PROGRAMME

Major Topics
  • Advanced brain monitoring in the African context: applications, challenges and opportunities
  • Neuromonitoring and neurocritical care in TBI
  • Neuromonitoring and treatment of hydrocephalus
  • Unravelling Intracranial dynamics
  • Advances in brain monitoring technology, biomarkers and informatics
  • Laboratory and translational research
  • Spinal cord injury
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Programme
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Pre-Conference Workshops

The pre-conference works will be taking place on 13 & 14 November at the Neuroscience Institute.  The Neuroscience Institute (NI) was accredited as an interdisciplinary research institute by the University of Cape Town in 2015, building on a legacy of high-impact research programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Jointly funded by the university, the provincial government, and philanthropic donors, the NI is situated on the Groote Schuur Hospital campus and is integrated with the hospital’s first-rate clinical platform. This includes the leading children’s hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. 

This inspirational setting attracts researchers and clinicians from across the region, building a global network addressing the brain-health priorities and challenges of the populations we serve. In aligning with UCT’s Vision 2030, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we strive to be a world-class research institute, contributing to a better future for Africa’s people (Source:  http://www.neuroscience.uct.ac.za/)

We are excited to invite you to join these workshops (pre-registration required).  For more information about the four different workshops being offered please see below:

This half-day workshop will focus on novel technologies for non-invasive brain monitoring. Advanced brain monitors often require invasive procedures which are associated with infrastructural and consumable costs that limit their application in resource constrained environments. Further, these approaches often necessitate advanced neurosurgical expertise, which is limited in many parts of Africa and the global South. Novel non-invasive technologies offer a feasible alternative with lower running costs, broader application, and a greater pool of potential users. Examples of these technologies include ultrasound, transcranial doppler, mobile brain imaging, near infra-red spectroscopy, neurophysiology, and others.

This workshop is directed at neurosurgeons, neurologists, critical care specialists, neurophysiologists, clinical technicians, and scientists.

This half-day workshop will offer education and hands-on training to neurosurgeons on various surgical techniques for treating and monitoring traumatic brain injury, stroke, and hydrocephalus. These will include the insertion of invasive brain monitors (ICP, brain oxygenation), shunt selection and surgery, and neuro-navigation. The workshop will combine dry- and wet-lab training, including simulations, 3-D printed skulls, and cadaver work.

This workshop targets neurosurgeons and neurosurgical trainees.

This full-day workshop will provide hands-on training in the analysis and translational interpretation of neuroscience data. Participant groups will comprise data scientists, neuroscientists and clinicians to ground the data analysis within a multidisciplinary approach that yields real-world application. The course will be hosted by Dr Ari Ecole (anaesthetist, intensive care specialist and data scientist), an expert in novel data analytics applied to the neurocritical care environment. Participants will be trained with clinical data sets and given practical ‘how-to’ advice.

This course welcomes clinicians, data scientists, mathematicians, physicists, computational biologists, and neuroscientists.

This half-day workshop is tailored to offer neuro-critical care insights to general critical care specialists. This is particularly important in Africa where critical care specialists need to offer neurocritical care but often lack the opportunity for neuro-specific training. The lectures will cover intracranial dynamics, the interplay between peripheral- and neuro- critical care, ventilation and monitoring for the neurocritically ill patient, building neurocritical care infrastructure in austere settings, and specific considerations for adults versus children. The panel of speakers will comprise internationally and locally renown experts in this field.

This course targets neuro- and general critical care specialists but all interested clinicians or scientists are welcome.