The 6th Congress of Neurologists of R. Macedonia with international participation & II International Ohrid Meeting took place in Ohrid, R. Macedonia, from 21st-24th of September, 2016. They were organized by the University Clinic of Neurology, the League against Epilepsy and the Macedonian Neurology Society. At the opening ceremony, Dr. Igor Kuzmanovski, President of the Organizing Committee said that above 400 participants from the country and abroad have registered for the Congress and that they have an opportunity to listen to the latest scientific achievements in the diagnosis and treatment of stroke, multiple sclerosis, neuroimmunology, Parkinson’s disease and dementia. These year, the International Ohrid Meeting was dedicated to epilepsy. Afterwards, Prof. Dr. Anita Arsovska, President of the Scientific Committee has emphasized that the scientific programme of the Congress consists of invited lectures by renowned world experts in the field of neurology, workshops, plenary sessions, symposia and poster presentations. At the formal opening of the Congress, the Rector of the University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Prof. Dr. Nikola Jankulovski and Mayor of Ohrid, Dr. Nikola Bakracheski addressed the audience and greeted the participants, wishing them fruitful and successful work. The Congress began on the 21st of September with two workshops, the first one in the field of epileptology, where lecturer was Prof. Dr. Meir Bialer from Israel, who held a lecture on the topic Interaction of antiepileptic drugs. The second workshop, dedicated to Doppler sonography was chaired by Prof. Dr. Vida Demarin (Croatia) and Prof. Dr. Anita Arsovska and consisted of the following lectures: Basic principles and history of ultrasound in our region, Extracranial and transcranial color duplex sonography and Sonothrombolysis.
International Ohrid Meeting took place on the 22nd of September, chaired by Ass. Prof. Emilija Cvetkovska, with lecturers who talked on the topic Malformation of cortical development and epilepsy. The morning session started with the lectures of Prof. Dr. Meir Bialer (Israel) and Prof. Dr. Imad Najm (USA) on the topics New antiepileptic drugs and Epilepsy associated with focal cortical dysplasia, respectively. In the afternoon session, eminent lecturers from Serbia and Croatia gave talks in this subject. The plenary lecture in the field of Atypical Parkinsonism was held by Academician Vladimir Kostic (Serbia), President of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts.
On the 23rd of September two sessions devoted to cerebrovascular diseases and urgent neurological conditions took place, where experts in this field from Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Sweden had lectures on the subject: stroke in pregnancy, alteplase in the treatment of spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage, intracranial stenosis, SITS registry, non-convulsive status epilepticus, refractory and super-refractory status epilepticus. Dr. Robert Mikulik (Czech Republic) held a lecture regarding the ESO-EAST project, Veronika Svobodova (Czech Republic) had a lecture about the application of medical stimulation in stroke and Prof. Dr. Serefnur Ozturk (Turkey) talked about the thrombolytic treatment of stroke. In the afternoon, Prof. Dr. Angelo Ghezzi (Italy) held plenary lectures on the topic of highly efficacious therapy of patients with RRMS and new therapies- overview of efficacy, safety and monitoring of patients.
The 24th of September was dedicated to extrapyramidal diseases, dementia, multiple sclerosis and neurophysiology, where experienced lecturers from Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina held very interesting and educative lectures. Prof. Dr. Ioannis Evdokimidis (Greece) held a lecture on the topic Neuroimaging of memory circuits. Pharmaceutical companies (Alkaloid, Pliva, Krka, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Replekfarm, Aniva international and Medis) also participated in this Congress through their symposia. The Congress was an excellent opportunity for exchanging ideas, expanding current knowledge and establishing further collaboration with the colleagues in the field of neurology.
All participants were satisfied by the offered scientific programme, the organization of the Congress and the possibility to interact with colleagues and creating new friendships and professional collaboration.
by Prof. Dr. Anita Arsovska, University Clinic of Neurology, President of Macedonian Neurology Society