Invitation


Alessandra Biondi MD, PhD

President WFITN 2019


Chief of the Department of Neuroradiology and Endovascular Therapy
Jean Minjoz University Hospital
- Besançon, France

Mario Muto MD

President WFITN 2019


Chief of the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Neuroradiology
Department Neuroscience of Cardarelli Hospital
- Naples, Italy

WELCOME MESSAGE

Dear Colleagues, dear Friends,

it is a great honor and privilege for us to welcome you in Naples to the 15th congress of the WFITN, held from 21st to 24th October 2019.

The goal of our scientific society is to keep trained members and to share worldwide experience. As usual, a mix of clinical diagnostic knowledge and technical skills will characterize our meeting, underlining that teams in which the target is the patient obtain the best result.

The meeting will be organized in plenary sessions and morning and lunch seminars; more space is going to be available to young researchers to which we will dedicate specific sessions for worldwide talent.
Important hot topics will be discussed, there will be the area of labs and hands-on courses to experience new devices and materials.

There will be the possibility of benefit from Educational Grants provided by MedTech Member Companies to support medical education.

We hope that you will enjoy the Congress and that your interaction with your colleagues from many different countries will stimulate a creative exchange of ideas.

We are confident that the crucial importance of the contribution that everyone will bring to this event will make this experience unforgettable, and will be another starting point for the future scientific progress of the international interventional and therapeutic Neuroradiology.

Again, we are delighted to welcome you and we hope and trust that you will enjoy your visit to the very beautiful and exciting city of Naples.
Alessandra Biondi
Mario Muto
The 15th WFITN Presidents

Michael Söderman, MD, Associate Professor

President WFITN


Vice President Symposium Neuroradiologicum (Taipei)
Head Neurointervention, Dept of Neuroradiology
Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Dear Colleagues, dear Friends,

Thirty years ago, a few medical pioneers practiced Interventional Neuroradiology. Coming from many specialties, with different backgrounds and nationalities, they formed from the beginning an international community. This small group has since grown tremendously and techniques have certainly improved. The benefit to the patients has been verified in large studies. As a result, neurointervention is today an integrated part of any neurovascular center.

So, we have indeed been very successful!

However, there are still many hurdles. The most obvious is the lack of trained INR specialists to take in charge the increased demand for thrombectomy. This has created a situation when it is tempting for physicians without proper training to perform INR procedures.

During the Gold Coast congress was created a multi-society document: “Training Guidelines for Endovascular Ischemic Stroke Intervention: An International multi-society consensus document”, published simultaneously in the twelve participating societies journals. This powerful document has been very helpful to our friends in the USA.

As this is written, we are in the process of finalizing a second multi-society document, created during the Budapest congress: “Standards of Practice in Acute Ischemic Stroke Intervention”.

Such documents may seem a little boring but are extremely important since they define our specialty; the training and the competence required performing endovascular procedures in the brain, in this case mechanical thrombectomy.

The intention is to continue and deepen this collaboration with all major neuroscience societies, to create common documents, guidelines and research projects. Common goals and scientific collaboration are very important not only for relationships between societies but also for personal reasons. A great opportunity to renew old friendships and create new bonds is the WFITN biannual congress, this time in Naples. There are many cities around the world, but Naples is very special. It is situated in a magnificent bay, between the beauty, the island Capri, and the beast, the volcano Vesuvius. It is a very old city with many interesting museums, pieces of art and artifacts. Do not miss the “Veiled Christ” in the Sansevero Chapel! The center of the city is a world heritage; take your time to stroll along the narrow streets.

The food is well known to be excellent and here you can get the best pizza in the world! Naples was an advocate for Italian unification during the Neapolitan War. Let Naples be the place where we all unite, share our knowledge, create new friendships and enjoy a great meeting!

Our hosts will be Alessandra Biondi and Mario Muto. They will for sure create an excellent program.

Looking forward to meeting Naples for the XVth WFITN congress!

Michael Söderman - WFITN President


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