Background
Interest in the study of peripheral nerve repair and regeneration has increased significantly
over the last twenty years since, while in the past most nerve traumas and diseases
were not surgically treated, today the number of nerve reconstructions performed is
progressively increasing due to the continuous improvement in surgical technology
and to the spread of microsurgical skills among surgeons worldwide. Unfortunately,
in spite of the impressive technical advancements in nerve reconstruction, complete
recovery and normalization of nerve function almost never occur and the clinical outcome
is often poor. It can be thus expected that the increasing number of patients receiving
nerve surgery will represent an important stimulus for more research in this scientific
field.
Key issues
In line with this growing interest, the International Symposium “Peripheral Nerve
Repair and Regeneration and 2nd Club Burnelli Meeting” was held at the Department
of Animal and Human Biology of the University of Turin, Italy, on December 4-5, 2009
([figure 1]) [[1]]. The topics covered along the symposium were: neurobiology of peripheral nerve
regeneration, glial cells, tissue engineering, innovative strategies for promoting
nerve regeneration, biomaterials and artificial conduits for nerve reconstruction,
and clinical applications, such as tubulization and end-to-side neurorrhaphy. The
international and multidisciplinary panel of papers addressed, from many points of
view, the current knowledge on nerve repair and regeneration, from the basic mechanisms
to the perspectives for defining innovative treatment strategies for improving nerve
recovery in human and veterinary medicine. Both basic and clinical scientists with
different background (including neurobiologists, neuroanatomists, neurologists, biomaterial
engineers, neurosurgeons, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, hand surgeons and orthopedists)
attended to the Symposium and a total of 47 oral talks were given by lecturers coming
from various countries, including Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece,
Israel, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, and
United Kingdom. Yet, a keynote lecture entitled “Holistic and Epistemologic Review
of Peripheral Nerve Repair and Regeneration” was given by Professor Giorgio Brunelli
who provided an overview about past, present and future of the most challenging topics
in nerve repair and regeneration. In addition to oral presentations, a total of 15
poster presentations were exhibited.
Figure 1 Logo of the symposium.
The additional file 1 is the compressed PDF of the proceedings of the symposium [see
[additional file 1]]. Furthermore, the additional file 2 contains the slides of the keynote lecture
from Professor Giorgio Brunelli [see [additional file 2]].
Conclusion
The symposium was organized as a low cost event and without registration fees, in order to facilitate the participation of younger
scientists (PhD students, in-training clinicians, etc.), and total final attendance
was much higher than expected reaching about 200 people. All scientific sessions were
very active and the overall appreciation of the meeting was high among participants.
There are thus plans to organize further events of this kind on a biannual basis.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
Both authors (MT & SG) contributed to the creation of the manuscript and have read/approved
the final manuscript.
Cite this article as: Turgut and Geuna, International symposium on peripheral nerve repair and regeneration
and 2nd club Brunelli meeting Journal of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury 2010, 5:5
