A submitted EEC Forum must meet the following criteria:

• Is a specialised or focused topic
• Is informal and highly interactive - debate, lightning session, campfire session
• Includes interaction, such as quizzes, polls, breakout groups and so on
• Ensures gender and European geographical balance
• Includes a young epileptologist (under 40 years of age)

Previously submitted session proposals will not be considered and will be removed from selection.

Deadline for submission: 1 December 2023

Please consider the following before submitting a proposal:

• The forum will be 90 minutes in duration.
• Maximum of 4-5 speakers (EEC Forum speakers do not receive congress support to attend).
• Presentations should be restricted to approximately 15 minutes to allow for interactivity and discussion.
• The session proposer/ coordinator may act as the Chair.
• The session proposer/coordinator must contact the Chair and speakers and confirm their willingness to participate if accepted.
• The Chair of an EEC Forum will receive free registration to the congress.
• The speakers will need to register for the congress (provided they are not speakers in the Main or Parallel Sessions); registration fees will not be waived.
• It is the responsibility of the proposer/coordinator of the Forum to ensure that, the Chair (if different from the proposer) and all speakers are aware that the speakers are responsible for their own registration fees, and neither the Chair nor the speakers will be reimbursed for travel or accommodation expenses.

Deadline for submission: 1 December 2023

Chairs symposium 

Title: “Malum quo communius eo peius”: cognitive problems in epilepsy 

• Cognitive decline in the developmental and epileptic encephalopathies – J Helen Cross (United Kingdom) 
• Epilepsy and cognitive decline -two sides of the same coin - TBA
• Interictal activity - a guilty bystander - Laurent Sheybani (Switzerland) 
• Epilepsy surgery - a double-edged sword - Sallie Baxendale (United Kingdom) 

 

Session title: Making better decisions in epilepsy care: Applying the science of decision making in the epilepsy clinic.  

• Optimism Bias and The Influential Mind – Neil Garrett (United Kingdom) 
• Predicting, illustrating, communicating, and optimizing patient-centered outcomes of epilepsy surgery using nomograms and Bayes' theorem – TBA 
• My choice and how I made it – TBC

 

Session title: Optimizing future epilepsy treatment with new antiseizure medications (ASMs) 

• Pros and cons of current clinical trials with new ASMs; can we do better? - Emilio Perucca (Australia)  
• How to optimize ASM therapy with therapeutic drug monitoring? - Cecilie Johannessen Landmark (Norway) 
• Precision gene therapy for epilepsy: How long will it take to see it in the clinics? - Stephanie Schorge (United Kingdom) 
• New ASMs in the pipeline; what is their potential? Meir Bialer (Israel) 

 

Session title: Advanced targeted gene-therapy approaches for epilepsy. 

• General principles of gene therapy approaches - David Henshall (Ireland) 
• Gene therapies for monogenic epilepsies - Gaia Colasante (Italy) 
• Activity-dependent gene therapy for epilepsy - Gabriele Lignani (United Kingdom) 
• Current Clinical Applications: gene therapy trials pipeline - Paul Boon (Belgium) 

 

Session title: Hemispheric Surgery - The role of the surgical technique on seizure outcome 

• Hemispherotomy – indication and outcome – Martha Feucht (Austria) 
• Lateral and vertical parasagittal hemispherotomy – Christian Dorfer (Austria) 
• Comparison of effectiveness lateral versus vertical – Aria Fallah (USA) 
• What are the predictors of outcome in hemispherotomy – Georgia Ramantani (Switzerland)
• Round table discussion 

 

Session title: New roads to improve outcome (and to lead to Rome) 

• Refining the mechanisms of epileptogenesis in DEEs: which come first, is D or E first? Nicola Specchio (Italy) 
• Younger is better in epilepsy surgery - Kees Braun (Netherlands) 
• Tackling beyond seizure: moving from Anti-seizure medications to Disease modifying medications – TBA 
• Is big data the answer we are looking for next generation sequencing analysis - TBA 
• Prevention, prediction, improvement: is the road still long? Rima Nabbout (France) 

