Hope for Victims of Brain Haemorrhage

Newswise — NEWCASTLEGATESHEAD, UK – April 13, 2011 - Brain haemorrhage is the most devastating form of stroke with 40% mortality and 50% serious morbidity rates. Few patients make a good recovery. Surgical removal of the clot has not been confirmed as effective despite the fact that there are thousands of neurosurgeons who believe that there is a role for operation.

In light of these daunting facts, the Joint European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) Annual Meeting - 4th International ICH (Intracerebral Hemorrhage) Conference, taking place on May 2-5, 2011, in NewcastleGateshead, UK, will focus on intracranial haemorrhage, its causes, the mechanisms of brain damage and treatments that are available, both medical and surgical.

The aim of the EANS-4th WORLD ICH congress is to bring experts from around the world to NewcastleGateshead for three days of intense debate and discussion about new and effective treatments. Brain haemorrhage may occur spontaneously as a form of stroke or following accidents and injuries.

With over 30 invited international faculty members and over 200 research papers, EANS-4th WORLD ICH 2011 will appeal to all basic and clinical neuroscientists, stroke physicians, neurosurgeons, neurologists, paediatricians, geriatricians and trauma specialists. Delegates will also meet exhibitors and industrial representatives that make equipment used in the treatment of these patients.

"Having 200 to 300 experts at EANS-4th WORLD ICH 2011 from around the world in one place will provide the best chance of rapid dissemination of the results of modern clinical and experimental research on brain haemorrhage," said Professor David Mendelow, the local host and Vice President of EANS. "This way, patients worldwide will benefit from new treatments as soon as they are proven to be effective."

The EANS-4th WORLD ICH congress will be held at NewcastleGateshead jointly with the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) and the world ICH Group. It will be opened by Councilor Brenda Hindmarsh, the Mayor of Newcastle, and Professor Chris Day, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Newcastle University. It will be followed immediately on Friday 6th May by the Congress of the Euroacademy of Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology (EMN) at the same venue so that rehabilitation is included in this week of intense academic activity about ICH.

Professor Joe Broderick, head of the Institute of Neurosciences in Cincinnati and guest of the Institute of Neurosciences of Newcastle University, was the first to prove that the clot buster drug tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA) was effective in stroke in the NINDS trial. This drug is now in use on a daily basis throughout the world for patients with stroke caused by blockage of brain arteries. The hope is that the same drug will help dissolve haemorrhage within the brain after leakage from brain arteries.

Professor Broderick and Professor Dan Hanley from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore will moderate and describe ongoing trials of clot buster drugs in patients with brain haemorrhage in the MISTIE and CLEAR III trials. They will debate with UK experts Prof Gary Ford of the UK Stroke Research Network, Prof. Andrew Whitelaw of the Paediatric Brain unit in Bristol and Prof David Mendelow, consultant neurosurgeon in Newcastle and chairman of the local organising committee. Their topics will include the STICH II trial about the surgical evacuation of brain hematomas, the DRIFT trial about the use of clot buster drugs in neonates with haemorrhage into the ventricles of the brain and surgery for brain haemorrhage after Head Injury. A section on Spinal Injury will also take place.

Members of the rehabilitation team including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, nurses and neuropsychologists, will also be participating as lecturers and delegates at both the EANS-4th WORLD ICH meeting and the EMN meeting.

Visit www.kenes.com/eans-ich to register and for more information.