Bygdøystuene, Oslo, 19 October 2023 9th Epilepsy Research Group (ERGO) seminar

The ninth annual research group seminar for ERGO took place at Bygdøystuene on October 19th. Twenty-seven participants attended the meeting, including representatives from the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation and Division of Prehospital Services at Oslo University Hospital, Oslo Metropolitan University, and from Odense University Hospital in Denmark.

The main topics discussed at the meeting were:

1. Prehospital care of acute seizures. Rune Trøftmoen from Oslo Metropolitan University and the Division of Prehospital Services at Oslo University Hospital described the clinical challenges with this patient group as experienced by paramedics in Oslo. The PreCTRL study was then presented by PhD candidate Ingrid Hustad. In this study, we will first review the protocols for pre-hospital management of convulsions at the different ambulance stations in Norway. These have been found to vary quite a lot and the first step is to coordinate this. Next, the plan is to develop an educational program for better seizure treatment in a prehospital setting in the future. 
2. Status epilepticus. A new and collaborative study between ERGO and Odense University Hospital was presented by PhD candidate Andrea Enerstad Bolle. The project is called: “Status epilepticus and the aging brain”. Animal studies will be performed in Oslo under the supervision of Kjell Heuser.  
   PhD candidate Line Bédos Ulvin presented data from an evaluation of the Salzburg criteria for nonconvulsive status epilepticus concluding that they are not specific enough for implementation in clinical practice.
   Finally, Erik Taubøll informed briefly about a large European status epilepticus registry that will start up in a few months.
3. Presentations of research from Department of Neurohabilitation. Bjørnar Hassel, Sigrun Hope and Emilie Kildal presented different ongoing projects from the department. See the complete program below.
4. MD, PhD Cecilie Bugge Bakketun held her trial lecture form May 2023 on «Cellular mechanisms of seizure generation in epilepsy and prospective new therapeutic targets”. 
5. PhD candidates Monika Mochol and Helle Herrman held their introductions to their dissertations which will be November 21st, 2023, and March 7th, 2024, respectively.

Complete programme (in Norwegian) can be found below.

ERGO Research Group Seminar, October 19, 2023.

08.30 – 09.00 Ankomst, kaffe og frukt

09.00 – 09.15 Åpning, kort oversikt over prosjekter i ERGO. Erik 

Status presens – prosjekter

Møteleder, Erik Taubøll

09.15 – 09.45 Interactions between epilepsy, antiseizure medication and the immune system. Monika (20 min + 10 min diskusjon) 

09.45 – 10.15 Deep brain stimulation to the anterior thalamic nuclei in refractory epilepsy. Helle (20 min + 10 min diskusjon) 

10.15 – 10.40 Pause, kaffe, litt å bite i

Cellular mechanisms of seizure generation in epilepsy and prospective new therapeutic targets

Møteleder, Kjell Heuser

10.40 – 11.35 Prøveforelesningen til Cecilie Bugge Bakketun (45 min + 10 min diskusjon)

11.35 – 11.50 Pause 

Status epilepticus

Møteleder, Kjell Heuser

11.50 – 12.10 Status epilepticus og den aldrende hjerne. Samarbeidsprosjekt mellom Odense og ERGO. Andrea Enerstad Bolle (15 min + 5 min diskusjon)

12.10 – 12.30 Line Bédos Ulvin og Status-prosjekt (15 min + 5 min diskusjon)

12.30 – 12.40 SENSE/AROUSE – status epilepticus register via EAN. Erik (10 min orientering) 

12.40 – 13.40 Lunch

Prehospital krampehåndtering – PreCTRL studien 

Møteleder, Sigrid Svalheim

13.40 – 14.00 Prehospital nevrologisk forskning i OUS. Hva har vi lært, og hva kan vi bygge videre på? Maren Ranhoff Hov 

14.00 – 14.25 Prehospitale erfaringer med krampepasienter. Rune Trøftmoen, Paramedic i akuttmedisin, OUS (20 min + 5 min diskusjon)

14.25 – 14.50 PreCTRL studien. Design samt foreløpige data. Ingrid Hustad (25 min presentasjon)

14.50 – 15.10 Felles diskusjon av PreCTRL studien - mulige tilleggsstudier og spin-off effekter fra pre CTRL

15.10 – 15.30 Pause, kaffe (gjerne fortsatt diskusjon av preCTRL)

Forskning i Avdeling for Nevrohabilitering 

Møteleder, Sigrid Svalheim

15.30 - 16.00 Hjerneabscesser, epilepsi og fatigue. Bjørnar (20 min + 10 min diskusjon)

16.00 – 16.25 Autisme og genetikk. Sigrun Hope. (15 min + 10 min diskusjon)

16.25 – 16.50 Pulsøkning som kommunikasjonskanal hos språkløse utviklingshemmede. Markør for anfallsaktivitet? Emilie Kildal (15 min + 10 min diskusjon)

16.50 – 17.00 Avslutning, Erik Taubøll