As we are writing this editorial the regular abstract deadline for the European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) has just passed (with a record of >2100 submissions excluding late breaking abstracts). By the time of publication, abstract authors will know whether their abstract has been accepted for an oral or poster presentation. You may have plenty of experience in the entire process or this may be your first exposure to the scientific community. Regardless, finalising a manuscript for submission is a great way to prepare for a conference presentation. You have your literature searches fully updated, you create the narrative of your findings and scope out the key messages. If you manage to submit the manuscript before the conference you may get feedback from reviewers which also will help you prepare for questions likely to arise during your presentation. We certainly hope to see submissions leading up to the ESOC. Please make sure to state that if the abstract has been accepted for presentation at ESOC. For full manuscripts relating to abstracts that were accepted for oral presentations at ESOC, we will do our best to work towards simultaneous publication during ESOC provided the manuscript reaches us in good order by 15 March 2024.
The conference in Basel May 15–17 will be the 10th ESOC, with the first being held in Glasgow in 2015. With an initial 2700 participants, reaching a high of 5665 in Milan in 2019, before Covid restrictions, the conference has grown to become one of the most attractive stroke conferences in the world. ESOC 2024 will have a diverse scientific programme covering the entire chain of stroke survival. We enthusiastically anticipate the announcement of the large clinical trials, which are a particular highlight at ESOC, but recognise that many jewels are also to be found across the full scientific abstract programme. Basel is a perfect city for celebrating the ESOC’s 10th anniversary. It is centrally located in Europe and the cultural capital of Switzerland. In addition, by being a relatively small city attendees will likely meet randomly around the city, beyond the scientific sessions. Social interactions play a considerable role in strengthening our collaborations.
In this issue of the ESJ we offer a wide variety of content including guidelines, review articles, research reports and letters. We present the ESO guideline on cerebral small vessel disease with focus on lacunar ischaemic stroke. Complementing the guideline are two papers focusing on different aspects of small vessel disease: Zheng et al. have investigated the Hemodynamic Significance of Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease and Ipsilateral Imaging Markers of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease, while Mena et al. report on the association between arterial stiffness and baseline vascular burden with new lacunes and microbleeds.
In response to increasing financial pressure on health care systems throughout Europe, we need to organise the care for our patients in the best possible way, which perhaps requires us to challenge the way our services have traditionally been run. Intensive care beds are under great pressure. Santana et al. describe a service model caring for patients with non-aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage on the stroke unit rather than in the intensive care unit. Despite the small sample size and retrospective design, the authors offer evidence that it is possible to rethink the way we run our clinical service and that this may lead to better utilisation of resources. Immens et al. address the value of multidisciplinary assessment including cardiologists and stroke physicians, in patients with suspected patent foramen ovale (PFO) as their stroke aetiology. In the cohort reported, for 32% of patients referred for PFO closure, a relationship between the PFO and stroke could not be demonstrated.
We look forward to seeing you in Basel during ESOC, and to get more insights in the publishing side of science we welcome you to the session on ‘Professionalising Publishing’ on Thursday May 16 at 8.30!