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VOLUME 27, ISSUE 4 • December, 2023. Full issue »

Course focuses on advancing treatment in Southern Cone region

The MDS-PAS State of the Art of Movement Disorders in the Southern Cone Course was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 27-28, 2023.

The course was organized to overcome educational barriers in education in Movement Disorders in the region, with the goal of improving care of patients living with movement disorders and their families.

More than 102 people from Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Perú, Colombia, México, Panama, Canada, and Argentina attended the course.

Attendees received a pleasant educational experience based in the discussion of real-life cases with interactive engagement. The course covered an update on the most advanced aspects of diagnosis and treatment in Parkinson's disease (PD), atypical parkinsonisms (APD), essential tremor (ET), dystonia, and chorea according to the modality of regional neurological practice.

During day 1, there were lessons on:

The scenery of symptomatic treatment of PD in the Southern Cone (Pedro Chana, Chile)
The complex genetics of PD (Emilia Gatto, Argentina)
Pragmatic approach to imaging in Parkinsonisms (Antonio Strafella, Canada)
DBS Surgery in the Southern Cone: PD, ET, and Dystonia (Marcelo Merello, Argentina)
The diagnosis and management of Atypical Parkinsonisms in the Southern Cone (Gabriel Mizraji, Argentina)
The diagnosis and management of adult-onset Dystonia in the clinic (Claudia Uribe Roca, Argentina)
Diagnostic aspects and genetic counseling in Huntington´s Disease in the Southern Cone (Laura Jardim, Brazil)

In the afternoon, attendees broke into smaller groups for live patient consultation rounds to discuss real-life cases in early and advanced PD, APD, chorea, dystonia and ataxia, and joined industry skills workshops on advanced therapies like DBS surgery for PD, ET, and dystonia, and the use of Apomorphine infusion pumps in PD. Representatives of DBS manufacturers and Apomorphine infusion pumps presented leads and devices available in the region, and participants and faculty discussed indications and programming of these devices.

Day 2 of the Course focused on:

The landscape of management of ataxia (Mayela Rodriguez Violante, Mexico) and tremor (Adriana Cardozo, Uruguay)
The use of botulinum toxin in Dystonia in the Southern Cone (Nelida Garretto, Argentina)
Cognitive and psychiatric manifestations in Parkinsonisms (Carolina Velázquez, Paraguay)
Infusion therapies in the Southern Cone for Advanced PD patients (Cecilia Peralta, Argentina)
Disparities and opportunities in the practice of Movement Disorders in the Southern Cone (Erick Gonzalez Delgado, Bolivia).

At the end of the Course, the Faculty joined together for final remarks, which turned into a lively exchange with the audience. The group noted that the ambience of the course provided a thoroughly enjoyable teaching and learning experience, and discussed directions for networking collaborations. It created a sense that the course had accomplished its objectives.