By Dr. Daniel Macias
The MDS-ES 2nd Summer School on Neuromodulation for Movement Disorders took place in Würzburg, Germany on September 6-8, 2018. The workshop was excellently directed by Professors Elena Moro and Jens Volkmann, with the collaboration of faculties of different countries, particularly from the Würzburg University. The course was held in a lovely and quiet building, the Burkardushaus Würzburg, in the heart of the city.
The participants came from several countries across all section of MDS. A small audience and the close personal contact with the faculties during lectures as well as coffee breaks, allowed us to obtain a theoretical and practical point of view of DBS for different movement disorders.
During the day, we were able to attend interesting lectures providing an overview of different aspects of DBS surgery for Parkinson’s disease, dystonia or tremor patients. The origin of the neuromodulation on neurology, an update of the mechanism of action of DBS and basics of stereotactic surgery were explained. We heard about the patient and target selection on DBS and we learned from expert faculties the long-term follow-up problems that appear in these patients. Different approaches to these problems were explained, giving the students a good opportunity to better understand how to manage them. Additionally, interesting and practical lectures about intraoperative microrecording or different types of leads and devices completed the program for this course.
In the afternoons, during the interactive workshops with patients treated with DBS we discussed with faculties how to select the target, program and patient follow-ups. Then, students saw interesting updates of neuroimaging and directional DBS lead application in clinical practice. Finally, to complete our experience in this Summer School, students presented their own case in an amusing video round over dinner which ended in constructive discussions amongst the international attendees.
We were also able to visit and enjoy the nice city center and Old Bridge with a glass of white wine, typical of Würzburg.
On behalf of all the participants, we would like to thank the course Directors and all Faculty:
Laura Cif (Montpellier, France); Andreas Horn (Berlin, Germany); Andrea Kühn (Berlin, Germany); Martin Reich (Würzburg, Germany); Frank Steigerwald (Würzburg, Germany); Francesc Valldeoriola (Barcelona, Spain); Ines Debove (Bern, Switzerland); Ioannis Isaias (Würzburg, Germany); Cordula Matthies (Würzburg, Germany); Inger Marie Skogseid (Olso, Norway); Lars Timmermann (Marburg, Germany) and Chi Wang Ip (Würzburg, Germany).
They created interesting and constructive workshops and allowed us to improve our knowledge in the field of neuromodulation for movement disorders.
Dr. Daniel Macias, Seville, Spain.
