On behalf of the organizing committee of the 20th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Neuro-Endovascular Therapy (JSNET 2005), I would like to express my appreciation to all the members of this Society, the participants, the guests, the presenters and sponsoring companies for their help and support of this meeting. Since 1982, our Society has had 19 scientific meetings till last year in Yokohama, and it was a great honor for me to hold the 20th anniversary meeting in Sapporo city. The 20th JSNET meeting was held from November 17th to 19th 2004 at the Sapporo Convention Center in Sapporo city. During the meeting, we had 888 participants and a total of 453 papers were presented.
The 20th JSNET meeting had three themes: Standard technique and current concepts of neuro-endovascular treatment, historical recollections and future prospects of interventional neuroradiology, and nursing care and clinical path of neuro-endovascular treatment. On the first theme, four symposiums were programmed and twenty one papers presented. On the second theme, two special lectures were given by Luc Picard and Makoto Negoro as the pioneers of western countries and Japan in this field. On the third theme, a special symposium was programmed on the last day and fourteen papers were presented by requested nurses who work in the neurosurgical and neuro-intervention department.
I really appreciate the many scientific papers submitted by society members. A total of 405 papers were submitted and accepted, 63 as oral presentations, 330 poster presentations and 12 evening seminars. In addition to these papers, 21 symposium topics, 9 special lectures, 4 luncheon seminars, 14 nursing special sessions and president’s address were made during the meeting. In the evening seminar the first night, 2 special lectures were presented and 12 selected papers were presented according to the theme of the evening seminar “What a striking result it is!”.
We invited Luc Picard from Nancy France, who gave lectures on “History of interventional neuroradiology and future developments” and “Endovascular treatment of brain AVMs-management and strategies”; Pierre Lasjaunias from Bicêtre, Paris France, who gave lectures on “Anatomical basis of surgical neuroangiography” and “The veins from anomaly to malformations of the cerebral veins and sinuses”; Michel E Mawad from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston USA, who gave lectures on “Recent advance of Neurovascular imaging and Neurovascular treatment” and “Endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms”; John C Chaloupka from Iowa University USA who made a speech on “Endovascular aneurysm treatment using Neuroform and Matrix” at the evening seminar. The President of WFITN Congress 2005 Marco Leonardi joined the evening seminar and made a speech on “Embolization of cerebral aneurysms in Italy: an Overview 1992 to 2004”.
As for luncheon seminars, Hiroaki Narutomi from National Cardio-Vascular Center, Osaka, Nobuyuki Sakai from Kobe MCH, Kobe, Shinsuke Nanto from Kansai Rosai Hospital, Osaka, Naoya Kuwayama from Toyama MP University Toyama, Shigeru Miyachi from Nagoya University Nagoya, and Tomoaki Terada from Wakayama Medical College Wakayama were invited and made speeches about neuro and peripheral vessel intervention issues and the management of cerebral infarction. After the finishing of all the programs of the JSNET meeting, we had Continuing Educational Programs for young doctors who will prepare for the board examination of JSNET established in 2001.
It is a great pleasure for me to edit the scientific papers of the 20th JSNET meeting for the supplement of Interventional Neuroradiology. I would thank the authors of these selected forty four splendid and challenging papers for their efforts to finish writing schedules in spite of their busy schedules. I also appreciate the support of this meeting by all the members of Nakamura Memorial Hospital, especially Taketo Kataoka and Kazuyuki Hayase for their dedicated support.