First INES

The Commission on European Affairs of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE-CEA) launched a first neuropathology teaching course aimed at colleagues engaged in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy. Thirty-seven colleagues from 25 nations participated. Most had a medical training record in pathology or neuropathology, although some had their background also in neurology, neurosurgery, neuroradiology, neuropsychology, or neurosciences. This multidisciplinary group composition fostered fruitful discussions that were considered most helpful to appreciate the value but also limitations of histopathology diagnosis in epilepsy surgery.

The group was trained during 5 days by six distinguished tutors (Dr. Eleonora Aronica, Amsterdam; Dr. Albert Becker, Bonn; Dr. Ingmar Blumcke, Erlangen; Dr. Hajime Miyata, Akita; Dr. Harvey Sarnat, Calgary; and Dr. Maria Thom, London).

Each tutor mentored his/her own group of six to seven students, helping them to microscopically review and discuss a series of 112 glass slides obtained from 31 surgical specimens selected to cover the large spectrum of epilepsy-related brain lesions and their variants. We also invited distinguished speakers experienced in the field of clinical epileptology (Dr. Eugen Trinka, Salzburg; Dr. Christian Bien, Bielefeld; Dr. Karl Rössler, Erlangen; Dr. Hans Holthausen, Vogtareuth; and Dr. Fernando Cendes, Campinas), who always started the days teaching program with a topic-related plenary lecture introducing the principles of adult or childhood epileptology, modern imaging techniques, or neurosurgical procedures.