• Abstract and roundtable submissions
• Results from the 2014 Committee and International Advisory Board elections
• Upcoming webinar: “A Practical Guide to Pain Management with Mesh Implantation” on February 1, 2014
• Survey: management of stress urinary incontinence after failed synthetic midurethral sling
• Now taking pre-orders for the IUGA Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Anatomical and Surgical patient education chart

Abstract and roundtable* submissions for the 2014 AUGS/IUGA Joint Scientific Meeting are open. The deadlines for submission are listed below along with links to submit and get more information.

Roundtables—February 1, 2014 Click here for more information about roundtable submissions.
Abstracts – February 3, 2014  Click here for more information about abstract submissions. 

*The roundtables are the same format as IUGA Meet the Expert sessions at previous annual meetings.

Please note that due to time constraints, there will be no extensions granted for abstracts submissions. The deadlines listed above are final. Please send all questions to office@iuga.org.

Visit www.augs-iuga2014.org for more information about the 2014 meeting.

The results of the 2014 Committee and IAB elections are below. Congratulations to the highlighted individuals who have been elected to serve on the IUGA International Advisory Board or an IUGA Committee. Thank you to all the members who voted over the past month in the elections; and a special thank you to the nominees for your continued support of IUGA.

Please be advised that the results will be posted on the IUGA website. Those highlighted in yellow won the related position.

On February 1 (February 2 in Asia and Oceania) IUGA will offer the last installment of a three part mesh webinar series.  This event will begin at 9pm Greenwich Mean Time.  To see the time difference between your local time and that time, please consult: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

This session will focus on the management of mesh-related pain and implantation.  It will feature the following speakers and topics:

Moderator – Fred Milani (Netherlands)

Sohier Elneil (London, UK)
                  Background and anatomical issues of pain
                  Management of mesh related pain

Helena Frawley (Melbourne, Australia)
                  Management of pelvic pain from a physiotherapist’s point-of-view

Mariëlla Withagen (Netherlands)
                  An approach developed in the Netherlands on how to manage patient complaints

NOTE: If you think you will attend this webinar, it is strongly advised that you visit the IUGA website at: http://www.iuga.org/?page=webinar before the webinar and review the webinar tools that are posted.  This webinar will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.  Information regarding connecting to the webinar will be distributed to members a couple of days before the event.

To view a recording of parts 1 and 2 of the mesh webinar series, click here and find the section at the top labeled “Previously Recorded Webinars”. The recordings are available to members only. If you are not already logged-in to the IUGA web site, you will be prompted to log-in.

Dear Member,

We are writing to request your help with an important project. We are conducting a survey of IUGA members about management of recurrent / persistent stress urinary incontinence after a failed synthetic midurethral sling. To our knowledge, practice varies widely as there is no robust evidence in the literature.

We would like therefore to invite you to participate in this brief web survey. This should take no more than 10 minutes to complete and can be accessed by clicking the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/13RSUIFMUSIG

Your answers will be anonymous and completely confidential. The results of the survey will be reported in a summary format, so no one will link you to your responses.

Thank you in advance for your participation. 

Dr Ilias Giarenis, MD, MRCOG
Department of Urogynaecology
King's College Hospital, London, UK

At the IUGA Annual Meeting in Dublin, IUGA announced and showcased a new and informative Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Anatomical & Surgical Chart as a tool for physicians to use to help educate their patients about the various types of PFD and their treatments. It’s an 8.5 x 14” full color chart and stand and contains images created by a medical illustrator. The chart is in the final stages of production and IUGA is pleased to announce it is taking pre-orders on its online store web site. All items ordered during the pre-order time frame will be shipped when the flip charts arrive in late January/early February. To view some of the flip chart’s content, please click here.

IUGA would like to thank Boston Scientific for its generous unrestricted grant in support of printing this visual aid.