4th Eastern Mediterranean Epilepsy Congress

The 4th East Mediterranean Epilepsy Congress (EMEC) was held on 16th-18th February 2017 in the city of Luxor on the east bank of the Nile River in Southern Egypt. It is on the site of ancient Thebes, the pharaohs’ capital at the height of their power during the 16th to 11th centuries BC. The congress took place in the beautifully located Steigenberger Nile Palace hotel, on the east bank of the Nile River, and hosted more than 360 delegates from 30 countries. The majority of participants came from the neighboring countries, as well as countries as far away as Argentina and Afghanistan.

The Welcome Ceremony was chaired by Hassan Hosny, Chair of the ILAE Commission on Eastern Mediterranean Affairs, Chahnez Triki, Chair of the IBE Eastern Mediterranean Regional Committee, Emilio Perucca, President of the ILAE, Thanos Covanis, President of the IBE, and the Governor of Luxor, Mohamed Badr. After the welcome speeches, the attendees joined a welcome reception by the east bank of the Nile River at the hotel.

The four themes of the congress were: 1. Drug resistant epilepsy; 2. Genetic generalized epilepsies; 3. Auto-immune epilepsy; and 4. Status epilepticus.

During the three congress days, epilepsy experts from the CEMA region and the rest of the world presented exciting discoveries, novel fresh ideas, challenging projects and discussed many hot scientific and practical epileptological questions.

The scientific program consisted of a pre-congress EEG teaching course which was attended by over 100 delegates. The next two days included numerous scientific sessions as well as 4 sponsored satellite symposia. A joint WFN/ILAE/CEMA special symposium was held on the second day, focusing on the collaboration between the two societies. The symposium was chaired by Emilio Perucca, ILAE and Raad Shakir, WFN. In addition, a guided poster tour included over 30 posters.

Finally, the amazing stable sunny weather, the unique beauties of the river Nile, Karnak and Luxor temples, Valley of Kings and Queens on the west bank of the river resulted in an unforgettable event for most of the delegates, and they left Luxor with positive experiences, warm impressions, and a lot of inspiring ideas in their minds.

Hassan Hosny and Chahnez Triki
Scientific and Organizing Committee Co-chairs