Meeting highlights of the European Respiratory Society annual congress 02-06 September 2006, Munich, Germany.

In pulmonary medicine, there are two major international meetings held annually: the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), and that of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). The 2006 ERS Annual Congress was held in Munich, Germany. Both meetings provide an annual forum for scientists and clinical investigators from academia, non-university institutions (including private practices) and pharmaceutical companies to share information on many aspects of pulmonary and critical-care medicine, sleep disorders, pulmonary infectious diseases, malignancies of the chest, and numerous aspects of diagnostic and interventional procedures in these fields. With > 5000 abstracts and ~ 17,000 participants, the 2006 ERS-congress outnumbered even the 2006 ATS meeting. Research areas covered all aspects of pulmonary diseases, although this year (as in previous years) obstructive pulmonary diseases such as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and asthma were clearly the main focus.