An Analysis of the Origins, Subjects, and Awards Received for Presentations at the Annual IASG Conferences (2009-2013).

s presented at scientific meetings are important for making ongoing research more widely known and may also reflect the quality of the parent institution's standard of patient care. We analyzed the abstracts presented at the annual meetings of IASG for the past 5 years for (i) medium of presentation (oral/poster/videos), (ii) subjects discussed, (iii) institution of origin, (iv) whether a prospective/ retrospective study or a case report, (v) changing trends, and (vi) awards received. Of the 1340 abstracts analyzed, there were 18.5 % oral, 74.9 % posters, and 6.5 % videos presented from 205 in 2009 to 388 in 2012. The main organs discussed were the liver (19.3 %) pancreas (18.8 %), and biliary system (14.4 %). Sixty percent was from the private sector with Sir Ganga Ram, SGRH (95) and the Apollo Hospital, New Delhi (60), being the most prolific. From public institutes, the abstracts were predominantly from PGIMER, Chandigarh (39) and GB Pant Hospital (37). Thirty-three percent was from DNB and 25 % from M.Ch GI Surgery centres and 42 % was from others (most of these were as posters). There were 1016 (75.8 %) prospective/retrospective studies and 324 (24.2 %) case reports. Presentations, especially those related to liver transplantation, showed an increase. The main awards were won by SGRH (8); AIIMS, New Delhi (7); and JIPMER, Puducherry (6). Over the last 5 years, abstracts presented at the IASG have increased in number especially those dealing with the hepato-pancreatico-biliary system and liver transplantation. Most presentations were from "academic" departments, and similar analyses may inform us where we are heading and stimulate healthy competition.