Words from the President

01 May 2020

Dear friends and colleagues,

the WSO has received numerous reports about reductions, changes or increased difficulties in stroke care due to the Covid 19 pandemic. News have come from over 20 countries around the globe and these reports have all been posted on our website. We share the concerns of our colleagues reporting a reduction of hospitals admissions due to stroke. We have quickly launched an information campaign that anyone with signs or symptoms of stroke should seek hospital admission on an emergency basis. A more in-depth survey is ongoing and to date we have received over 100 detailed answers from all over the world that will be reported separately.

An increasing number of well attended webinars have been held or are being planned by the WSO or with WSO participation. We gratefully acknowledge the speed and competence of people making these changes. This development towards more frequent and regular webinars is one of the changes that have come with the pandemic and will surely stay. We can reach a lot more persons quicker and quite effectively by increasing the use of these instruments for education and discussion of new science. The number of attendees is highly variable. On the topic of Covid19 and stroke I was a speaker at two webinars, one by invitation of the Chinese Stroke Association that reportedly had 5.000 attendees and one from the Israeli Neurological Society that had more than 60.

While we are working on postponing our ESO-WSO Congress in Vienna to November 6-9, we are holding a webinar for late braking news on May 13. The results of four major trials will be presented. Please stay alert for this and register if you are interested

Let me thank everyone who is working hard to keep up with the changes needed to stay abreast in the developments of stroke science and stroke care.

We thank all our friends and colleagues who have been working in hospitals during these difficult times, especially those who have done double shifts at their institutions to care for Covid19 patients and also are doing regular duty on their stroke wards!

Kind regards and stay healthy,

Michael Brainin MD,
President WSO

May 1, 2020

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