Late-breaking evokes images of television news programs with cut-ins to severe weather events, or a ticker bar in the corner of the screen with breaking news. The term has come to be associated with the news, but also in many other areas of media and communication, such as live event coverage or breaking scientific or medical news. Until the advent of 24-hour news networks, programs were usually only interrupted for high-level alerts, such as a hurricane or tornado. The development of cable and satellite TV channels allowed for a variety of break-in formats, including alert crawls and lower thirds.
As the world becomes increasingly reliant on digital media, there has been an increase in the use of computer generated news content, which has led to the term “late-breaking.” Even though a large amount of information is available online and in print, it is still important to attend scientific meetings in person for the most up-to-date research.
The Late-Breaking Abstracts program recognizes novel and critically important research developments that occur in the lead-up to International Congress. These abstracts report new data with results that became available for public dissemination only after the regular abstract submission deadline and may be submitted either in clinical or translational categories. The studies reported should be significant and impactful. They should not be primarily confirmatory or extend previous work, nor should they be designed to validate rating scales or other existing tools. The program excludes case reports and studies of small, retrospective cohorts.
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