The much awaited Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons 21st National Conference; hosted by the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre took place at Hotel Sheraton, Karachi recently. The timing of the conference could not have been better as the weather in Karachi was just perfect, combining the refreshing winter breeze with clear sky and warm comforting sunshine. The scientific program foretold a blend of all aspects of modern neurosurgery and promised two days of rich academic exchange. The conference officially started with opening remarks from Chairman Organizing Committee and Director General of Health Professor Rashid Jooma, followed by a remembrance session, in memory of the (Late) Professors Ayub Ommaya and father of Neurosurgery in Pakistan Professor OV Jooma. It has been a tradition of the society to start its national conference every year with tributes in honour of society's past members and these memorial lectures are delivered by especially invited honorable guests. The session was moderated by Professor Ahmed Ali Shah, Dr Salman Sharif and Dr Amer Mohamad Panezai. The Ayub Khan Ommaya memorial lecture was delivered by Professor Ali Ansari, Professor Emeritus and ex secretary of health Government of Sind. He spoke about the intricacies of thought and emotion, and the OV Jooma memorial lecture by Professor Maximilian Mehdorn from Kiel, Germany, who presented a current update on deep brain stimulation. Mrs Ayub Ommaya had especially flown in from US for this very touching session.

The next session was regarding minimally invasive neurosurgery and was chaired by PSN President Elect Professor Tariq Salahuddin and Dr Ejaz Asalam. The session started with a talk by Professor Sandeep Vaishya from New Delhi, India who spoke about the role gamma knife in the management of intracranial arteriovenous malformations. Professor Vashya and his wife had come from India despite the tension on the borders to show the strength of the friendship between Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons and Indian people. The session included talks by Dr Abid Saleem from NMI Karachi, Dr Umer Farooq from Dow University and Dr Zubair Tahir from Aga Khan University. Dr Arshad Ali from JPMC Karachi gave talk on neuroembolization and Dr Salman Sharif from Liaquat National Medical School Hospital spoke about priciples and tips for endoscopic transphenoidal pituitary surgery and   The last pre-lunch session was on research and training in neurosurgery which was chaired by Professor Junaid Ashraf and had two talks. The first talk was delivered by Professor Russell J Andrews from NASA AMES California, USA who spoke about fellowship opportunities for young neurosurgeons and neurosurgery trainees. The session concluded with a talk by Dr Shahzad Shamim from AKUH Karachi, which was followed by concurrent meetings of the Executive Body of PSN and YNF, later followed by lunch at the Sumbal Hall.

The afternoon session commenced with talks on infection in neurosurgical practice, chaired by Professor Russell Andrews and had talks by Dr Shahzad Shamim from AKUH Karachi, Dr Irfanullah Shah from Dow University Karachi, Dr Sohail Umerani from Liaquat National Hospital Karachi, Dr Salman Jaffary from Lahore General Hospital Lahore and Dr Kishore Kumar from Karachi. The next session was regarding spinal injuries and was chaired by Dr Ahmed Irfan. The session featured interesting talks by Dr Sohail Umerani and Dr Faheem Shaikh from LNH Karachi, and Dr Naqeebullah Achakzai from BMC Quetta. This was followed by the last scientific session on non traumatic spinal pathologies and was chaired by Dr Tariq Khan. The session had presentations by Dr Mumtaz Ali from Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar,  Omar Kazmi, a medical student from AKUH Karachi, Dr Muzaffar from DUHS Karachi and Dr Amer Saghir from LNH Karachi.
This concluded the scientific program for the day and after a short break, the participants proceeded to the historical Governor House, for dinner hosted by His Excellency the Governor of Sind Dr Ishratul Ibad, in honour of the Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons. The delicious meal within the prestigious Governor House was made even more memorable by the informal speeches by Professors Rashid Jooma and Tariq Salahuddin, taking the guests down memory lane while talking about the society's humble beginnings and the evolution of neurosurgery in Pakistan. The speakers also thanked all the conference participants, especially the foreign participants for coming to Pakistan during the current difficult times. The dinner ended with a short speech by the Governor of Sind, praising the efforts of the society and promising maximum support to help in further development of neurosurgery in Pakistan.

The proceedings of the second day of the Scientific Program at Sheraton Hotel for the 21st National Conference of Neurosurgery started with the Iftikhar Ali Raja memorial lecture by Professor Russell J. Andrews from NASA AMES USA on “Update in Nano-Neurosurgery”. This was followed by a thought provocative lecture on “Management of Brachial Plexus Injury” by Dr. Sandeep Vaishya from Max Neurosciences New Delhi, India. This was Professor Javed Majeed Mian’s memorial lecture.

Thereafter papers were presented in the sessions for pain management, anesthesia, outcomes in neurosurgery and Neuro Oncology. There were interesting papers by Shahzad Shamim, Manzar Hussain, Rameez ul Hassan and Halima Tabani from AKUH, Qazafi Memon from Sir Syed, Saeed Mazhar from DUHS, Ameer Mohammad from BMC Quetta, Nauman Shakeel and Baber Butt from LGH, Mumtaz Ali and Shahid Ayub from Peshawar and Aftab Querieshy from Hyderabad. Professor Maximillian Mehdoran from Germany gave an informative and comprehensive overview of the latest treatment of Brain tumors in west. He showed that with latest form of surgical and medical treatment, the survival in brain tumors has improved dramatically.
At the end of the session traditional Ajrak/ sindhi cap and souvenirs were given to the foreign speakers by Director General Health, Professor Rasheed Jooma. Mementos were also awarded to the pharmaceutical companies supporting the conference and to the organizers. Mr Qaiser Waheed, director Medisure and his team was especially awarded for their generous contribution and support. Dr. Shahzad Shahmim from AKUH, Karachi got a Gold Medal for the best research paper competition conducted by Young Neurosurgical forum and Dr. Mohammad Sohail Umerani from LNH, Karachi was awarded with the first prize 25 thousand rupees for the best paper presentation in the conference. Dr. Babar Butt from LGH received the runner up 15000 cash award while a medical student from AKUH Halima Tabani received the cash price of Rs 10000.  The encouragement of our trainees with awards and cash price will surely motivate them to excel in their research and presentations in the future. Professor Rasheed Jooma and Professor Sattar Hashim thanked all the organizers and presenters. The next meeting of the Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons will be held at Lahore General Hospital in 2009, organized by Professor Nazeer Ahmed. We wish him the best of luck!

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