Report of the 17th European Stroke Conference, Nice, May 13–16, 2008

The first official day of the conference, 14 May, opened with parallel sessions held in no less than 7 rooms, on acute stroke, stroke and infections, risk factors and their management, and ditto for diabetes. These sessions were finished in time for general attendance at the highlights of the meeting. First, after an elegant introduction by J. van Gijn, M.G. Bousser, the Johann Jacob Wepfer awardee, gave a wide-ranging presentation, citing the role in research and effect of therapies for women on almost all of the subjects covered. These subjects spanned a scope of over 30 years, starting from the initial TIA trials run by H.J.M. Barnett (including the rarely cited 1958 reference on aspirin benefit by Lawrence Craven in Mississippi Valley Medicine ); CADASIL was reviewed, emphasizing the thick arteries and accompanying rigidity. Two other subjects, hemicraniectomy and closure for patent foramen ovale, were given thoughtful analyses of the clinical outcomes. None present were in doubt as to her mastery (perhaps one should say ‘mistressy’) of the subjects covered, and she finished to thunderous applause. What followed was one of the highlights of the conference, i.e. presenting latest news from large clinical trials. Three of those were from the PRoFESS trial (Prevention Regimen for Effectively Avoiding Second Strokes). Sponsored by Boehringer-Ingelheim and hailed as the largest worldwide study of secondary stroke prevention, the PRoFESS trial randomized over 20,000 patients from 695 No less than 3,665 attendees from 83 countries arrived in Nice for the 17th European Stroke Conference, held at the Acropolis Palais de Congrès et des Expositions facility (in Nice, not Greece). This number continues the trend of increasing attendance (an increase of almost 1,000 people compared to the Glasgow meeting in 2007), reflecting the high profile of the European Stroke Conference. In fact, 165 web pages were needed to detail the program. On the first day, 13 May, a repeat of the increasingly popular workshops and teaching sessions were held, as well as an all-day 2nd TIA Satellite Symposium, chaired by P. Amarenco, and featuring G. Donnan, P. Kelly, P. Sandercock, S. Coutts, M.G. Hennerici, H.-C. Diener, and A. Schwartz, finishing in the afternoon with P.M. Rothwell, A. Buchan, P. Amarenco, and summarized by M.G. Hennerici. The entire gamut of TIA issues was discussed. During the same day, the 2nd Nursing and AHP Day was held for stroke nurses and allied personnel. In the side rooms, 10 individual courses were held on stroke in the newborn and stroke in the elderly, clinical syndromes, poststroke complications and stroke outcome, MRI, and even ‘How to write a good article’. That evening, Jean-Louis Mas welcomed a large crowd, Program Committee chair M.G. Hennerici, and Scientific Committee chair J.M. Ferro, on behalf of his French colleagues, in the Apollo conference auditorium of the venue. Published online: August 23 , 2008