Minutes of the 16^th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Neuroanaesthesiology and Critical Care: ISNACC 2015, 30th January – 1st February 2015, Lucknow, India

The 16^th annual conference of Indian Society of Neuroanesthesiology and Critical Care 2015 was organized by the Department of Anaesthesiology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow from January 30, to February 1, 2015. “The City of Nawabs,” an amalgamation of old and modern, offered an academic extravaganza along with its traditional hospitality. Over 150 registered attendees from all over world came together for exchange and dissemination of high-level scientific research in various areas of neuroanaesthesiology. The city tour arranged on the eve of conference was a pleasing experience. It provided a unique glimpse of Lucknow’s remnants of rich historic past.

The conference opened with a welcome address, followed by the session on “Newer concepts in management of head injury.” Dr. Bhadri Narayan (Bengaluru) spoke on “Brain monitoring in head injury,” followed by talks on “Infection control in head injured patients,” “Role of dexmedetomidine in head injury” and “Role of hypothermia in traumatic head injury” by Dr. Afzal Azim (Lucknow), Dr. Parmod Bithal (New Delhi), and Dr. June Goh (Singapore), respectively. A short tea break was followed by the session on “Cognition and Neuroprotection.” Dr. Pedro Amorim (Portugal) gave a talk on “Cerebral toxicity of anaesthetic” and Dr. G S Umamaheswara Rao (Bengaluru) discussed about the “Strategies for preconditioning and their feasibility.” The other two lectures of this session were “Protecting the brain during neurologic/neurosurgical interventions” and “Rehabilitation of the brain” by Dr. Indranil Ghosh (Kolkata) and Dr. Venkatesh H Kesavan (Bengaluru), respectively. Dr. Malathi oration was delivered by Arun K Gupta (UK) on “Brain oxygenation and metabolism.”

A Parallel morning session comprising of workshop on “Neuromonitoring” was conducted under the stewardship of Dr. Mary Abraham (Noida). The workshop was conducted in two sessions. The first session consisted of informative lectures, followed by second, hands-on session for the participants. A pretest was carried out by Dr. Hemanshu Prabhakar (New Delhi), followed by seven presentations, one each on “Intracranial Pressure monitoring” (Dr. Vasudha Singhal, Gurgaon); “Transcranial Doppler” (TCD) (Dr. Hemanshu Prabhakar, New Delhi); “Electroencephalography based monitors” (Dr. Gyaninder Pal Singh, New Delhi); “Evoked Potential monitoring” Dr. Manish Marda, Noida); “Cerebral Oximetry” (Dr. Virendra Jain, Gurgaon); “Cerebral Microdialysis” (Dr. Girija Rath, New Delhi); and “Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter monitoring” (Dr. Renu Bala, Rohtak).

The postlunch session concentrated on “Paediatric Neuroanaesthesia” with lectures on “Procedural sedation and analgesia in children,” “Management of Difficult airway in Paediatric neurosurgical patients,” “Cerebral dynamics of inhalational agents in children” and “Anaesthesia for Brain abscess in a child with Tetrology of Fallot” by Drs. Rattan Chellani (Mumbai), Mihir Pandia (New Delhi), Sucharita Chakravarti (Kolkata) and PonniahVanamoorthy (Chennai), respectively. It was, followed by session on “Current issues,” during which Dr. L D Mishra (Varanasi) and Dr. Prashant Kumar (Rohtak) delivered lectures on “Nitrous oxide in Neuroanaesthesia” and “Volume replacement in neurosurgery,” respectively.

For the 1^st time, the poster presentations were carried out in an e-poster format, which was very much appreciated. These presentations were carried out and judged on both 1^st and 2^nd day of the conference. Preliminary round of the quiz for postgraduate students was conducted by Dr. Hemant Bhagat (Chandigarh) and Dr. Charu Mahajan (New Delhi), on the basis of which teams for final round of the quiz were decided.

