IANCON-2014:Seminar on Infections affecting the nervous system Organise

By 121 News Reporter

Chandigarh 07^th November:- The 22^nd annual conference of Indian Academy of Neurology (IANCON 2014) being held at PGIMER Chandigarh completed the second day on 7^th November 2014. Highlights of the second day included a "Seminar on Infections affecting the nervous system". The Presidential oration was given by Dr. Chandrasekhar Meshram, President IAN, who shared shared innovative ideas about 'Thinking in the Clinic'. The IAN oration was given by Dr. Sudesh Prabhakar, former Head, Department of Neurology, PGIMER, on "Neurology, Past, Present and Future". A workshop was also organized on "Tuberculosis of the brain". The conference is being organized by the Department of Neurology, PGIMER. The organizing committee includes Prof Vivek Lal (Head of the department of neurology and Organizing secretary), Dr Manish Modi (Treasurer), Dr Dheeraj Khurana, Dr Parampreet Singh, Dr Manoj K Goyal,Dr Sahil Mehta and Dr. Anu Gupta. Dr. Sudesh Prabhakar, retired Prof and head of department of neurology is the organizing chairman

The morning session on day 2 started with Seminar on Infections affecting the nervous system. Dr. Thomas Iype discussed about the challenges in management of brain abscess. A dreaded delayed complication of childhood measles infection called SSPE was always a challenging disease for any neurologist. Dr. Mathew Alexander deliberated on various aspects of this disease.Dr. Guy D Thwaites (UK) discussed about the role of steroids in management of Bacterial Meningitis. Dr. H P Hartung (Germany) and Dr. Rohit Bhatia discussed about the management of multiple sclerosis. The various controversies in Interventional Neurology were discussed by Dr. Vivek Gupta, Dr. Anand Alurkar, Dr. Vikram Huded.

The Presidential oration was chaired by Dr. Man Mohan Mehndiratta and Dr. Arabinda Mukherjee, President elect, IAN. Dr.Ashok Panagariya introduced the orator, Dr. Chandrasekhar Meshram, President IAN, to the audience. Dr. Panagariya shared an interesting fact that Dr. Chandrashekar Meshram have got the unique opportunity to receive his degree in neurology and to give presidential oration also in the same veneue and institute where he was trained. Dr. Chandrashekar Meshram shared innovative ideas about 'Thinking in the Clinic'. Dr. Meshram discussed the importance of history taking and clinical examination in this era of overdependence on investigations in making clinical examination. He recalled his residency days in PGIMER Chandigarh under Dr. JS Chopra and Dr. Sudesh Prabhakar. The power of 'Observational Neurology' where the clinical skills of the neurologist is demonstrated  was stressed by Dr. Meshram.  He then deliberated on importance of research in clinical practice.  He presented the case series  of a specific movement disorder called "paroxysmal dyskinesia" which probably is the worlds largest case series of this disease by a single clinician.

The IAN oration was chaired by Dr. JS Chopra and Dr. K Radhakrishnan. Dr JS Chopra was happy to inform everyone that all the neurologists involved in the oration were trained at PGIMER under him decades back and his students have become one of the best neurologists in the world.  The IAN oration was given by Dr. Sudesh Prabhakar, former Head, Department of Neurology, PGIMER, Chandigarh. He discussed about "Neurology, Past, Present and Future". Dr. Prabahakar shared his vast experience on his areas of expertise like stroke, motor neuron disease and dementia. In stroke, he discussed about the research done in PGI starting from 1979.  The basic research  on stroke and clinical trials were discussed in detail. Dr. Prabhakar then discussed about future management aspects of motor neuron disease. He discussed about the pilot study on stem cell therapy in motor neuron disease.  Then he shared his research experience on dementia. He stressed about this hidden epidemic in the developing countries. Dr. Prabhakar deliberated about the role of biomarkers in Alzheimers disease. The importance of exercise and life style modifications required in dementia were stressed upon Dr. Prabahkar.  He then threw light on the biomarker development programme and Animal model development programme in PGIMER.