 

Session title:  EEG: present and future 

• interictal EEG: is that enough? - Guido Rubboli (Denmark) 
• Brain machine learning: novel ways of modelling which electrodes should be removed – Yujiang Wang (UK) 
• new long-term recording methods – Wim van Paesschen (Belgium) 
• new insights from intracerebral recordings – TBA

Session title: Difficult discussions in newly diagnosed epilepsy  

 

Session title: Post-stroke epilepsy: prediction, prevention and implications for IGAP  

• Preventable epilepsies: focus on stroke and implications for IGAP - Alla Guekht (Russian Federation) 
• Metabolism and Ferroptosis in Epilepsy after stroke - Matthias Koepp (United Kingdom) 
• Latency of post-stroke epilepsy – does it matter? – Johan Zelan (Sweden)   
• Drugs for  prevention of post-stroke epilepsy - Eugen Trinka (Austria) 

 

Session title: The thalamus and the epileptogenic networks  

• The cortico-subcortical epileptogenic networks - Ganne Chaitanya (USA) 
• What fMRI tell us about cortico-thalamic interactions in focal epilepsies. - Anna Elisabetta Vaudano (Italy) 
• Neurostimulation in epilepsy: only thalamus worth? - Kristl Vonck (Belgium) 
• Clinical aspects of thalamic involvement in seizures: insight from SEEG recordings - Fabrice Bartolomei (France) 

 

Session title: The impact of lamotrigine and topiramate in the past 30 years, and their new derivatives 

• The story of lamotrigine and topiramate  in epilepsy - Simon Shorvon (United Kingdom) 
• How lamotrigine and topiramate affected the development of new antiseizure drugs - Meir Bialer (Israel) 
• The current role of lamotrigine and topiramate in epilepsy treatment - Reetta Kalviainen (Finland) 
• - Drug development based on similar mechanisms of action - Wolfgang Loescher (Germany) 

 

Session title: Closing the treatment gap in Dravet syndrome: approaches of the EJP-RD SCN1A-UP! Project 

• Current clinical treatments and needs for Dravet syndrome - Rima Nabbout (France) 
• Boosting homeostatic responses in DS models - Massimo Mantegazza (France) 
• Identifying and targeting pathologic remodeling - TBC 
• Human iPSCs-derived neurons for screens of therapeutic approaches in DS - Nael Nadif Kasri Donders (Netherlands) 

 

Session title: Pathogenic role of demyelination in focal epilepsies and seizures  

• Neuron-OPC interactions regulating OPC proliferation, differentiation and myelination – Ragnhildur Thora Karadottir (United Kingdom) 
• Un/demyelinated axons and seizures - Laura Uva (Italy) 
• Demyelination in different forms of focal epilepsies - Eleonora Aronica (Netherlands) 
• Altered oligodendrocyte function in mild cortical malformation associated with epilepsy - TBA

 

Session title: Not all roads lead to SUDEP: Risk factors, biomarkers and prevention of premature death in epilepsy  

• The heart matters – altered cardiac properties and sudden cardiac death in epilepsy - Shobi Sivathamboo (Australia) 
• The fatal wave – spreading depolarization and lethal brain suppression - Jeff Noebels (USA) 
• Structural and functional abnormalities in SUDEP – Beate Diehl (UK) 
• Individual risk assessment – is it important for epilepsy management? - Roland Thijs (Netherlands) 

 

Session title: Treatment of seizures in neonates – something old, something new… 

• New approaches for the treatment of neonatal seizures - Wolfgang Löscher (United Kingdom) 
• An old drug with new evidence - phenobarbital for the treatment of neonatal seizures - Ronit Pressler (United Kingdom) 
• Using extrapolation from older patients to inform drug development - Marcel van den Broek (Netherlands) 
• Implications of sex-differences in neonatal seizures for drug development - TBA

 

Session title: Antiepileptogenesis and disease modification. Which populations, outcome measures and tial designs?   

