Download - Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation

C O N F E R E N C E R E P O RT SABN National MeetingConference details: 28-31 May, 2012, The Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK. Reviewed by: Seán J Slaght.The ABN were welcomed to Brighton forfour days of glorious sunshine and a stimulatingmix of teaching, scientific breakthroughsand case study conundrums. This yearthe ABN conference was brought right up to datewith a conference app for smart phones and adedicated twitter feed.The conference opened on Monday the 28thwith the medical student road show in parallelwith the Specialist Registrar teaching session.The Registrar session, attended by over 70trainees, kicked off with small group teaching onprescribing in epilepsy. There were then seminarson ‘Neurology on the ITU’ from Lionel Ginsberg,‘How to interpret the EMG’ from David Allen and‘Dementia’ from Jonathan Schott. The day wasrounded off with Jeremy Isaacs describing howto get (and keep!) a first consultant job andTrevor Pickersgill showing how to negotiate a jobplan once you have got it.The main conference opened the followingday and started with a teaching session onepilepsy, with Mark Manford reminding us of theimportance of taking a good history, TejalMitchell exploring the use (and misuse) of theEEG and John Duncan describing advances inimaging technology allowing refined diagnosisand more targeted epilepsy surgery. Parallelsessions on improving neurology services andneuromuscular platform presentations camenext. Michael Pearson gave the perspective of aRespiratory Physician on improving outcomesfor patients by using national audit data to driveservice change.The 18th Gordon Holmes Lecture was deliveredby John Leigh from Cleveland, Ohiodescribing the neuronal control of eye movementsand their use as research tools. The afternoonteaching session covered head injury, anarea often neglected by neurologists. We learntabout the acute management of head injury andthe on going efforts to improve this, using clinicaltrials, from Maxwell Damian, the surgical optionsfrom neurosurgeon Peter Hutchinson and thelong term consequences of head injury fromRichard Greenwood. This was followed byparallel platform sessions on neurodegenerationand multiple sclerosis. The NeurolympicChallenge drew the day to a close. Quiz MasterPhillip Smith pitted the regions against eachother with the team comprising Scotland andNorthern Ireland reigning supreme. The trainees’dinner was held at Al Duomo restaurant.Wednesday started early with a stimulatingbreakfast with neuro-ophthalmology expertsfollowed by a teaching session on degenerationand regeneration of the nervous system. Parallelplatform sessions followed on epilepsy and cerebrovasculardisease. A highlight was thediscovery by Lilleker and Mohanraj of anti-VGKCcomplex antibodies in a small proportion ofpatients with unexplained refractory epilepsy,who became seizure free followingimmunomodulatory treatment. Walking tours ofthe posters followed lunch. Then the ABNMedallist, Mark Wiles, told us about learningneurology and that pyramidal pattern weaknessdoes not exist. The day was rounded off with amovement disorders video session with manyexcellent videos including a case from ChrisAllen of paroxysmal exercise-induced dystoniasecondary to demyelination. The ABN Galadinner at the Corn Exchange, Brighton Domewas well attended and was a great opportunityto unwind and digest the conference’s offeringsso far.The final day of the conference started withthe ACNR sponsored case presentation competitionwhere we were reminded that commondiseases may present in atypical ways and sometimes,rare diseases can present like they aresupposed to. Hugh Adler won the case presentationprize for his description of a patient withOphelia syndrome associated with anti-mGluR5antibodies. The plenary lecture from IainMcGilchrist looked at how the two hemisphereswork in very different ways resulting in a kind ofpower struggle in our interaction with the world.Brighton has a high incidence and prevalenceof HIV and so it was fitting that the morningteaching session looked at this now manageableinfection. Hadi Manji explained the effect of HIVon the brain, and, in particular, premature cognitivedecline. Nick Davies categorised the immunereconstitution syndrome and Martin Fisherdescribed his 30 years experience of dealingwith the epidemic in Brighton. We werereminded of the importance of offering HIVtesting to all patients with neurological symptoms,as this is now an infection that can becontrolled. The final teaching session of theconference was an overview of antibody-mediatedneurology, an area where our knowledge israpidly expanding and our understanding of theclinical phenotypes of each antibody and howto treat them deepening.The clinicopathological conference was acomplex case with many a red herring, butexpertly discussed by Peter Enevoldsen. Theaudience was able to participate via twitter ortext, but none clinched the final diagnosis ofprimary angiitis of the central nervous system.An excellent conference attended by over 550neurologists, trainees and medical students fromacross the UK and beyond. The level of posterand platform presentations was high and therewere excellent opportunities to meet andsocialise with old colleagues, in the glorioussouth coast sunshine. The Charles Symondsprizes for best platform presentation was won byMichaela Simoni and for best poster by TimShakespeare. As mentioned before, Hugh Adlerwon the case presentation prize. I am certainlylooking forward to Glasgow 2013! lACNR > VOLUME 12 NUMBER 4 > SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 > 31