ICNA/Bogota/ASCONI educational meeting 2016

A regional ICNA educational meeting was recently held in Bogota, Colombia, on September 30th and October 1st, 2016. This meeting was organized as a joint collaboration with the Colombian Association of Pediatric Neurology (ASCONI). The local organizing committee included Dr. Maria Fernanda Lengua, current president of the ASCONI, with the excellent logistic support of Drs. Blanca Rodriguez, Martha Piñeros, and Pilar Guerrero.

The conference was held at the Sonesta Hotel in Bogota, and was attended by most of the ASCONI members, over 95 colleagues who travelled to Bogota from all over the country.The conference program included 4 sessions with 4 lectures each, developed over two full days.

Dr. Ingrid Tein, president of ICNA executive board, chaired the first session giving four excellent lectures on diagnosis and treatment approach of metabolic encephalopathies, epilepsy in mitochondrial disorders, treatment advances in mitochondrial disorders, metabolic myopathies, and recurrent myoglobinuria.

At the end of these lectures, a special session was held by Dr. Marilisa Mantovani Guerreiro, member of the ICNA executive board from Brazil, giving an interesting overview on “Congenital infection by ZIKA virus”, an important pediatric neurology emergency .

After the coffee-break, Dr. Mantovani Guerreiro continued the following session updating issues on pediatric epilepsy, including neuroimaging diagnosis of refractory epilepsies, Landau Kleffner syndrome and other epileptic syndromes with continuous spike and slow-wave in slow sleep. An overview on the cognitive impact of pediatric epilepsy and treatment of epileptic encephalopathies closed the first conference day.

Dr. Marcelo Masruha Rodrigues, from the Brazilian Child Neurology Society, opened the first session on the second day of the meeting. He addressed key issues on pediatric movement disorders, including diagnostic approach, disorders of monoaminergic neurotransmission, tics and Tourette syndrome. He ended this session with an excellent case-based and video presentation on differential diagnosis of non-epileptic paroxysmal disorders.

After lunch, the last session was dedicated to acquired inflammatory and demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system. Dr. Silvia Tenembaum, member of the ICNA executive board from Argentina, gave 4 lectures including an overview on the new diagnostic criteria for these disorders in children, identification of relapsing phenotypes of ADEM, and new trends in the treatment of pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica, and ADEM. In the last lecture, Dr. Tenembaum discussed clues for differential diagnosis in children with acquired inflammatory and demyelinating disorders.

All attendants had been invited to present clinical cases at the end of each session for discussion. The amount of cases sent, the quality of case presentations, and the rich discussions they produced were indicative of the interest in this type of academic experience. On both days, lunch was shared by speakers and attendants, providing a great opportunity to interact and share experiences on different topics.
This ICNA –ASCONI teaching course was a very successful meeting, and resulted in a wonderful experience for both speakers and local colleagues.

On behalf of the four speakers, I would like to thank Dr. Maria Fernanda Lengua and the local organizing committee of ASCONI for their leadership in this valuable educational opportunity and for the kind reception in Bogota.

Dr. Silvia Tenembaum
ICNA Executive Board Member
Head of Clinic, Department of Neurology
National Pediatric Hospital Dr. J. P. Garrahan
Buenos Aires, Argentina
November, 2016