• Using genomics to identify mechanisms and targets for antiepileptic and disease modifying drugs - Michael Johnson (United Kingdom) 
• Disease-modifying microRNA therapies entering preclinical development – Annamaria Vezzani (Italy)  
• Antiepileptogenisis after head injury. Challenges, trial designs and outcomes measures – TBA
• Disease modification following a first seizure: trial designs and outcomes - Tony Marson (United Kingdom) 

 

Session title: Anti-seizure vs disease-modifying epilepsy medicines: What is in a name?  

• Why we need to abandon “AED” as a term - Jacqueline French (USA) 
• What is a disease modifying epilepsy medicine? - Emilio Perucca (Australia) 
• Anti-seizure vs disease modifying mechanisms - Rossella Di Sapia (Italy) 
• Clinical trial designs to demonstrate disease modification - Lieven Lagae (Belgium) 

 

Session title: Breastfeeding in women with epilepsy  

• The prevalence and benefits of breastfeeding. Differ in women with epilepsy? - Bruna Nucera (Italy) 
• Drug excretion in breastmilk and drug concentrations in breastfed infants: General principles with emphasis on antiseizure medications - Ivana Kacirova (Czech Republic) 
• What we know and don’t know of antiseizure medications levels in breastfed women and exposure to the infant? - TBA
• Cognitive outcomes in children of women taking antiseizure medications while breastfeeding - Rebecca Bromley (United Kingdom) 

 

Session title: Late onset epilepsy – a public health imperative  

• Pathogenesis of epilepsy in the elderly – The “Bermuda Triangle“ between Dementia, Depression and Sleep Disorder - Arjune Sen (United Kingdom) 
• Diagnostic challenges in the new onset epilepsy in the elderly - TBA
• Antiseizure Medicines for epilepsy in the elderly – Between Scylla and Charybdis - Eugen Trinka (Austria) 
• Can we predict and prevent epilepsy in the elderly? - Simona Lattanzi (Italy) 

 

Session title: Red flags for resective surgery following intracerebral investigation: how to predict poor outcome. 

• Red flags from the preimplantation evaluation - Birgit Frauscher (USA) 
• How do we know we have missed the seizure onset and is that a red flag? - TBA
• Are widespread / multiple seizure onset zones necessarily a red flag? - Laura Tassi (Italy) 
• Can the incorporation of interictal markers improve surgical outcome prediction? - Stanislas Lagarde (France) 

 

Session title: Surgery for Hypothalamic Hamartoma: which technique?  

• Radiosurgery - Constantin Tuleasca (Switzerland) 
• Radiofrequency Thermocoagulation and Laser Interstitial Thermal therapy - Santiago Candela-Canto (Spain) 
• Endoscopic Disconnection - Alessandro De Benedictis (Italy) 
• Development of Standardized Management Guidelines: epilepsy surgery and beyond -Luca de Palma (Italy) 

 

Session title: Addressing challenges and opportunities in the globalization of epilepsy imaging  

• Introduction: globalization of epilepsy brain studies: modalities and countries - Sanjay Sisodiya (United Kingdom)   
• Machine learning approaches to global imaging studies - Erik Kaestner (USA)  
• Global approaches to cross-disorder analyses and methods: learning from beyond epilepsy -Sofie Valk (Germany)  
• Challenges and Perspectives of Obtaining MRIs in Resource-Limited regions - TBA

 

Session title: Advances in magnetoencephalography for the management of epilepsy   

• The current role of MEG within epilepsy surgery - Stefan Rampp (Germany) 
• Optically Pumped Magnetoencephalography in Epilepsy - Umesh Vivekananda (United Kingdom) 
• Using non-invasive MEG to elicit virtual intracranial EEG signals - TBA  
• Using MEG derived networks to predict post-surgical outcome - Peter Taylor (United Kingdom) 

