First of all I would like to thank the EAN Head Office, Julia Mayer, the EAN Education committee, especially Professor Detlef Kömpf, and all our invited speakers for their support in organising the Regional Teaching Course in Baku.
The purpose of this course was to discuss many clinical neurological aspects, to provide up-to-date information and promote international research and clinical collaboration.
This was the first RTC in Baku, and we had 10 of the best European lectors invited as speakers. They talked about headache, stroke dementia, eye movement disorders, and more. A course with such a high level of scientific and practical knowledge does not often happen in Azerbaijan and called big interest and desire to visit our city. We had a lot of applications from all parts of Azerbaijan and other countries: USA, Netherland, Georgia, Iran, Kirgizstan and Uzbekistan. Finally, more than 170 doctors participated in the RTC in Baku.
Each participant received a bag with information about the EAN, its future events and the RTC material.
On behalf of the EAN and the local organising committee Professors Detlef Kömpf, Rana Shiraliyeva and Nazim Gasimov addressed the welcoming words to all participants with focus on the importance of such RTCs, providing knowledge of European standards and giving learning opportunities to young doctors.
The first day was dedicated to field of Headache.
Professor Jes Olesen (Denmark) described headache classification and diagnosis problems, which neurologists often are confronted with in their practice. Professor Messoud Ashina (Denmark) had a speech about “Pharmacological and non-pharmacological management of migraine and cluster headache”. Professor Dimos Mitsikostas (Greece) described “Primary headaches and depression: treatment strategy”. Also methods of training were demonstrated during workshops with patients. Rovshan Hasanov (Azerbaijan) talked about the Headache clinic in Azerbaijan (current status and future perspectives). We also welcomed a representative from the EAYNT, Peter Balicza, who talked about future perspectives for junior neurologists in Europe.
The second day was dedicated to field of Stroke.
Professor Laszlo Vecsei (Hungary) described “Pathomechanims of neurodegeneration in stroke and neurodegenerative disorders: alternatives of neuroprotection”. Professor Derk Wolfgang Krieger (Denmark) spoke about “Management of acute stroke is an emerging discipline”. It was really very interesting to listen about management of stroke step by step. Professor Zaza Katsarava (Germany) described “How to organize a stroke unit”. Professor Sadaqat Huseynova (Azerbaijan) has a speech about “stroke rehabilitation”. During workshops also was discussed acut stroke management, trombolisis therapy. Also Professor Valeria Caso participated in workshops, and all speakers discussed interesting case presentations. We think the stroke day was very interesting and will help us to improve acute stroke management in Azerbaijan.
The third day was dedicated to field of Dementia, Parkinson & Neuro-ophthalmology.
Professor Valeria Caso (Italy) described “Vascular Dementia: Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment”. Professor Fabio Blandini (Italy) had a speech about “Pathophysiology of Parkinson disease: from bench to bedside”. Professor Detlef Kömpf (Germany) explained “Eye Movement Disorders in Clinical Neurology: The Oculomotor System”. And the last presentation was from Professor Fuad Ismailov (Azerbaijan) about “Pharmacotherapy treatment of depression in patients with neurodegenerative diseases”.
We also organised some social activities in the evenings to create a relaxing atmosphere for the participants andhte faculty. On the second day was the Gala dinner in the old city, the most beautiful part of Baku, in the Karvansaray restaurant with national dances, mugam and oriental dance. On the first and second day a city tour for speakers and foreign participants was organised.
I would like to express my admiration to the quality of the simultaneous translation. Invited interpreters did an immense work during the preparation of the RTC. All lectures had been studied before to be able to help our participants to properly understand the professors. That is why more than 70% of the participants passed the exam successfully, and got special certificates. Everybody got a certificate of attendance after the course. Speakers also had certificate which confirmed that they had participated as a speaker in RTC.
Our meeting gave an opportunity to colleagues and friends to come together to create, strengthen and reformulate links of collaboration and friendship between researchers and practitioners with the common ground of thoughts and work. Our main goal was to open new windows to scientific exchange in reflecting new perspectives and the implicit challenges at the beginning of this century. we believe that the meeting was stimulating, fruitful and it contributed to a better understanding of the neurological diseases.
Sincerelly
Rana Shiraliyeva
Chairperson of the Local Organizing Committee
Honorary committee:
Detlef Kömpf, MD, Professor, Secretary General, EFNS
Messoud Ashina, MD, Professor, Danish Headache Center & Dept. of Neurology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Gasimov Nazim, MD, Professor, Rector of the Azerbaijan State Advanced Training Institute for Doctors named after A.Aliyev, Azerbaijan
Scientific Committee:
Professor, MD, Detlef Kömpf (Germany)
Professor, MD, Rana Siraliyeva (Azerbaijan)
Professor, MD, Messoud Ashina (Denmark)
Professor, MD, Zaza Katsarava (Germany)
PhD, MD, Aytan Mammadbayli (Azerbaijan)
Local Organizing Committee:
Rana Shiraliyeva – MD, Prof, Chairperson of Neurology Department of Azerbaijan State Advanced Training Institute for Doctors named after A.Aliyev, President of the National Association of Neurologists of Azerbaijan
Rahim Aliyev, MD, Neurology Department of the Azerbaijan State Advanced Training Institute for Doctors named after A.Aliyev, Executive Director of the National Association of Neurologists of Azerbaijan
