57th International Neuropsychiatric Congress, Mind & Brain in Pula, Croatia

Report on the 57th International Neuropsychiatric Congress, Mind  &Brain, Pula, Croatia, 24th– 27th May, 2017

Author: Anita Arsovska

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mind & Brain 57th International Neuropsychiatric Pula Congress (INPC) was held in the beautiful city of Pula, May 24th-27th, 2017, under the High Patronage of the President of Republic of Croatia, and her Excellency Mrs. Kolinda Grabar-Kitanovic.

The organizers of the Congress were: International Institute for Brain Health and Society for Neuropsychiatry, and co-organizers were Department of Medical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and Central and Eastern European Stroke Society (CEESS). It was endorsed by the World Federation of Neurology, European Academy of Neurology and European Stroke Organization and supported by the WFN, Applied Research Group on the Organisation and Delivery of Care, European Psychiatric Association, Stroke Alliance for Europe and Croatian Stroke Society.

Opening of the Mind & Brain 57th International Neuropsychiatric Congress in Pula, Academician Professor Vida Demarin, Secretary General of the Congress, ESO Fellow

Organizers of the 57th International Neuropsychiatric Congress, Mind & Brain, Pula, Croatia, 24th-27th of May, 2017, V. Demarin (Zagreb, Croatia, ESO Fellow) and H. Budincevic (Zagreb, Croatia, ESO Member)

There were more than 350 participants from Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Russian Federation, Netherlands, Romania, South Africa, Iceland, India, Singapore and USA.

Main themes of the congress were “Recent advances in neuroimaging & treatment- with special emphasis on Neuropsychoanalysis, Depression, Eating disorders, Personality disorders, and Multiple sclerosis, Dementia and Stroke, with “hot-topic” lectures, workshops and symposia held by distinguished invited speakers from all over the world.

The chairpersons of the Stroke session were V. Demarin (Zagreb, Croatia) and K. Niederkorn (Graz, Austria). S. Gajovic (Zagreb, Croatia) talked about Preclinical neuroimaging of animal stroke models, V. Demarin held a lecture about Contemporary approach to stroke prevention and D. Zdravec (Zagreb, Croatia) gave a talk about recent advances in neuroimaging and neurointervention in acute stroke. Critical issues in endovascular stroke treatment were the topic of K. Niederkorn (Graz, Austria) and Vascular cognitive impairment was discussed by N. Bogdanovic (Stockholm, Sweden). H. Budincevic (Zagreb, Croatia) talked about direct oral anticoagulants in secondary stroke prevention and J. Ljevak (Zagreb, Croatia) gave a lecture on direct oral anticoagulants and neurovascular complications-can we do more?

In addition to lectures on the main themes, there were numerous accompanying symposia, in particular: Neuropsychoanalysis workshop, 10th International Epilepsy Symposium, Lifelines Satellite Symposium, Abbvie Satellite Symposium, 6th Psychopathology Summer School, Moleac Satellite Symposium, Lundbeck Satellite Symposium, Neuroscience Symposium:Neurobiologic Basis of Cognitive Development, Medis Satellite Symposium on Tecdifera, Neuroscience and Neuropsychiatry in Society-Student Symposium, 6th Symposium on Interface Providers in Neurorehabilitation, Stroke Symposium and SAFE Satellite Symposium.

The chairpersons of the Stroke Symposium were G.E. Klein (Graz, Austria) and G. Lanner (Graz, Austria). E.B. Ringelstein, ESO Fellow,  (Muenster, Germany) gave a lecture on Hunting for stroke mimics and chameleons, K. Niederkorn (Graz, Austria) talked about the Update on Silent brain infarctions and T. Gattringer (Graz, Austria) described Rare stroke cases from his everyday practice. ESO member A. Arsovska (Skopje, Macedonia) gave a lecture on cerebral venous thrombosis: etiology, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, M. Zaletel (Ljubljana, Slovenia), ESO Fellow B. Zvan talked about Antiphospholipid antibodies, a possible etiologic factor for cerebrovascular events in younger adult patients and also about the Impact of leukoaraiosis on the endothelial function.

The SAFE Satellite Symposium was chaired by two SAFE Board Members (A. Arsovska (Skopje, Macedonia) and I. Milojevic, (Cuprija, Serbia) who gave lectures on Burden of stroke report and the role and characteristics of Stroke support organizations – voice of patients in Central and Eastern Europe.

A joint meeting with Alps-Adria Neuroscience Section, WFN Applied Research Group on the Organization and Delivery of Care and Central and Eastern European Stroke Society was held dealing with different therapeutic approaches in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases. In this session, Hrvoje Budincevic (ESO member) from Zagreb, Croatia held a lecture entitled ESO-EAST project and stroke registries, where he talked about the first comprehensive program dedicated to improving stroke care in Europe, initiated by the European Stroke Organization and implemented in more than 23 countries (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Rep. of Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan). Dr Budincevic also talked about the RES-Q project  (Registry of Stroke Care Quality), chaired by Robert Mikulik (Brno, Czech Republic), that now includes more than 220 hospitals from 25 countries.

Invited international speakers gave 80 lectures, followed by useful discussions and exchanging of mutual experience. The poster session was very successful, with numerous posters from neurology and from psychiatry and two best posters from each discipline got the prize given by the City of Graz.

International Neuropsychiatric Pula Congress is one of the congresses with the longest tradition in the world in the field of neurology, psychiatry and neuropsychiatry. It has been continuously organized for the past 57 years and it is famous for its multidisciplinary approach. It covers many interesting topics in neurology, psychiatry and other related medical fields and it is promoting the fundamental idea of long-established “Pula School of Science and Humanism.”

Prof. Dr. Anita Arsovska, ESO Member and SAFE Board Member

President of Macedonian Neurology Society

University Clinic of Neurology, Medical Faculty, University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Macedonia