 

Session title: Neuropsychology & epilepsy in developing brain

• Pediatric neuropsychology issues in complex epilepsy - Mary Lou Smith (Canada) 
• The assessment of severely impaired patients in rare epilepsy sindrome - TBA
• Cognitive outcome of preschool children after epilepsy surgery – Gitta Reuner (Germany)  
• Psychoeducational and psychological supports for children with epilepsy: what is the evidence? Colin Reilly (Sweden)  

 

Session title: Minimal invasive non-medical treatment approaches

• Personalized multichannel transcranial direct current stimulation - Maeva Daoud (France) 
• Epicranial Focal Cortex Stimulation for neuromodulation of the epileptic focus - Andreas Schulze-Bonhage (Germany) 
• The spectrum of applications of LITT in the treatment of focal epilepsy - Rodrigo Rocamora (Spain) 
• De LeceaTargets and strategies for using focused ultrasound in the treatment of epilepsy - TBA
• Thalamic stimulation for the treatment of epilepsy - Ido Strauss (Israel) 

 

Session title: Epilepsy care for children living in under privileged areas around the world  

• The IGAP and children with epilepsy: how to move forward? - Alla Guekht (Russia) 
• Identification of current needs and priority gaps: results from two surveys and review of the current state of literature - Marietta Papadopoulou (France) 
• Creating action plans: the state of the art - Angela La Neve (Italy) 
• Finding solutions for potential implementation gaps - Jo Wilmshurst (South Africa) 

 

Session title: Are developmental and epileptic encephalopathies progressive diseases?  

• Are there clinical evidence of progression in genetic DEEs? - Ingrid Scheffer (Australia) 
• How do the EEG and neurophysiological findings evolve over time - Marina Trivisano (Italy) 
• Cognitive functions in DEE: what the long-term observation tells us. Lieven Lagae (Belgium) 
• What do the neuroimaging studies add to the evidence of progression – Renzo Guerrini (Italy) 

 

Session title: Epilepsy and aggression: from brain networks to human behavior  

• Violence and epilepsy: an historical and cultural perspective - Júlia Gyimesi (Hungary) 
• Peri-ictal aggressive behavior - Marco Mula (United Kingdom) 
• Ictal aggression networks: the SEEG contribution - Fabrice Bartolomei (France) 
• Violence during sleep: seizure or parasomnia? - Lino Nobili (Italy) 

 

Session title: Ictal-Interictal Continuum (IIC): Ictal or Interictal?   

• Is it clinically recognizable? – TBA
• EEG challenges - Fabio Nascimento (USA) 
• The role of neuroimaging - Pilar Bosque-Varela (Austria) 
• How aggressively should we treat it? - Nicolas Gaspard (Belgium) 

 

Session title: Artifical intelligence and epilepsy  

• Overview on the use of artificial intelligence in epilepsy  - Stéphane Auvin (France) 
• Principles of machine learing: examples in the epilepsy field - Wesley Kerr (USA) 
• Identification of focal cortical dysplasia on MRI by AI - Sophie Adler (UK) 
• Identification of the epileptogenic zone on MRI by AI –Stefano Meletti (Italy) 

 

Session title: Assessing the impact of genetic diagnosis in clinical care of children and adults with epilepsy  

• Impact of Genetic Testing on Therapeutic Decision-Making in Childhood-Onset Epilepsies - Allan Bayat (Denmark) 
• Genetic Diagnosis Impacts Medical Management for Adult-onset Epilepsies - TBA
• Does the genetic diagnosis in adults with DEE matter? – Francesca Bisulli (Italy) 
• Real-life survey of pitfalls and successes of precision medicine in children and adults with genetic epilepsies - Simona Balestrini (Italy) 

 

Session title: Computational neuroimaging in epilepsy: from algorithms to bedside   

