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1st Annual ILF Meeting
Summary:
The first International Lipid Forum meeting took place on November 18th, 2013. There, a group of leading Cardiologists, Endocrinologists, & Lipidologists to discussed the implications of the NIH's decision to dismiss the ATP4. Furtherm, there was a discussion on the possibility that the AHA & ACC would convert the now dismissed ATP4 as their Lipid management guidelines.
During this meeting, it was concluded that provided that the AHA & ACC continued with the plans to publish new guidelines than the majority of related medical societies in North America & globally would not endorse those guidelines. It was agreed that a coordinated platform should be developed to allow medical societies to input their recommendation for future leading guidelines.
It was projected that the best course of action would be to collaborate and present a list of coordinated alternative recommendations from those of independent American societies, to provide answers to questions that were not addressed, and to bring together other organizations & expert opinions under one banner.
2nd Annual ILF Meeting
Summary:
The second ILF meeting took place on Novemeber 21st, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
After group introductions, the mission of the International Lipid Forum (ILF) was discussed. The mission of ILF is to bring together globally recognized leaders in the field of lipids and cardiovascular disease prevention, providing a free non-competing platform to share knowledge, allowing for unbiased evaluation of the science in a nonpartisan environment, and promoting the development of alliances among experts and relevant medical societies. The ILF has both an educational and a consensus-building role. In its educational role, the ILF will create a resource of existing practice recommendations and will serve as an unbiased source of new and emerging scientific and medical knowledge, with commentary, as it becomes available. In its consensus-building role, ILF will assist and coordinate in efforts furthering a global approach to clinical practice recommendations.
The main instrument though which ILF will operate is the ILF website www.TheLipidForum.com. The Editor-in-Chief is Michael R. Jones, PhD. The advisory group was asked to visit the site and provide comments and suggestions for improvement.
The discussion then turned to the need for updated guidance on the treatment of lipid disorders. The original ATP 4 committee developed a list of 18 clinical questions that needed to be addressed in order to provide an update to the recommendations of ATP 3 and the 2004 update, which form the basis for most regional and professional society recommendations. The more limited approach of the ACC/AHA committee, which addressed only 3 of those questions, has left a substantial knowledge gap to be filled. It was agreed that ILF would attempt to close the gaps in our knowledge by addressing the other 15 clinical questions, utilizing the aggregate expertise of the advisory board. As a first step, 5 questions will be sent to advisory board members for prioritization. The board will then be asked for comments on the highest rated question. Their comments will be collated, edited if necessary, and then posted on the website. Others visiting the website will then be able to submit comments, which in turn will be collated, edited and added to the discussion. It is hoped that by employing this collective knowledge and clinical experience, consensus can be developed around certain issues, where possible, and research gaps can be identified, where consensus is not reached.
The ILF website will also provide an outlet for new educational tools. Members will be encouraged to submit educational materials (reviews, presentations, lectures, videos) that might be useful to clinicians who are treating patients with lipid disorders. From time-to-time, as new clinical information is published, the board may be asked to provide commentary. The board would be polled, leaving room for dissent, and the results would be posted as an expert take on the new information. This might invite visits from interested individuals wanting to know the consensus of the ILF board on a particular issue.
The advisory board members are encouraged to raise issues, submit questions for discussion, and suggest the various paths the ILF should pursue.
3rd Annual ILF Meeting
Summary:
Coming Soon....