Eighth WMS Satellite teaching course: 11-12 October 2010
Teaching objective: To improve the diagnostic competence of professionals dealing with patients with neuromuscular diseases.
Target audience: medical specialists (paediatricians, neurologists, paediatric neurologists, geneticists, neuropathologists) and medical specialists in training, and also other attendees of the WMS congress.
Rationale:
There is a general feeling that diagnosing neuromuscular diseases is cumbersome. This is mainly due to the fact that there are hundreds of different neuromuscular diseases, and in addition each disease in itself is rare. However, taken together the number of patients with neuromuscular disorders is considerable. Different specialists are confronted with patients suffering from a neuromuscular disorder during clinical practice. Neuromuscular disorders may occur in newborns, but also develop at an advanced age. They can have a hereditary origin, an auto-immune pathogenesis, a neurodegenerative nature or they can occur as a complication of a systemic disease.
Diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases requires special skills. It all starts with asking the right questions (clinical and genetic history taking) and performing a thorough clinical examination including manual muscle testing and functional tests. History taking and clinical examination form the basis for additional ancillary investigations which might include electrophysiological studies, muscle or nerve biopsy, genetic testing, muscle imaging, metabolic studies, etc. During higher specialist training it is usual that little attention is paid to neuromuscular disorders. Due to general lack of familiarity with this group of diseases misdiagnosis is not infrequent. It is of utmost importance to establish a correct diagnosis, not only because sometimes neuromuscular diseases are treatable, but also because a precise diagnosis is required for prognostication and genetic counselling. This course provides a context to develop these skills through discussion of patients and review of biopsies. Feedback from the first four courses (held from 2003 onwards) was overwhelmingly positive.
Attendants: max. 40
Venue: Kumamoto University Hospital, Japan
An integrated view on neuromuscular disease
Course description:
Recently, there have been major advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology, molecular genetics and treatment of a good deal of neuromuscular diseases. These discoveries have had a major impact on our ability to establish an accurate diagnosis, on genetic counselling and on our management of these disorders.
The emphasis of this course will be on the clinical approach to the evaluation of patients who present with symptoms of weakness and the interpretation of the muscle biopsy.
The course will be entirely practical and case reports will be presented to highlight key clinical concepts.
There will be the opportunity to discuss the diagnostic approach to patients shown on video, and to look at muscle biopsies. Generous time will be allowed for questions from the audience, and for discussion of difficult topics.
Participants will be encouraged to bring difficult, unusual or unsolved cases for discussion.
For this purpose, each participant will be asked to present one neuromuscular case to be presented and discussed.
For every case he/she should prepare:
1) Two Powerpoint slides
- Slide 1 should contain: a clinical picture/ clinical video demonstrating major clinical characteristics (onset; clinical course; CK; NCV; heredity; others);
- Slide 2 should contain: one pertinent piece of information (e.g.muscle or brain imaging; a family tree; immunofluorescence or Western blot data)
This presentation should not take longer than 3 minutes.
Bring along a maximum of 5 biopsy slides (obligatory: HE, Trichrome plus 3 optional) to be viewed under the microscope and discussed or alternatively bring a powerpoint slide showing the most salient muscle biopsy findings.
Upon completion:
Participants should be able to better recognise a number of important neuromuscular presentations; incorporate up-to-date diagnostic approaches to the patient suspected of a neuromuscular disease; consider the differential diagnosis; apply appropriate tests.
The focus of the course will be on interaction between faculty and course attendants, and on obtaining hands-on experience with clinical examination and reading muscle biopsies.
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Registration
| Registration Category | Fee | Included in the Registration Fee |
|---|---|---|
| With 2 nights accommodation (October 10 and 11) |
JPY60,000 | Participation in sessions, Conference materials, Lunches, Coffee breaks, Reception, Dinner, 2 nights accommodation(October 10 and 11) |
| Without accommodation | JPY50,000 | Participation in sessions, Conference materials, Lunches, Coffee breaks, Reception, Dinner |
Course Hotel: Riverside Hotel Kumamoto (4-12 Kouyaimachi, Kumamoto-city, Tel: +81-76-355-3110)
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The Secretariat
15th International Congress of the World Muscle Society (WMS2010)
c/o ICS Convention Design, lnc.
Chiyoda Bldg., 1-5-18 Sarugakucho,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8499, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3219-3541
Fax: +81-3-3219-3626
Email: wms2010@ics-inc.co.jp
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