Message from the Scientific Program Chair

January 11-12, 2003

Kauai'i, Hawaii

[Author Photo]It gives me great pleasure to discuss the exciting scientific program from the 12th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society for Peripheral Nerve, which was held January 11-12, 2003 in Kauai'i, Hawaii. Coming on the heels of a previous year's successful combined ASPN/ASRM/AAHS meeting in Cancun, Mexico, the 2003 meeting had a similar format. The combined program began on Saturday morning with five concomitant instructional courses by international experts on: (1) thoratic outlet syndrome; (2) brachial plexus injuries; (3) repetitive use disorders of the upper extremity; (4) multidisciplinary pain management; and (5) decision-making for major limb replantation.

Attendance at the instructional courses was outstanding, with each of the rooms full to capacity. The discussions were educational and lively. A joint panel on “Functional Restoration Following Devastating Injuries” was held, featuring speakers from many clinical areas, including orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, and anesthesiology. This year's joint president's lecture featured Dr. Art Rettig discussing “An Eighteen-Year Experience of Treating Upper Extremity Injuries in the NFL.” This talk encompassed a review of hand and wrist injuries seen with high-level athletic competition, and addressed the changing role of the team physician over the past 18 years. Rounding out the morning combined session was a series of free nerve papers, selected as the two best papers from each of the ASPN, ASRM, and AAHS programs. Six formal presentations were given by scientists from Austria, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States. This was a truly international collection of experts in neurobiology.

The ASPN scientific program continued on Saturday afternoon and all day on Sunday. This year we had prominent scientists from 11 different countries presenting 54 outstanding papers. The hard work of the scientific program committee established a well-balanced and representative program covering all areas of the basic sciences and clinical research in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. This year the program committee gave awards for the “best resident research presentation” and “outstanding poster.” The recipient of the best resident research presentation was Kale D. Bodily from the Mayo Medical School for his work, “Restoration of Motor Function of the Deep Peroneal Nerve by Direct Nerve Transfer of Branches from the Tibial Nerve.” The outstanding poster award recipient was John Piersma from the University of Michigan Medical School for his work, “The Role of the CD40/CD40L Co-Stimulatory Pathway in Peripheral Nerve Allograft Rejection.”

As in previous years, the two basic science talks given during the scientific program were highlights of the meeting. We were fortunate to have Gary Brook, Ph.D., from the Department of Neurology at Aachen University Medical School, attending the meeting and providing an exciting presentation on “The Therapeutic Potential of Schwann-Cell Transplantation in the Repair of Traumatic Injuries to the Central Nervous System.” Bruce Carlson, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan, provided a very informative and interesting presentation on “The Myogenic Responses to Skeletal Muscle Denervation.”

The second day of the meeting began in a similar fashion to the first, with three instructional courses: (1) novel peripheral nerve reconstruction techniques; (2) sensory reconstruction of the hand; and (3) composite tissue allotransplantation. A combined panel of ASPN/ ASRM featured an interesting discussion on sural nerve graft reconstruction at the time of prostatectomy to improve erectile function postoperatively. This extremely well-attended panel discussion included two urologic oncologists, Drs. Arthur Burnett and Farhang Rabbani, and two well-known reconstructive microsurgeons with extensive surgical experience in this procedure, Drs. David Chang and Joseph Disa. On Sunday afternoon, the ASPN meeting registrants also participated in a very frank and honest appraisal of surgical outcomes following various operative procedures for facial paralysis. This fresh look at an old and extremely difficult problem was presented in a panel discussion by Drs. Richard Barnett, Greg Buncke, and Wayne Morrison.

Each year, the participation in the ASPN meeting continues to improve, making this one of the premier meetings for scientists and clinicians interested in neurobiology. This has become a truly international meeting of the highest quality. Certainly, the beautiful setting of Kauai'i, Hawaii helped all the meeting attendees to enjoy their time during and after the meetings. We look forward to building on the success of this year's meeting, continuing to make the ASPN scientific meeting better and better. We appreciate the presidency of William M. Kuzon, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. for our 12th ASPN Annual Meeting. Under the guidance of Drs. Keith Brandt and Thomas Tung, I am sure that we will have a very successful and enjoyable 13th Annual Meeting in Palm Springs, California, at the Westin Mission Hills Resort, January 17-18, 2004.