Altering the Structural Physiology of the Chest Wall in Patients with PND

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

4:00 PM-5:30 PM

Webinar Registration: Please click here.

BIOMED Seminar

Title:
Altering the Structural Physiology of the Chest Wall in Patients with Progressive Neuromuscular Disease (PND)

Speaker:
Oscar Henry Mayer, MD
Medical Director, Pulmonary Function Testing Laboratory
Division of Pulmonology
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania

Details:
Progressive neuromuscular disease can cause respiratory muscle weakness that can impact both the primary muscles of breathing, such as the diaphragm, and the abdominal muscles and the support muscles of the thorax, such as the intercostal muscles and the back muscles.

Progressive weakness can lead to poor support of the thorax causing contractures and a poorly compliant chest wall and ultimately can lead to poor axial muscle support of the thorax itself, causing a rotational kyphoscoliosis that can have a dramatic impact on the work of breathing and hasten the development of respiratory failure. This presentation will discuss two options for proactive intervention that can impact this progression and preserve respiratory status and function.

Biosketch:
Oscar Henry Mayer, MD, is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and an Attending Pulmonologist within the Division of Pulmonology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where he is the medical director of the CHOP Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) laboratory. For the last 18 years he has been the pulmonologist in the Neuromuscular Center and in the Center for Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome since its inception 12 years ago and directs much of the outpatient and inpatient management of these patients.

Dr. Mayer has broad clinical interests, including managing patients with chronic respiratory failure, the pulmonary manifestations of neuromuscular disease, and assessing and managing patients with complex chest wall and spine disease. He is on a number of national committees and study groups involved in pediatric pulmonary function testing, the assessment and management of children with complex thoracospinal disorders and neuromuscular disorders, on which he has lectured nationally and internationally and has published a variety of journal articles and book chapters.

Contact Information

Lisa Williams
ltw22@drexel.edu