Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We are pleased to present the Society’s 14th Newsletter.
The European Society of Neurosonology and Cerebral Hemodynamics (ESNCH) as the world’s largest society in the field of neurosonology and cerebral hemodynamics is very vital and continues to promote scientific research, education and training; in September 2010, Professor Vida Demarin organized the 2nd International Neurosonology Training Course of the ESNCH in the marvellous city of Dubrovnik (Croatia), on the Adriatic coast. Over fifty attendees from all around the world had the privilege to participate in lectures and discussions held by world’s leaders in the field of neurosonology. It was a great opportunity for young colleagues to better their skills with the help of our very qualified trainers. The course was held over three full days, with lectures and hands-on sessions; diverse topics were discussed, starting from basic neurosonology to diagnosing complex neurological pathology by means of ultrasound. More enthusiastic participants were able to test their knowledge by taking the ESNCH/NSRG certification exam, and become certified teachers.
In March, Prof. G. Meneghetti and C. Baracchini of the Department of Neurological Sciences of the University of Padua organized a practical Course and an International Symposium on Sickle Cell Disease with the participation of many neuro-pediatricians and neurosonologists expert in pediatric vascular diseases. Prof. RJ Adams, a pioneer in this field, was one of the invited speakers; the President of our Society, Prof. L. Csiba, gave an active contribution for the success of this event.
The ESNCH also supports the Summer School in Neurosonology, a three-day course that is held yearly at the end of June in Zadar (Croatia) and is very well organized by Professors Branko Malojcic and Zsolt Garami. It was established in 2009 as a yearly meeting of stroke neurologists with special interest in neurosonology. Although initially planned as a collaboration between the Department of Neurology of the University Hospital in Zagreb and the Methodist De Bakey Heart and Vascular Center in Houston, it evolved into an international program involving experts in neurosonology, stroke neurology, interventional radiology and vascular surgery from Croatia, Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Along with the increase of faculty members, the number of participants has also significantly increased from 40 in 2009 to 78 in 2010. The main focus of Zadar Summer School of Neurosonology is constantly improving the methods of the transfer of knowledge and experience: hands-on sessions were the strength of the 1st edition, in the 2nd it was a multidisciplinary approach, and the 3rd will have the emphasis on case reports, keeping all the best experiences from previous years. Not least important, social events are fully provided for all participants giving them the opportunity to meet and discuss their questions with the experts in a more unofficial atmosphere. For more info: www.neurosonoinzadar.org
Our Society continues to cooperate very successfully with the European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS): next September, within the 15th EFNS Congress in Budapest (Hungary) http://www.2.kenes.com/efns/pages/home.aspx, there will be a Neurosonology course held by our faculty. Similarly, in cooperation with the organizing committee of the European Stroke Conference (ESC), after the great success we had last year in Barcelona (Spain), we have organized a teaching course for the upcoming 20th ESC in Hamburg (Germany) www.eurostroke.org
This year the pivotal event of our Society will be the 16th Meeting of the ESNCH that will take place in Munich (Germany) from the 20th to the 23rd of May 2011. Munich represents a special city for our Society because it was the site of the very first meeting of the ESNCH. The President of that meeting was Prof. Klingelhöfer, currently our webmaster, while the scientific secretary of the meeting was Prof. Eva Bartels, who will this time be the Conference Chairperson. For those who would like to test their sonographic knowledge, the examination for the “International Certification for Neurosonology” will be offered during the meeting. For all details, you can visit the meeting website: www.neurosonology2011.de
The ESNCH encourages all members to actively support implementation of ultrasound in local stroke programs and to send to our webmaster, Prof. J. Klingelhöfer (neurologie@skc.de), announcements of upcoming events and conference reports for publication on our website: www.esnch.org
We ask all our members to send their e-mail address to our treasurer Matthias.Sturzenegger@insel.ch and to our secretary mailto:claudiobaracchini@tin.it in order to be kept informed on all current ESNCH activities.
We wish you all a very successful year and we are looking forward to seeing you in Munich.
Warm regards,
L. Csiba
President of the ESNCH
C. Baracchini
Secretary of the ESNCH
