Neurology Update Meeting 2023 – FND in focus (Ireland with international speakers)

Neurology Update Meeting 2023 – FND in focus


This year’s Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience Annual Neurology Update Meeting was dedicated to the topic of functional neurological disorder. Priscilla Lynch reports

The 22nd IICN Annual Neurology Update Meeting, directed by Dr Aoife Laffan, Consultant Neurologist at St James’ Hospital, Dublin, took place on Friday, 6 October 2023, at the Radisson Blu St Helen’s Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin.

This year’s meeting took on a different format to other years, with the focus of the meeting dedicated to functional neurological disorder (FND). Dr Laffan’s specialist interest is in FND, and she trained/worked with many of the UK experts that spoke on FND during the day.

“FND has been shown to be the second most common presentation to new neurology clinics, and so, despite some reservations within the neurology community that patients with FND would be better served solely by our colleagues in psychological medicine, these patients continue to seek our services, urging us to take responsibility to appropriately diagnose and assist in their management,” said Dr Laffan.

The meeting was highly relevant for specialists and generalists who manage neurological illness, presenting the latest developments in diagnosis and treatment from leading
international practitioners in FND care and research in a practical ‘What you need to know’ format, with short talks providing clinical insights for the management of
FND patients.

“We welcomed many delegates, not only from neurological specialties, but also psychiatry, psychology, general practice, nursing, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy, underscoring the important role of a multidisciplinary approach in optimising outcomes,” Dr Laffan said.

Opening the meeting, Dr Laffan welcomed guests, chairpersons, delegates, and sponsors to the meeting. She especially welcomed her expert guest lecturers, those who had travelled from Edinburgh and London, and those who would join the meeting online from Essen, Germany, and from Toronto, Canada.

She then outlined the programme for the day, which was divided into five sessions.

Detailed report continues at:
https://www.medicalindependent.ie/in-the-news/conference/neurology-update-meeting-2023-fnd-in-focus/
(you may need to say you are medical professional to read it)

 

https://irishpsychiatry.ie/product/neurology-update-fnd-06-10-23/

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME:
08.30 – 09.00 Registration, tea and coffee
09.00 – 09.10 Welcome and Introduction Dr. Aoife Laffan, Meeting Director.



Session I – Chair: Prof. Norman Delanty
09.10 – 09.35 FND: The past, present & future. Dr. Aoife Laffan, St. James’ Hospital, Dublin.
09.35 – 10.00 Functional Seizures Dr. Stoyan Popkirov, University of Berlin
10.00 – 10.15 Questions and Discussion



Session II – Chair: Dr. Conor Fearon
10.20 – 10.45 Functional Movement Disorders Dr. Sarah Lidstone, KITE Research Institute, University of Toronto.
10.45 – 11.10 Other Functional Neurological Disorders Dr. Ingrid Hoeritzauer, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
11.10 – 11.25 Questions and Discussion



11.25 – 11.55 Tea and Coffee



Session III –
11.55 – 12.20 Functional Cognitive Disorder & Long COVID Dr. Laura McWhirter, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
12.20 – 12.45 Sharing the diagnosis of FND & the assessment as treatment. Professor Jon Stone, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
12.45 – 13.00 Question and Discussion
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch



Session IV – Chair: Dr. Karen O’Connell
14.00 – 14.25 Psychiatry & Psychology for FND. Professor Alan Carson, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
14.25 – 14.50 Physiotherapy for FND Dr. Glenn Nielsen, St. George’s University Hospital, London
14.50 – 15.00 Question and Discussion
15.00 – 15.30 Tea and Coffee



Session V – Chair: Prof. Brian Sweeney
15.30 – 15.55 FND is not malingering Professor Jon Stone, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
16.00 – 16.50 Clinical Cases, Questions and Discussion



16.50 Concluding remarks and close of meeting.

 

Well, no. Not those services. Literally the opposite of what is largely dismissed as gaslighting and for good reason. Plus it's really something that neither of those specialties do anything besides the same old pseudoscience, this is a rock and a hard place.

This stuff is truly the dick pics of medicine. No one wants this, but they keep sending them anyway. There is no amount of telling them that no one wants to see it, they just can't stop.