INTERNATIONAL NEUROANESTHESIA NEWS

A Report of the 10th Tiantan International Neuroscience in Anesthesiology Symposium in Beijing, China

Shu Li, MD
Kaiying Zhang
Ruquan Han
Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital,
Capital Medical University,
Beijing, PR China

Shu Li, MD

The Tiantan International Neuroscience in Anesthesiology Symposium (TINAS) was held at the new Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China on May 19, 2018. This symposium was organized by Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University and jointly with Department of Anesthesiology of Capital Medical University, Beijing Society of Anesthesiology, Beijing Society of physiology, Neuroanesthesia branch of Chinese Society of Anesthesiology, and Consciousness and Disorder of Unconsciousness of the Chinese Neuroscience Society.

Beijing Tiantan Hospital is one of the neurosurgical centers in Asia and one of the three main research centers in neurosurgery in the world with a high volume of neurosurgical operations. There are over 1,000 beds in the hospital, half of which belong to neurosurgery service. In 2017, 13,000 neurosurgery operations were completed while neuro-interventional procedures exceeded 6,000. Built in 1956 and remodeled in the 1980s, Beijing Tiantan Hospital was expanded by the Beijing Municipal government. Since then, despite very limited resources, the Department of Anesthesiology in Tiantan Hospital has managed to overcome all the difficulties and collaboratively has provided solid and safe perioperative support to quite a number of complex procedures. After 36 years of strenuous effort, dedication and development by several generations, based on a strong background of neuroscience, the Department of Anesthesiology in Tiantan Hospital has become an important influence and force in the field of neurosurgical anesthesia in China. The Department also has extensive academic collaborations with universities and hospitals in the USA, UK, and many other countries and districts. This bidirectional communication has provided constant academic and personnel development to the department, which builds a solid foundation for thriving in clinical studies and scientific research.

Since 2009, the Department of Anesthesiology has been dedicated to holding Tiantan International Neuroscience in Anesthesiology Symposium (TINAS) every year. From 2009 to 2017, this annual event has been successfully held for nine years.  Many top experts and researchers from North America, Europe and Asia were invited to give cutting-edge lectures on hot topics in neuroanesthesia and neuroscience. This annual conference has successfully established a platform for clinicians and researchers in neuroanesthesia and related disciplines to exchange experience and share achievements. The success of the symposium improved the clinical and research quality of anesthesiology in the department and has added new vitality to the development of neurosurgical anesthesia in China.

In 2018, the brand-new Beijing Tiantan Hospital will be put into use and the number of beds will be increased to 1,650. As the only China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing Tiantan Hospital will gain more influence and keep the leadership in the field of clinical neuroscience.

The 10th TINAS was held in the new Beijing Tiantan Hospital and turned out to be a great successful event. Several professors and experts were nominated to positions ofHonored Professor, Visiting Professor, and Outstanding Contributions to the Academic Development of Anesthesiology for Capital Medical University (CMU).

Outstanding Contributions to the Academic
Development of Anesthesiology at CMU
Professor Adrian W. Gelb (USA)
Professor Rona G. Giffard (USA)
Professor Piyush M. Patel (USA)
Professor Zhiyi Zuo (USA)
Professor TakVai Chan (China)

Visiting Professors at CMU
Professor Daqing Ma (UK), Professor Hilary P. Grocott (Canada), Professor Timothy G. Short (New Zealand) Professor Li Zhang (USA), Professor Holger K. Eltzschig (USA)

Honored Professor at CMU
Professor Adrian W. Gelb

The Department of Anesthesiology of Tiantan Hospital is devoted to exploring the frontier advances of neuroscience and neuroanesthesia by delivering new concepts and new techniques. At this 10th anniversary of TINAS, the organizers also presented the book release ceremony of four important books of neuroanesthesia including ‘Cottrell and Patel's Neuroanesthesia’ (6th Edition, Chinese Version), ‘Monitoring the Nervous System for Anesthesiologists and Other Health Care Professionals’ (2nd Edition, Chinese Version), ‘Neurosurgical Anesthesiology’ (3rd Edition) and ‘Handbook of Neuroanethesiology’ (2nd Edition).

