Call for Poster Abstracts

Deadline for Submission of Poster Abstracts: July 31, 2008


Participants are requested to submit poster abstracts on a topic on Dystonia to the Congress Organisers INTERPLAN together with the Congress registration form and fees. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Medical Advisory Board of the European Dystonia Federation.

Authors will be notified about abstract acceptance. Accepted abstracts will be printed in the Congress Supplement. Only twelve abstracts will be scheduled for ten minute oral presentations during the Congress on Friday, 17 and Saturday, 18 October.

Method of Submission
Abstracts can only be submitted using the Internet Site of the Congress www.dystonia-europe-2008.org

pfeilrechts1Download Abstracts Master


Guidelines for Submission:
The abstracts should include sections on

  - background/introduction
  - Methods, results and conclusions
  - Words in the text body limited to 400.
  - Formating as per example below.

Facilities for computerized projection, as well as video projection (European VHS/PAL system) and slide projection will be available.

 

 

Example for Abstract ‘Dystonia-Europe 2008’

 

discrimination of idiopathic parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonian syndromes
by brain parenchyma sonography

U. Walter1, L. Niehaus2, T. Probst1, R. Benecke1, B.U. Meyer†2, D. Dressler1

¹ Department of Neurology, Rostock University, Rostock, Germany
² Department of Neurology, Charité, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

The differentiation between IPD and APS such as multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is often difficult, especially in the early course of the disease. Substantia nigra (SN) hyperechogenicity detected by brain parenchyma sonography (BPS) was shown to be specific for IPD in comparison to healthy subjects. We wanted to evaluate the use of BPS in discriminating between patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) and atypical parkinsonian syndromes (APS).

For this, we studied 25 patients with APS (9 with PSP, 16 with MSA) and 25 age-matched IPD patients were prospectively studied with BPS according to a standardized protocol.

24 of the 25 (96%) IPD patients exhibited SN hyperechogenicity, but only 2 of the 23 (9%) APS patients (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.001). In those 2 APS patients SN hyperechogenicity was moderate only, whereas the remaining 21 APS patients had normal SN echogenicity. Specificity of SN hyperechogenicity in detection of clinically diagnosed IPD patients was 96%, sensitivity was 91%. If SN hyperechogenicity was marked, APS could be excluded because of a positive predictive value of 100% for IPD. Nucleus lentiformis hyperechogenicity was found in 17 of 22 (77%) APS patients, but only in 5 of 22 (23%) IPD patients (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.001). Nucleus caudatus and thalamus echogenicity, widths of the third ventricle and of the frontal horns of the lateral ventricles did not discriminate between IPD and APS. Two PSP patients could not be assessed because of an insufficient bone window.

BPS is a novel and noninvasive method to differentiate highly specifically between IPD and APS. Therefore, BPS might develop as a standard investigation in parkinsonian disorders.