By Abderrahmane CHAHIDI, Zouhayr SOUIRTI, Mohamed CHRAA, Najib KISSANI, Reda OUAZZANI
Moroccan Society of Neurophysiology & Moroccan League Against Epilepsy, Morocco.
Abderrahmane CHAHIDI
Health care innovation, notably in clinical neurology and neurophysiology, has been rapidly growing over the last few decades, both in terms of therapy and diagnosis. Hence, it is necessary to spread and share information along the various possible paths. In this time of confinement, and to keep abreast of current news, mainly in the developing regions of the world, the Moroccan Society of Neurophysiology IFCN Chapter and the Moroccan League Against Epilepsy ILAE Chapter organized a series of Expert Webinars over three months (May, June, and July 2020) and focused on topics of concern to the clinicians in their daily practice, particularly in the field of clinical neurology and neurophysiology (EEG, EMG, EP, IONM, PSG, TMS, Epilepsy, Neuromuscular diseases, Sleep, Neurostimulation, etc.). The webinar language can be English or French, and many renowned experts in the different fields of clinical neurology and neurophysiology kindly accepted our invitation.
Zoom session snapshot from Prof. Kaji’s talk.
This innovative initiative aims to animate the field of clinical neurology/neurophysiology in our context and boost synergies between the players in various medical and surgical disciplines involved in neurology. Highly supported by the scientific community, the Clinical Neurophysiology Expert Webinars discussed the daily challenges faced by practitioners in teaching clinical cases.
Example of a full Q&A session after Prof. Kaji’s talk.
These webinars had the following objectives: ensuring the continuity of the teaching of young people and the continuing education of specialists and practitioners, substituting for the scientific days, meetings, congresses, and training courses usually organized at this time of the year, perpetuating solidarity and collaboration between national and international professionals, and reinforcing the relationships between the SMNPH, IFCN, and WFN. Finally, another objective is to unify the efforts of scientific societies to address the multiple global health challenges caused by the various pandemic threats to humanity, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
This initiative was inaugurated with an EEG and epilepsy course led by Prof. Ron Lesser focusing on EEG interpretation, including normal EEG interpretation (techniques, artifacts, and normal aspects) and pathological EEG interpretation (epileptic abnormalities and non-epileptic abnormalities), and Prof. Gregory Krauss, who presented a lecture on nonepileptic events often misidentified as seizures (psychogenic seizures and syncope).
The second session of lectures, dedicated to EMG and neuromuscular diseases, took place the next day. Prof. Henry Kaminski from George Washington University talked about the diagnosis and treatment of ocular myasthenia gravis. In addition, we were gratified by the participation of Prof. Ryuji Kaji (First Vice President, WFN, Japan), as our special invited speaker, who provided an update on the electrodiagnosis of ALS and related disorders.
The Moroccan Neurophysiology Society (MNPS) has been excited to receive the feedback from the participants who have enormously appreciated these new ways of scientific meetings and who keep asking for more webinars.
The program, which concluded July 30, included more than 40 presentations that were presented by a variety of expert speakers and moderators. •
