The 9th exam of the European Board of Neurology took place in Amsterdam on June 23rd last, one day before the start of the 3rd EAN congress.

Title of the project: “Delineating the molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial DNA disease: clinical and pathological studies”

Report from Dr Célia Carina Machado, from Oliveira Santa Maria, Portugal visiting the Department of Epilepsy, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, UK, under the supervision of Prof. Ley Sander

2016 was a busy year for the European Federation of Neurological Associations [EFNA], with the launch of some of the organisation's biggest-ever independent projects.

Under the leadership of Jes Olesen, Denmark, the European Brain Council (EBC) has developed a ‘cost of brain disease’ project in the last decade, which essentially became one of the most important databases for the development of European Research policy. In 2012 the costs for neurological disease alone were estimated to be 303 billion €/year and the costs for all brain diseases added up to 798 billion €/year, which is about 6 times the budget of the European Union.

For September 2017, we have selected: Hoffman EM, Watson JC, St Sauver J, Staff NP, Klein CJ. Association of long-term opioid therapy with functional status, adverse outcomes, and mortality among patients with polyneuropathy. JAMA Neurology 2017;74:773-779. Neuropathic pain is a common symptom in polyneuropathy that can be difficult to manage. Opioids are usually recommended as second-line treatment, with primary care physicians being mainly involved in opioid prescription.

David B. Vodušek (DBV): Can you tell us about your training and how you ended up looking after neurological patients with uro-neurological symptoms? David B. Vodušek (DBV): Can you tell us about your training and how you ended up looking after neurological patients with uro-neurological symptoms? Clare J Fowler (CJF): My early training included neurology at a junior level, but when it came to choosing a career path I was advised to pursue clinical neurophysiology, on the grounds that it could be a 'suitable' job for a woman with children. Furthermore, there was a UK shortage of consultant neurophysiologists.

Antonio Federico: What are the aims of your ERN? Helen Cross: The objectives of the EpiCARE network will be: To improve accessibility of detailed diagnostics to individuals of all ages with rare and complex epilepsies across Europe, including clinical evaluation and investigation.

A session on neurological palliative care was included within the 15th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care in Madrid on 18th May.  In 2016, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the EAPC and the EAN and… Continue Reading

Palliative care has featured again at a session at the 3rd Congress of the European Academy of Neurology in Amsterdam at the end of June 2017.  There has been a developing collaboration between the EAN and the EAPC and in… Continue Reading

ntonio Federico: What are the aims of your ERN? Teresinha Evangelista: Our MISSION: Through collaborative cross-border work the EURO-NMD ERN will improve the lives of EU citizens by improving diagnosis, treatment and the delivery of high-quality, accessible and cost-effective healthcare to patients with rare Neuromuscular Diseases (NMD) requiring a particular concentration of resources or expertise.

The EAN Rare neurological diseases task force will be holding its 1st teaching course under the auspices of Dafin F. Muresanu, Professor of Neurology at the “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. This teaching course aims… Continue Reading

by Antonella Macerollo The first Summer School on Neuromodulation for Movement Disorders was sponsored by the European Section of Movement Disorders (MDS) and took place in Grenoble, France, on July 6-8th 2017. This three-day course encompassed several key lectures from… Continue Reading