• Multimodal Image Integration for presurgical planning - Irene Wang (USA) 
• Multimodal imaging and SEEG for epileptogenic network delineation - Maxime Guye (France) 
• Open access pipelines for multimodal data fusion, brain connectomics, and presurgical diagnostics in epilepsy patients - Boris Bernhardt (Canada) 
• Multimodal imaging integration: met and unmet needs in clinical setting – TBC 

 

Session title: Breakthrough research in FDS: Clinical, biological and therapeutic advances  

• Introduction: Why change the terminology of Psychogenic non epileptic seizures to Functional/Dissociative seizures - Coraline Hingray (France) 
• Clinical developments in Functional/Dissociative seizures - Chrisma Pretorius (South Africa) 
• Neurobiological advances Functional/Dissociative seizures - TBA
• Therapeutic implications in Functional/Dissociative seizures - W Curt LaFrance, Jr. (USA)  

 

Session title: Ettore Beghi in Memoriam 

• In memoriam – J Helen Cross (UK) 
• Epidemiology/burden of disease– Gunter Kramer (Switzerland) 
• Acute symptomatic seizures – Samuel Wiebe (Canada) 
• SUDEP - TBA
• Neuropsychiatry comorbidities in epilepsy – TBA

Session title: Modern Concepts in Epilepsy Surgery  

Lobar/multilobar resection versus disconnection 

• Periinsular anterior quadrantotomy: Technical description - Roy Thomas Daniel (Switzerland) 
• Frontal lobe resection - Jorge Gonzalez-Martinez (USA) 
• Posterior quadrant disconnections - TBC 
• Posterior quadrant resection - TBC 
• Temporal lobe disconnection - TBC
• Temporal lobe resection - Anna Miserocchi (United Kingdom) 
• The role of MRI in evaluating the completeness of disconnection - Horst Urbach (Germany) 

 

Round table discussion 

The earlier the better- surgical implications 

• Anatomic hemispherectomy in very young children - TBC
• Anaesthesiological challenges and possibilities for epilepsy surgery in very young infants - TBC
• Trends in pediatric epilepsy surgery in the last 20 years: age and country- specific variability Carmen Barba (Italy) 
• Epilepsy surgery for non-drug resistant patients - Laura Tassi (Italy) 
• Surgery for LEATS - TBC

Round table discussion 

Technology in Epilepsy surgery 

• TBD - Luca de Palma (Italy) 
• Current concepts and future perspectives in neuromodulation - Arthur Cukiert (Brazil) 
• The value of robotic applications in epilepsy surgery - Martin Tisdall (United Kingdom) 
• Current role and future perspectives of LITT in Europe - Karl Rössler (Austria) 
• Potentials and Limitations of MRI guided focused ultrasound in the treatment of epilepsy - Gordon Baltuch (USA) 

Round table discussion 

Full-day Teaching Course: Neuroimaging in epilepsy - what the clinician should know  

TBD by Neuroimaging Task Force 

 

Neonatal EEG boot camp 

Short description: The aim of this teaching course is to improve participants’ knowledge in neonatal EEG. In this interactive teaching session, speakers will emphasize key concepts of normal EEG maturation as well as EEG abnormalities seen in different types of brain injury seen in term and preterm infants, neonatal seizures and DEE with onset in the neonatal period. 

- Ronit Pressler (UK) 

- Monika Eisermann (France)  

- Geraldine Boylan (Ireland)  

- Alexander Datta (Swizerland)  

- Sushma Goyal (UK)  

- Cecil Hahn (Canada) 

 

Half-day Teaching Course: Let´s read EEGs together! 

Short description: In the first part, the following theoretical blocks will be addressed: how to localize an EEG abnormality, interictal patterns, ictal patterns, normal variants and artefacts. In the second part, the tutors will read representative EEG samples together with the students.  

