Dear colleagues,

Managing epilepsy requires the expertise of multidisciplinary teams with diverse and increasingly specialized skills.

The International Epilepsy Colloquia is a new initiative created by the epilepsy centers of Marburg (Germany), the Cleveland University Hospitals (USA) and the Institute for Children and Adolescents with Epilepsy - IDEE (Lyon, France).

The primary aim of the Colloquia is to focus on specific and challenging topics of modern clinical and fundamental epileptology, with contributions from multidisciplinary experts in the field. The 2008 Colloquium in Marburg, dedicated to Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsies, proved to be of high scientific interest, with the participation of neurologists, child neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, neuropsychologists and researchers from 45 countries.

The IDEE team took up the challenge of organizing the 2nd International Epilepsy Colloquium in the marvelous city of Lyon (3-6 May, 2009). The topic of Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery is one of the most challenging issues in epilepsy care and is directly related to the medical and academic missions of IDEE.

Nearly 15 years after the previous international meeting exclusively dedicated to Pediatric Epilepsy Syndromes and their surgical treatment (Bethel-Cleveland 1995 symposium), the development of new concepts and techniques has led to earlier and more frequent use of surgical therapy for children with epilepsy. The spectrum of surgical possibilities for early-onset epilepsy has widened and includes not only lesional focal epilepsies but also MRI-negative epilepsies and more diffuse types.

The 2nd International Epilepsy Colloquium will cover appropriate diagnosis and medical treatment of epilepsy syndromes, early identification of surgical candidates as a means of curing epilepsy whenever possible, and issues related to the preservation of cognitive development and socio-professional integration. Pre-surgical evaluation approaches, surgical techniques, debates on how to establish anatomo-electro-clinical correlations will be at the heart of the Colloquium. All sessions are designed to allow sufficient time for interaction between participants and experts in the field. You are also invited to submit posters or clinical cases to be discussed.

Learning objectives

1. Recognize the clinical characteristics of epilepsy syndromes in children; establish anatomo-electro-clinical correlations; get acquainted with the most appropriate treatment strategies.

2. Understand the underlying pathophysiology, the etiologies and their influence on clinical course and management.

3. Identify surgical candidates early in the course of the disorder.

4. Discuss the relative strengths, weaknesses and limits of different pre-surgical procedures (structural and functional neuroimaging, video-EEG, depth electrode approaches)

5. Review current knowledge on expectations from epilepsy-surgery in children.

We cordially invite you to be an active participant of this extraordinary gathering of experts from all over the world.

Alexis Arzimanoglou

Chairperson, Scientific and Organizing Committees