Activities of Neuropathology Society of India in 2020-2021

By Dr Geeta Chacko, Neuropathology Society of India

Neuropathology Society of India (NPSI) was formed in 2015 with primary objective of disseminating knowledge of neuropathology, updating ourselves in the field and inspiring young pathologists to choose neuropathology as a career. In 2020-2021, despite the COVID pandemic the Society initiated several new academic initiatives to pursue its objectives.

1. “Travelling School of Neuropathology”: This was a unique initiative for promoting awareness of diagnostic neuropathology in medical colleges and corporates who do not have much exposure to the field and literally take neuropathology to their doorstep. Senior members formed a group with other NPSI members in the state of Telangana with expertise in the field, and identified 2-3 Institutes who evinced interest and travelled to those places to impart training to the postgraduates and faculty.  Four such programs were organized, two of which were in Neuro-Oncology

·       19th Jan 2020 Updates in Neuro-Oncology, Narayana Medical College, Nellore [delegates: 159]

·       25th January 2020: Current status in Neuro-Oncology, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad [delegates: 150]

2. Weekend Webinars: A series of three quarterly weekend webinars were organized on virtual mode. These included neoplastic and non-neoplastic disorders of CNS. The talks and presentations related to Neuro-oncology were as follows:

        A) First Weekend Webinar. Dec 11-12th 2020
    Pediatric low grade gliomas: Dr Geeta Chacko, CMC Vellore
    Adult diffuse gliomas: setting the stage for 2020: Dr Vaishali Suri, AIIMS 
    Case discussions : Neoplastic and non-neoplastic conditions

        B) Second Weekend Webinar. March 12-13^th 2021
   Early glimpse of 2021 classification of CNS tumors: Dr David Louis, Boston
 Paediatric brain tumors – case based practical approach to WHO 20201  classification. Dr Cynthia Hawkins, Toronto
   Case discussions: Neoplastic and non-neoplastic conditions

          C) Third Weekend Webinar. June 18-19^th 2021
     Ependymomas – an update. Dr MC Sharma, AIIMS New Delhi
     LEAT: what every neuropathologist should know. Dr T Komori, Tokyo Japan
    Focal cortical dysplasias: new classification concepts and update of ILAE. Dr Harvey Sarnat, Canada
     Case discussions: Neoplastic and non-neoplastic conditions

3. 5^th Annual Conference of Neuropathology Society of India was organised in association with 5^th Asian Oceanian Neuropathology Congress (AOCN-NPSICON) from Sept 24-26 2021 on virtual mode hosted by the Department of Neuropathology, NIMHANS. It was a grand success with 361 attendees from India and other Asian countries (Bangladesh, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Jordan, UAE, Iraq), South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Canada, and USA. The Conference was an exciting event with participation of 78 reputed national and international faculty and covered all topics in neuropathology – neurooncology, neuroinfections, neuromuscular disorders and neurodegeneration with platform for showcasing research presentations and awards in recognition for research, with total screen time of 27 hours.

Four symposia were organized in Neuro-oncology including comprehensive update on recent WHO 2021 classification by leading experts viz. HK Ng (Hong Kong), Reifenferger G (Germany), Uri Tabori (Canada), Tarik Tihan (USA), Takahashi Komori (Japan), Sonika Dahiya (USA), Chitra Sarkar, Vani Santosh, and Geeta Chacko (India). 

An interesting debate on the role of whole genome methylation in diagnosis of CNS tumors was conducted by Dr. David Capper (Germany) and Dr. Vaishali Suri (India).  Other interesting topics covered included: use of nextGen sequencing in diagnosis of CNS tumors (Sung-Hye Park, South Korea), and constitutional mismatch repair deficiency syndrome (Maysa Al Hussaini, Jordan).

Image 1: Annual Conference of Neuropathology Society of India

Image 2 : Travelling school of Neuropathology

Image 3: Weekend Webinars