster presentation entitled “Method Validation Study to Evaluate the Analytical Performance of the STAT–SITE Meter for the Measurement of Serum Beta-Hydroxybutyrate”. The scientific portion of the conference ended with a most comprehensive presentation on smoking cessation, both clinical approaches and therapeutics by Dr. Joanne Provencher (Hôpital Laval). Dr. Provencher reminded us that smoking cessation by an individual could be achieved with the correct support.

The day and the congress ended with a business meeting of the CAMB chaired by the out going president, Dr. Bassam A. Nassar. A new executive was elected: Dr. Elizabeth MacNamara (SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, president), Dr. Yves Guigère (CHUL, vice-president), Dr. Andrew Don-Wauchope (McMaster U. Health Sciences Centre, secretary-treasurer), Dr. Andre Mattman (BCCWHC, councilor), Dr. Brian M. Gilfix (MUHC, councilor), Dr. John Heathcote (Vancouver, councilor), and Dr. Datlily Ooi (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, councilor),

We all look forward to next year’s combined meeting which is again slated to take place in Montreal in October.