EAN Congress news

On 25th May 2020, the first virtual general assembly of the Resident and Research Fellow Section (RRFS) of the EAN took place. The assembly received broad participation from RRFS members who were interested in gaining insight into the annual report as well as the new Treasurer elections.

Symposium 6 shed light on the autonomic disorders in a broad range of neurological and paraphysiological conditions through either pre-clinical and clinical studies as well as novel treatment approaches.

On the first day of the congress, more than 3000 participants joined the symposium organised by EAN and IFCN-EMEAC. In the first lecture prof. Walter Paulus from Germanypresented “Entrainment of brain function: bridging transcranial electric and magnetic stimulation”. At the beginning of his lecture, he explained some essentials of transcranial electric (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic (TMS) stimulation.

Check our timelapse for a peek behind the scenes!

The EAN Headoffice has been buzzing with preparations for the Virtual Congress.

“Challenges for Women in Neurology” has been an amazing session centred on the challenges that women have to face in their careers as neurologists and researchers. The session was covered with three excellent and touching talks by Professors of Neurology and was moderated by Prof. Elena Moro and Dr. Antonella Macerollo.

The European Academy of Neurology has installed three series of named lectures. They are named after three outstanding European neurologists and are reserved for outstanding active basic and clinical scientists. The awardees are selected by the EAN.

This joint session from EAN and European Headache Federation addressed a hot topic in the headache field. The speakers mentioned the past, present and future of the acute medications and gave some clues for managing special populations, such as childhood, pregnancy and elderly patients.

The title of the RRFS Special Session of this year is “Unleash your potential with EAN”. The session was chaired by Dr. Giovanni Di Liberto, neuroimmunologist and Chair of the Resident and Research Fellow Section of the EAN. The idea behind this session is to provide some example of successful careers The title of the RRFS Special Session of this year is “Unleash your potential with EA The title of the RRFS Special Session of this year is “Unleash your potential with EAN”. The session was chaired by Dr. Giovanni Di Liberto, neuroimmunologist and Chair of the Resident and Research Fellow Section of the EAN. The idea behind this session is to provide some example of successful careers boosted by EAN fellowships and encourage RRFS members to take advantage of this great opportunity. In this session, we hosted colleagues awarded with an EAN clinical or research grants in the past years and a successful story.

This important session was held in the main auditorium and started with the lecture on “Ethical considerations during the Covid-19 pandemic” by Marco Vergano from Italy. He made a deep overview on clinical and organisational ethics for the allocations of patients in intensive care. The lecture went through strategies for scarce resources. Prioritising patients is the key point in a pandemic situation. He discussed the situation in Italy since February when the first Covid-19 case was registered and then followed the exponential increase in cases, which made Italy the most affected country by Covid-19 after China. His group has published allocation strategies for ICU resources, including triage principles and criteria. Prof Vergano gave an overview of UK well as American guidelines. Interestingly, some data showed that some patients will never completely recover after ICU admissions. Therefore, “ICU is not a panacea”. Age and associated frailty are the two most important factors in this decision-making process. Finally, the most important lessons of this time is that “tolerating uncertainty” might be the next medical revolution.

Prof. Centonze presented the first lecture on the subject of the pathophysiological basis of functional recovery in multiple sclerosis, starting with a discussion on the key role played by synaptic plasticity in recovery of function. He presented convincing data obtained by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation indicating that synaptic plasticity reserve prevents clinical disability in patients with multiple sclerosis, and that rehabilitation favours synaptic remodeling and plasticity. In the second part of his lecture, Prof Centonze demonstrated the relevant role of the activation of NMDA, cannabinoid, and dopamine receptors, and of neurotrophins in modulating synaptic plasticity to clinically compensate tissue damage in multiple sclerosis. As a result, treatments aimed at activating these receptors such as D-aspartate, phytocannabinoids, or L-dopa, may have the potential to enhance the beneficial effects of rehabilitation by favouring synaptic plasticity.

Prof. Teresinha Evangelista spoke about genetic therapy in neuromuscular disorders. She described the new genetic therapeutic approaches to the treatment of peripheral neuropathies, hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis and limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. She concluded by highlighting that gene therapies are likely irreversible, potentially providing sustained benefits but also carrying a possible risk of long-term adverse effects.

The Opening Session of the sixth EAN Congress, the first Virtual EAN Congress in our society's history, was special in more than one way. The unprecedented upheaval of the global COVID-19 pandemic affects societies across the globe and mirrors the turbulent times we all live in. EAN has made a great contribution to improve this unsettling situation by moving the 6th EAN Congress online and offering free registration to all, providing thousands of medical professionals with important access to medical education.

Symposium 1 focused on the innovative treatment approaches of inherited neuromuscular disorders with four excellent talks.

COVID-19 has swept across Europe and the world since the turn of the year, and resulted in this highly topical session being added to the virtual Congress programme 2020, as a further response to the pandemic. Reflecting the common challenges we all face, and the importance of international cooperation, this was a joint EAN/AAN session, chaired by Professor Claudio Bassetti and Professor James Stevens, the Presidents of our two Associations.