INTERNATIONAL NEUROANESTHESIA NEWS
AIIMS Neuroanaesthesia Update 2017
Varun Jain MBBS, MD, DM; Girija Prasad Rath MBBS, MD, DM
Department of Neuroanaesthesiology and Critical Care
Neurosciences Centre
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)
New Delhi, India
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Professor P. K. Bithal sharing his experience with reflex sympathetic hyperactivity in head injured patients |
Continuing with the success of previous years, the Department of Neuroanaesthesiology and Critical Care at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi organized the fifth consecutive AIIMS Neuroanaesthesia Update October 5-7, 2017. The update was followed by a 1½ day course of ‘AIIMS Neurological Life Support’. The AIIMS Neuroanaesthesia Update was started in the year 2013 with the idea of providing a unique platform for the anesthesiologists of India to exchange knowledge and information, share experience, and to interact with the dedicated practitioners of neuroanaesthesiology and neurocritical care. It has regularly been organized since then, and this year, more than 200 delegates participated in the event.
The meeting was started on October 5 with two workshops on Transcranial Doppler (TCD) Ultrasonography and Neuromonitoring. The instructors for the TCD workshop were Dr. Deepak Sharma and Ms. Anne Moore (UW, Seattle, USA), and Dr. Girija Prasad Rath (AIIMS, India). The workshop on neuromonitoring included lectures followed by demonstrations at the skill-stations on ICP and Cerebral Microdialysis by Drs. Deepak Gupta, Charu Mahajan, and Shweta Kedia (New Delhi) and neurophysiologic monitoring by Drs. Tumul Chowdhury and Marshall F. Wilkinson (Winnipeg, Canada) and Dr. Surya Dube (New Delhi). It was followed by hands learning of central venous cannulation using ultrasonography by Drs. Keshav Goyal and Niraj Kumar (New Delhi).
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| Hands-on session during the TCD workshop. |
On October 6, the session started with live telecasts of two neurosurgical procedures (awake craniotomy for motor strip lesion and conus medullaris tumor with intraoperative neuromonitoring) from the neurosurgery theatres in the JL Auditorium. It was coordinated by Dr. Hemant Bhagat (Chandigarh) and Dr.Virendra Jain (Gurgaon) and was a unique experience for the audience who actively participated in discussion for management of these complex cases.
The lecture series commenced with a session on Technological Advancements by Dr. Prasanna Bidkar (Puducherry). Dr. Marshall F. Wilkinson discussed how Neurophysiologic Monitoring is essential to neurosurgical practice. In the subsequent Neurotrauma Session, Dr. Parmod Bithal (KSA) explained various manifestations of Paroxysmal Sympathetic Hyperactivity, Dr. Deepak Sharma discussed the Anaesthetic Management of Spine Injury and Dr. Manish Marda (Noida) discussed the Updated Guidelines and Recommendations in Management of Head-injured Patients. Twenty-five e-posters were displayed during the update.
In the post-lunch session, there was an interactive case discussion about Management of a Patient with Second Trimester Pregnancy Presented with Large Left Parasagittal Meningioma. Delegates actively participated and thoroughly enjoyed the session with expert input from Dr. Pragati Ganjoo (New Delhi) and Dr. S. Manikandan (Trivandrum). Subsequently, there was the session on Coagulation Abnormalities in Neurosurgery. Drs. Kavita Sandhu (New Delhi), Swagata Tripathy (Bhubaneswar), and Saurabh Anand (Gurgaon) explained the management of various such situations, in detail. Later, there were video sessions during which Dr. Prasanna Bidkar demonstrated placement of a SjVO2 catheter and Dr.Vishwas Malik (New Delhi) showed different uses of trans-esophageal echocardiography (TEE) in neurosurgical scenarios.
Last quarter of the day started with a panel discussion on Future Generation of Anesthesiologists: What Professional Qualifications Should We Aim For?, moderated by Professor Mary Abraham. The panelists reached a conclusion that with growing technological advancements and more focused surgeries, it is necessary for the anesthesiologists to choose a domain of sub-specialisation in order to achieve early growth in their professional career. This was followed by a pro-and-con debate on Goal-directed Therapy and Fluid Choice in Neurosurgical Patients wherein Dr. Sujoy Banik (Canada), Dr. Kiran Jangra (Chandigarh), Rahul Yadav (New Delhi) and Dr. Vasudha Singhal (Gurgaon) participated. A quiz-competition was conducted for the resident anaesthesiologists by Drs. Tumul Chowdhury, Varun Jain, and Surya Dube. The first day of scientific scheduling ended with a gala dinner and live music show.
On October 7, the session started with talks on Cerebral Autoregulation by Dr. Ramamani Mariappan (Vellore), Biomarkers of Neuronal Injury by Dr. H. K Venkatesh (Bengaluru), and on Translational Research by Dr. V. J. Ramesh (Bangaluru). This was followed by a session on Pediatric Neuroanesthesia wherein Dr. Mihir Pandia discussed the Practical Considerations in Pediatric Neuroanesthesia Practice and Dr. Monica Tandon (New Delhi) described Difficult Pediatric Airway Scenarios. Dr. S. Manikandan talked about Dexmedetomidine, Dr. Bhavna Hooda (New Delhi) talked about tranexamic acid, and Dr. Ankur Luthra (Chandigarh) discussed Ketamine in neuroanesthesia practice. After that, Brain-Heart Interactions were explained by Dr. Tumul Chowdury, and Brain-Lung Crosstalk: A complex interaction! was elaborated by Dr. M. Radhakrishnan. Both the speakers demonstrated with several examples how heart and lungs play in tandem with brain in defining the disease process.
Later, Dr. Nidhi Gupta (New Delhi) discussed Non-convulsive Status Epilepticus and Dr. V. Ponniah (Chennai) discussed Recent Advances in Managing Stroke Patients. This was followed by discussion about emergency situations encountered in operating room by Drs. Ranadhir Mitra (Bhubaneswar), M. Srilata (Hyderabad) and Vivek Sharma. There was another video session in which Dr. Renu Bala (Rohtak) demonstrated how to perform ICP measurements using Trans-occular Ultrasonography and Dr. Navdeep Sokhal demonstrated USG-guided arterial cannulation.