• Background activity and interictal abnormalities (identification & localization) - Sándor Beniczky (Denmark) 
• EEG in epilepsy syndromes - Dana Craiu (Romania) 
• Normal variants and artifacts - Fabio Nascimento (USA) 
• ictal abnormalities and correlation with semiology - Margitta Seeck (Switzerland) 

 

Half-day Teaching Course: Neuropsychology for neurologists 

Short description: This course provides an overview of the role of neuropsychological assessments and interventions in both clinical and research settings. It is designed for neurologists, neurophysiologists and other professions working with people with epilepsy.  

• Sallie Baxendale(UK) 
• Sarah Wilson, (Australia) 
• Timothy Ainger, USA 
• TBC (Europe) 

 

Half-day Teaching Course: Syndrome Classification 

Short description: 

This interactive session will use a case-based approach to new ILAE Syndrome classification.  

• Edouard Hirsch (France) 
• Sameer M. Zuberi (UK) 
• Nicola Specchio (Italy) 
• Elaine Wirrell (USA) 

 

Optimizing pharmacotherapy in epilepsy. 

Half-day Teaching Course: Which AED to start with? When to stop? 

Short description: 

This session will address the choice of first AED and discuss the factors that are important for making this decision. In addition, the speakers will discuss the way the AEDs are introduced, when and how to stop them, and the options after the first and second failed AED. 

• Torbjörn Tomson (Sweden) 
• Jacqueline French (USA) 
• Anthony Marson (United Kingdom) 
• Michael Sperling (USA) 
• Stephane Auvin (France) 

 

Half-day Teaching Course: Epilepsy surgery: learn from cases! 

Short description: 

This session will describe the challenges of presurgical evaluation, using case-based learning. 

• Ivan Rektor (Czech Republic) 
• Philippe Kahane (France) 
• Birgit Frauscher (USA) 
• Julia Jacobs Le Van (Canada) 
• Philippe Ryvlin (Switzerland) 

 

Half-day Teaching Course: Status epilepticus  

Short description: 

This session will provide an overview of challenges diagnosing classifying and treating a highly dynamic condition, using case-based learning. 

Speakers TBC 

 

Half-day Teaching Course: Genetic testing: whom, when and what?  

Short description: 

This session will give an overview on the clinical use of genetic testing in patients with epilepsy. 

Speakers TBC 

VIREPA Basic & Advanced EEG 

• Elena Gardella (Denmark) 
• Antonio Valentin (United Kingdom) 

 

VIREPA Paediatric EEG & VIREPA MRI 

• Monika Eisermann (France) 
• Stefan Rampp (Germany) 

 

Advanced EEG: source imaging  

• Sandor Beniczky (Denmark) 
• Stefan Rampp (Germany) 
• Margitta Seeck  (Switzerland) 

 

Video session – paediatric 

• Ronit Pressler (United Kingdom) 
• Nicola Specchio (Italy) 
• Alexis Arzimanoglou (France) 

 

Video session – adult 

• Guido Rubboli (Denmark) 
• Matthew Walker (United Kingdom) 
• Laura Tassi (Italy) 
•  

Immunity, inflammation and epilepsy 

• The immunology underlying of autoimmune epilepsies - Sarosh Irani (United Kingdom) 
• Epileptogenic mechanisms of human autoantibodies - Christian Geis (Germany) 
• Management of patients with suspected autoimmune epilepsy - Christian Bien (Germany) 
• Autoimmune epilepsy in paediatric patients - Sukhvir Wright (United Kingdom) 

 

Epileptic encephalopathies 

• Federico Vigevano (Italy) 
• Alexis Arzimanoglou (France) 
• J Helen Cross (United Kingdom) 
• Ingrid Scheffer (Australia) 

 

Ictal Semiology of Gelastic Seizures: a clue for aetiology?  

• Gelastic Seizures: overview - TBC
• Brain network of happiness, smile, and laughter - TBC 
• Detailed Analysis of Ictal semiology in Gelastic Seizures - Laura Mirandola (Italy)