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A letter from Elena Moro as new Secretary General

It is with great pride and gratitude that we thank everyone who took part in the 6th Annual Congress of the European Academy of Neurology last week. This was the first ever EAN Virtual Congress and truly a pioneering event in terms of neurology and academic conferences more widely.

For June 2020, we have selected: Mao L. et al. Neurologic Manifestations of Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China JAMA

The best starting point to characterize Austria is with history. Our small country is deeply rooted in the history of the Habsburg Empire, but at the same time Austria has been a spearhead in modernism of the 20th century, and it is one of the most developed social welfare states in today’s world.

The 6th Annual Congress of the European Academy of Neurology and first Virtual Congress was a record-breaking event, with more than 42,502 registered participants. This makes it the biggest neurology event in history! With more than 5,233 days of combined… Continue Reading

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.

“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 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.

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.

Despite some positive slowing of new cases and deaths in some countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has infected until today over 3.5 million people, leading to more than 250,000 deaths across the globe. Without a doubt, the crisis sparked by this pandemic has also wreaked havoc on healthcare systems and economies while causing massive disruption to the everyday lives of people around the world.

For May 2020, we have selected: Lechien JR, Chiesa-Estomba CM, De Siati DR et al. Olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions as a clinical presentation of mild‑to‑moderate forms of the coronavirus disease (COVID‑19): a multicenter European study.

France is a country of tradition and innovation: France was a pioneer country in Neurology since the 19th century, with seminal clinical and pathological description of many neurological diseases by Charcot (1825-1893) in Salpêtriere hospital in Paris and his colleagues, illustrated by the famous painting by Brouillet “a clinical lesson at the Salpêtriere”.

Covid-19 has affected over 500,000 people and caused over 21,000 deaths. People from all over the world are making great sacrifices, from social distancing to sustaining economic loss. Healthcare workers are on the frontline, and neurologists are increasingly involved as well.

In these troubled times, our Paper of the Month for April is: Grasselli G, Pesenti A, Cecconi M. Critical care utilization for the Covid-19 outbreak in Lombardy, Italy: Early experience and forecast during an emergency response.