SNACC held its second Annual Virtual Clinical Symposium on April 27, 2024, and it was another wonderful success. This annual tradition, which was initiated by Dr. Alana Flexman, provides an easily accessible update on new developments in neuroanesthesia to a broad range of clinicians. The topics cover the most relevant areas of neuroanesthesia and are of interest not only to full-time neuroanesthesiologists, but also to general anesthesia practitioners who want to brush up on their knowledge and skills for the occasional neuroanesthesia case. By providing content that is immediately clinically relevant, the clinical symposium provides a nice complement to the academically focused SNACC Annual Meeting. This year’s symposium, which was organized by Drs. Alana Flexman, John Bebawy, and Ines Koerner, was once again very well-attended, with over 90 registered participants from across the globe and a large number of non-SNACC members attendees, who hopefully will be enticed by the experience to join SNACC and take full advantage of our broad range of additional educational offerings.
Topics covered at this year’s symposium included an update on anesthesia for craniotomy with Jason Chui, Sandy Kisilevski, and Lauren Dunn discussing current evidence and best practices for awake craniotomy, hemodynamic management of intracranial surgeries, and post-craniotomy pain control. Bhiken Naik provided an engaging update on current trends TBI management. Leah Acker, Sarah Biel, and Arney Abcejo provided excellent recommendations for the management of neuroanesthesia emergencies such as intraoperative seizure, malignant cerebral edema, and the feared venous air embolism. The afternoon was dedicated to best practices in anesthesia for spine surgery and for interventional neuroradiology. Louanne Carabini, Jackie Morano, and Kan Ma reviewed and discussed current evidence and recommendations for intraoperative neuromonitoring and transfusion practices in spine surgery as well as complex pain management. Jeff Pasternak and Jamie Uejima provided an overview of perioperative hemodynamic management in the neuroradiology suite and presented illustrative cases of intraprocedural complications and management in this remote environment. Engaging lectures on management of perioperative stroke by Phil Vlisides and the connection between anesthetic technique and delirium by Nicolai Goettel rounded out the day. Excellent discussions with the highly engaged audience further enhanced everyone’s learning and a sense of community. The clinical symposium has clearly established itself as a highlight of spring education that is worth marking our calendars for. For those who missed this year’s live symposium, the recordings are still available for purchase on the SNACC website.
