ESOWSO 2020 – we were virtual, but united in uneasy pandemic times

By Dr. Inna Lutsenko

Despite our plans back in 2019 to meet in real life again in Vienna in 2020 at the ESO2020 conference, the world was turned upside down by the news of the spreading coronavirus pandemic. After realizing that travel and meetings of crowds of five thousand participants would have to be postponed for at least a year, the conference organizers did not despair and motivated the participants to take part in the joint conference of the European Stroke Organization and the World Stroke Organization, ESOWSO2020.

The conference was held in a virtual format, where participants were invited to watch the presentations of speakers taking place in several virtual halls, from their homes, gardens and even from maternity hospitals.

Dr. Hanne Christensen, a clinical stroke researcher from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Chair of Stroke Action Plan with an expertise in clinical observational as well as interventional stroke studies was able to enjoy nature during conference sessions and to have a lunch with a pleasant scenery during ESOWSO2020.

Although many participants watched the conference from their workplaces and hospitals between shifts, one leading stroke specialist recorded her presentation after giving birth. Dr. Cheryl Carcel who is a Neurologist, Head of the Brain Health Program at the George Institute for Global Health, was able to give her scientific talk virtually from her hospital room. Cheryl is an active participant in an ESO WISE Committee, promoting and supporting women in stroke research, and she presented “Promoting gender equality in stroke leadership – Asia Pacific perspective”. Cheryl underlined that “bringing work home or being flexible with work hours to accommodate home responsibilities probably does not suit everyone. However, having flexible and accommodating work is something that I truly appreciate”.

For some colleagues from Vietnam, such as Dr. Quyen Pham, Neurologist – Stroke specialist at Hochiminh City University Medical Center, Vietnam, this virtual conference was an opportunity to meet with colleagues and friends, while watching non-stop stroke sessions during three intensive days of ESOWSO2020.

What really impressed me during the virtual conference is that medical student Sreeja Kodali from the Yale School of Medicine presented the results of collaborative project, where she and colleagues retrospectively assembled a cohort of 1060 patients from several centers with anterior large-vessel occlusion stroke and EVT as well as blood pressure were monitored non-invasively during the first 72 hours after the stroke onset. Kodali found that patients with high and high-to-moderate SBP trajectories had significantly higher odds of an unfavorable outcome at 90 days (1).

It was a big group of researchers and stroke neurologists who were helping in real time to share the ESOWSO news on Twitter. Social media teams from ESO and the World Stroke Academy made it possible for the viewers to catch the latest clinical trials news by hashtags in the sessions they missed. Even today you can still find interesting tweets from the conference with the hashtag #ESOWSO2020.

And, of course, ESOWSO2020, the virtual congress for ESOC and World Stroke Congress, was a real success. Over five thousand people joined to see the latest science on stroke and stroke prevention online via the beautiful and functional interactive platform.

We are now looking forward to meet in real in Basel in May for the ESOC2024!

Reference

1. Poor Functional Outcome Is Associated with Blood Pressure Trajectories 72 Hours After Thrombectomy: A Multicenter Analysis (2251). Sreeja Kodali et al. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.94.15_supplement.2251