2018 Tiantan International Neuroscience in Anesthesiology Symposium (TINAS)
The symposium commenced with an impressive plenary lecture by Professor Jizong Zhao (China), the Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. This was followed by the presentation of Professor Lize Xiong (China) with his topic of ‘Research Ideas for Brain Protection with Perioperative Medicine.’  ‘Brain Research and Anesthesia’ was the topic of the first session. ‘Depth of Anesthesia Monitoring – understanding and using EEG, SEP & DSA’ was discussed by Adrian W. Gelb (USA), ‘Advanced Neuroimaging of Pain, Analgesia and Anesthesia Induced Altered States of Consciousness’ by Professor Irene Tracey (UK), and ‘Cerebral Oximetry: What is it Really Measuring?’ by Professor Hilary P. Grocott (Canada). The second session focused on ‘Anesthesia for Cerebral Vascular Disease’. In this session, Professor Timothy G. Short spoke on ‘Anesthesia and Physiological Management for Acute Stroke Procedures’ followed by a talk on ‘Management of Patients with Intracerebral Vasospasm Following SAH’ by Professor Hari H. Dash（India. Professor TakVai Chan (China) shared his research perspectives on ‘Statins in subarachnoid hemorrhage.’ The third session focused on ‘Neuro-intensive Care.’ In this session, Professor Jianghong He (China) discussed his presentation on ‘Monitoring and Evaluation for Chronic Disorders of Consciousness’ followed with ‘Anesthetic Choice and Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction’ by Professor ZhiyiZuo (USA) and ‘Surgery, Neuroinflammation and Beyond’ by Professor Daqing Ma (UK).

On the second day of the symposium, in the Anesthesia and Mental Health session, combined with frontier researches in psychology, Professor Gang Wang (China) discussed his topic of ‘Research Advances in Refractory Depression’ and Professor Lin Shi (Belgium) presented her experiences in antidepressants with ‘Advances and Challenges in Developing Antidepressants’ as the regulatory leader of Janssen R&D as well as an anesthesiologist. Professor Wen Paul (Australia) discussed ‘EEG, Brain Model and Machine Learning’ from medical-engineering prospective. As the concept of enhanced recovery gradually gained attention of every medical profession, the fifth session was Neuromonitoring and Enhanced Recovery. Professor Xiaoli Li (China) discussed the techniques to evaluate disorders of consciousness with EEG while Professor Jeffrey J. Pasternak presented his experience of enhanced recovery management and Professor Holger K. Eltzschig (USA) discussed the relationship between enhanced recovery and perioperative organ protection. This was followed by the final session “Neuroprotection: Lab Research.” The presentations were tailored to cover a wide array of basic research topics targeting Neuroprotection. Professor Piyush M. Patel (USA) and Professor Brian P. Head (USA) brought their recent researches on RhoGTPase and caveolin on neuron development while Professor Rona G. Giffard (USA), Professor Bingren Hu (USA), Professor  Creed M. Stary (USA) and Professor Yibing Ouyang (USA) presented the reports of recent studies on microRNAs on ischemic stroke and neuroinflammation.

Pre-Symposium Workshops
Before the symposium, three workshops focused on clinical research, neuroanethesia and pain management were held in Beijing Tiantan Hospital and these three workshops were also the key elements of TINAS Academic Week.

The Advanced Clinical Research Training Workshop was organized by Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Top experts of methodology and anesthesiology from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and domestic experts shared their experience and knowledge in clinical research. More than two hundred attendees presented and devoted their whole week into the training program.

The Advanced Neuroanesthesia Training Program combined the experience of more than 10,000 neurosurgery cases per year with frontier experience of experts in neuroanesthesia from all over the world. Professor Antoun Koht from Northwestern University (USA), Professor Hari Hara Dash from Fortis Memorial Research Institute (India), Professor Piyush M. Patel from University of California, San Diego (USA) and domestic experts from neurosurgery, critical care and anesthesiology, focusing on anesthesia of brain trauma, cerebrovascular disease, brain tumor and cerebral function monitoring as well as frontier advances of neuroanesthesia.

In the Advanced Pain Training Program, we also invited experts with rich experience of craniofacial pain management, cervicogenic headache management and trigeminal neuralgia to share their clinical experience and research ideas of these areas.

As an old Chinese saying goes, "Explore extensively but garner selectively, accumulate steadily but deliver wisely." The TINAS 2018 was completed with accomplishment and fulfillment as a scientific gala for physicians and scientists in anesthesiology and related fields from all over the world. We are looking forward to seeing you at the 11th TINAS symposium next year!