Highlights from EAN 2022 — Day 1 — June 25th

Neurology-focused studies can impact clinical practice

Today there were six symposia covering topics including:

• Getting evidence into practice in epilepsy management in the fields of diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment, and palliative care
• Using biomarkers in the management of CNS tumors, with discussion of 2021 World Health Organization classifications of such; molecular and imaging biomarkers in gliomas; and the use of PET/MRI in neuro-oncology
• Scientific advances in multiple sclerosis (MS) that can be utilized in clinical practice, such as patient-reported outcomes; managing uncertainties regarding SARS-CoV-2 vaccines; details of the updated European Committee of Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis/European Academy of Neurology guidelines on pharmacological therapies for MS; and how real-world evidence can aid in DMT initiation, switch, and cessation decisions
• Early detection and treatment of Parkinson’s disease, including the use of biomarkers and imaging and an update on DMTs
• The burden of sleep disorders in neurology, with discussion of sleep and brain health; sleep disorder epidemiology; and the economic burden of sleep-wake disorders

Satellite symposia covered the topics of migraine, MS, movement disorders and neurology education.

Biomarkers might help in the management of CNS tumors and Parkinson’s disease

Oral presentations included sessions describing new data on a wide range of neurology-related topics including: muscle and neuromuscular junction disorders; cognitive neurology/neuropsychology; cerebrovascular diseases: acute stroke management; neuro-oncology; MS and related disorders; COVID-19; cerebrovascular diseases; ageing and dementia; neuroimaging; and headache. There were also several ePresentations, with similar topics and the addition of sessions on headache; autonomic nervous system diseases; and neurogenetics, neuroepidemiology and neurological manifestations of systemic diseases.

Educational opportunities and special sessions at EAN

EAN provided a large number of education-based activities including focused and case-based workshops; interactive and career development sessions and teaching and ‘hands-on’ courses. These included sessions on epilepsy care in the emergency department; spotting hyperkinetic movement disorders; practical aspects of needle electromyography and jitter analysis; differential diagnosis of transient ischemic attacks; and sleep disorder treatment.

Neurology research is helping to inform clinical practice

EAN participants also had the choice of attending ‘Special Sessions,’ which included:

• Talks on inflammatory, vascular, and degenerative mechanisms in neurological disease and neurological disease as a network disorder
• Interviews with scientists and clinicians regarding their career path in basic, clinical, and translational research 
• Lectures discussing the use of randomised controlled trials in neurology palliative care; mixed methods research for advanced care planning in MS; and the role of patient associations in neurology research
• The European Basal Ganglia Club’s MDS-ES C David Marsden Award Lecture by Joaquim Ferreira; The Dystonia Europe - David Marsden Lecture by Susanne Knorr; and a series of video case studies

A series of half hour sessions took place in the ‘Scientific Theatre’ including discussion of a digital research infrastructure called EBRAINS; the differential diagnosis of demyelinating disease mimics in children; how amyloid imaging may be moving forward the understanding and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease; climate change effects on neurology and sleep; a call for global actions on epilepsy and other neurological disorders; focus on a European Brain Council study on rare neurological and neurometabolic disorders; and how dementia can be affected by multimorbidity.

Plenary symposium

Neuroscience can inform neurology from teenagerhood to old age

The plenary symposium included Baroness Susan Greenfield discussing ‘Where Neuroscience meets neurology: blowing, expanding, and losing the mind.’ This included discussion of how we are driven by the prefrontal cortex, what neuroscience can tell us about consciousness, and what happens when CNS connections get dismantled, such as in Alzheimer’s disease.