Young stroke specialists were welcomed at Berlin, Charite
On 10-14 September, 2018 46 young neurologists and stroke specialists from 27 countries attended the 22nd ESO Summer School at Berlin, Germany. The Center for Stroke Research Berlin ( CSB) and the Department of Neurology of the Charite – Universitatsmedizin Berlin together with the European Stroke Organisation made it possible to organise an outstanding educational event, which will take its place in history of ESO Summer Schools and educational events. The team of faculties consisted of Prof. Jan Sobesky, Prof. Andreas Meisel, Prof. Matthias Endres, Lucia Kerti, Sarah Müller, Daniel Heppe and their team.
The first day of the event was dedicated to warm welcoming and getting together: all arrived participants introduced themselves to Faculties of ESO Summer School at the Sonnendeck – sunny terrace at the top roof of the The Center for Stroke Research Berlin in Charite. Among the significant lectures of the first day we can underline Prof. Audebert’s lecture about STEMO ( Stroke Emergency Mobile). Participants not only were introduced with the results of clinical trials with the usage of STEMO, but had a chance to see these newest ambulance car with CT-scan and necessary equipment for CT-scan interpretation and data monitoring. Prof. Audebert brought attention to the responsibilities of EMS in stroke care, which are: patient transport to hospital, recognition of stroke as an emergency (aspiration), recognition of possible risks, application of the immediate treatment, pre-notification, collecting information and hand-over, omission of unnecessary treatments, avoidance of unnecessary time delays.
Among Day 2 interesting lectures we can notice Prof. Christopher Leitner’s talk on vasculitis leading to stroke. Prof. Leitner mentioned, that “In Berlin there are 10.000 strokes per year, large stroke percent is caused by atrial fibrillation and large artery occlusion which are treated at 15 stroke departments. Many young stroke patients have vasculitis as a cause of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke”. Prof. Peter Schellinger from Department of Neurology, Johannes Wesling Klinikum in Minden gave an impressive talk on intravenous thrombolysis. Large clinical trials repeatedly prove the efficacy of alteplase. The main ideas of Prof. Schellinger lecture were: “even a regular physician should be trained to use rtPA”, “we need to bring attention to STN (symptom to needle time) and reduce it in teams”, “in clinical trials efficacy of the 0.6 mg per kg dose is not achieved, we need to be compliant to 0.9 mg/kg dose”. Charisma of Professor Schellinger was able to hold the attention of the public for a long time, and also participated in intensive discussion. Impressive was a stroke unit simulation training, where young MDs were able to use stopwatch, train door-to-needle time, practice in NIHSS usage under the guidance of Prof. Waltraud Pfeilschifter from Frankfurt, Germany. Day II finished with brainstorming activity “Pizza and Papers” by Bob Siegerink with discussion of papers significance in stroke epidemiology, clinical trials design and the link of energetic drinks consumption and stroke development. Day III was intersting by lecture of Prof. Jan Sobesky with Imaging highlights in stroke. We learned about olld and new imaging concepts, the mismatch works, PET method in stroke diagnostics, contrast agents such as flumazenil and many other things. Prof. Urs Fischer from Bern, Switzerland gave an intensive speech about the effectiveness of an early endovascular treatment and Prof. Martin Dichgans from Munich, Germany attracted attention to an important topic : stroke genetics. We had an important guest, Prof. Sandra Black from Toronto, Canada, who introduced the last research results in small vessels disease. Day III was finished with an elegant welcome reception at the one of the oldest Charite campus, where participants had a chance to get together with the Faculties of the ESO Summer School 2018.
Day IV was opened with an impressive talk of Prof. Charlotte Cordonnier from Lille, France, on intracerebral hemorrhage. Lecture was very interactive and participants were happy to solve intriguing clinical cases on intracerebral hemorrhage from the practice of Prof. Cordonnier. Prof. Bart van der Worp from Netherlands, President of ESO, raised an important topic on “End of life decisions” in stroke management and participants shared experience from their countries and culture on this significant standpoint. Prof. Kennedy Lees from the UK gave participants a training how to read clinical trials and correctly interpret the results of evidence-based medicine research in stroke. Memorable event was our visit to Berliner Medizinhistorishes Museum der Charite ( Museum of Medical History), where we learned the history of Charite hospital and about prominent scientists, who worked here. Day IV finished with the Stroke Unit visit under the guidance of Prof. Andreas Meisel. Participants had a chance to see the equipment of Charite’s stroke unit and its functioning. Day V highlight was Prof. Meisel’s lecture on stroke immunology, the newest branch of stroke research. Eric Juttler from Ostalb-Klinikum Aale shared his research and experience data on hemicraniectomy and how this method improves survival in stroke patients in long term
The finishing was impressive also: organizers chose the best pictures, which participants have made while their staying in Berlin. Three winners received memorable souvenirs from Charite. All participants received a framed photo as a memory of this Summer School attending. From behalf of all participants of ESO Summer School 2018 in Berlin I want to express our gratitude to for warm welcoming of The Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB) and the Department of Neurology of the Charite – Universitatsmedizin Berlin, which with ESO gave a chance to 46 neurologists to learn from the top Faculties in Stroke Research. Such summer schools is an unique platform to intensively learn, exchange opinions and get a lot of new ideas for the collaboration.
Written and submitted by Inna Lutsenko, MD ,22nd ESO Summer School Participant, ESO Young Stroke Physicians and Researchers Committee
We thank for photos: CSB (Center for Stroke Research Berlin) #BerlinStroke
Video credit: Inna Lutsenko, Sultanbek Omurbekov and Aishoola Sultanova