The 2^nd day commenced with a session on “What is new in Neuroanaesthesia” by distinguished Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Panel. The talks were delivered on “Day care neurosurgery,” “Updates in Anaesthesia for major spinal fusion surgery” and “Updates in anaesthetic management of intracranial aneurysms” by Dr. Pirjo Manninen (Canada), Dr. Lorri Lee (US), Dr. John Bebawy (US), respectively. The next session was on “Spine surgery.” Dr. Padmaja Durga (Hyderabad) spoke on “Securing airway in patients with cervical cord injury,” Dr. Matthew Chan (Hong Kong) on “Monitoring the spinal cord,” Dr. Ramamani Mariappan (Vellore) on “One lung ventilation for surgical approach to thoracic spine” and Dr. Jae Y Kwon (Korea) on “Postoperative pain management after spine surgery.”

This was, followed by Dr. Gode Oration, by Dr. Amna Goswami on “Brain Death.” Her talk comprising of scientific and spiritual content left everyone in a trance and touched a chord with all. Audience gave a huge applause along with a much deserving standing ovation.

In the afternoon session, Dr. Neus Fabregas (Spain), Dr. S Manikandan (Thiruvanathapuram), Dr. Vincent Bonhomne (Belgium), Dr. Prasanna Bidkar (Puducherry) delivered lectures on “Anaesthesia for craniotomy in sitting position,” “Role of transesophageal echocardiography in neuroanesthetic practice,” “Monitoring depth of Anaesthesia” and “TCD in the current era,” respectively.

Simultaneously, problem-based learning discussions were carried out in groups comprising of 15–20 participants each, on “Brain dead patient in neonatal intensive care unit for organ retrieval” by Dr. Sanjith Saseedharan (Mumbai) and Saurabh Anand (Gurgaon); “Neurosurgery in patients with coronary stent” by Dr. Pragati Ganjoo (New Delhi) and Dr. Nidhi Gupta (New Delhi) and “Anaesthesia for functional neurosurgery” by Dr. Joseph Monteiro (Mumbai) and Hemangi Karnik (Mumbai).

A Panel discussion on “Teaching and training program in neuroanaesthesia and critical care” took place in evening session. Dr. Dilip Kulkarni (Hyderabad) moderated the session with panelists being Dr. HH Dash (Gurgaon), Dr. Pirjo Manninen (Canada), Dr. Rajiv Chawla (New Delhi) and Dr. Radha Krishnan (Bengaluru). This was, followed by General Body Meeting. The ensuing Shaam-e-Avadh comprised of a lively cultural program and delicious food.

Third and last day of conference comprised of morning session on “Neurointensive care” which included talks on “Predictors of functional outcome in neurocritical care” by Dr. Harsh Sapra (Gurgaon), “Use of ultrasonography in trauma patients” by Dr. Vivek Bharti Sharma (Udhampur) and “Pearls and pitfalls in the intensive care management of Gullian–Barre syndrome” by Dr. Jaya Wanchoo (Gurgaon). Final round of the quiz was conducted by Dr. Hemant Bhagat (Chandigarh) and Dr. Charu Mahajan (New Delhi).

An audience participation session, involving active participation of faculty and delegates on “Research priorities in neuroanaesthesia” was conducted by Dr. Hemanshu Prabhakar (New Delhi) and Dr. Ankur Luthra (New Delhi). A quick tea break was, followed by Prof. Hariwir Singh oration by Dr. Bharati Kondwilkar (Mumbai) on “Pitfalls in neurotrauma Anaesthesia.”

The next session was on “How I do it?” which dealt with the practical issues of neuroanaesthesia management. Dr. Parul Srivastava (New Delhi) discussed about “Aneurysm clipping,” Dr. Sanjay Agarwal (Dehradun) talked about “Craniosynostosis,” Dr. Kavita Sandhu (New Delhi) discussed “Pregnant patient with arteriovenous malformation for embolization” and Dr. Nidhi Panda (Chandigarh) spoke about “Management of postcardiac arrest management.”

The conference concluded with a valedictory function, prize distribution ceremony, followed by lunch.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).