The Department of Neurology at NIMHANS organized a two-day Teaching Course in Movement Disorders (TCMD) on 20-21st November 2010, which was approved and supported by the WFN – APRD.  This is the first Course in movement disorders supported by WFN-APRD to be held in India.

The program was attended by 225 delegates from across India.  Prof. Erik Ch. Wolters, President of the WFN-APRD and Chairperson of TCMD, Prof. P Satishchandra, Director and Vice-Chancellor of NIMHANS, Prof. Zbigniew Wszolek, Treasurer of WFN-APRD, Prof. Madhuri Behari Chairperson of TCMD and Member of the Educational Committee of WFN-APRD, and Dr. Pramod Kumar Pal, Organizing Secretary of TCMD inaugurated the program.  Prof Wolters released the book “Parkinsonism and Related Disorders” on this occasion which was provided free to all the delegates.

A panel of renowned International and National faculty shared their expertise.  The International faculty included Erik Ch. Wolters, VUMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Zbigniew Wszolek, Mayo Clinic Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA; Irene Litvan, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA; and Alberto Albanese, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.   The faculty from India were Bhim Singhal, Madhuri Behari, Pramod Kumar Pal, Shyamal Das, Uday Muthane, Mohit Bhatt, Rupam Borgohain, Asha Kishore, and Charulata Shankla.  The program covered sessions on (1): Parkinson’s Disease and other Parkinsonian Disorders, (2) Evaluation and Management of Dystonia and Tremor, (3) Medical management of Parkinson’s Disease, (4) Surgical Treatment of Movement Disorders, and (5) Video-based presentations of selected Movement Disorders.

The important topics discussed included differential diagnosis of Parkinsonism, genetics of Parkinson’s disease and dystonia, corticobasal diagnosis, progressive supranuclear palsy and neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation.  Medical management of different stages of Parkinson’s disease including early management, role of continuous dopaminergic stimulation and management strategies of non-motor symptoms were highlights of the course.  Apart from Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s disease, DBS for management of dystonia generated great interest among the participants.  Review of techniques for electrophysiological evaluation of movement disorders and use of Botulinum toxin in craniocervical dystonia and writer’s cramp were helpful for the movement disorder specialists attending the course.  Finally, the course concluded with a 3 hours interactive video session covering some of the challenging topics in Movement Disorders such as psychogenic, drug-induced, paroxysmal, paediatric and movement disorder emergencies.

The second annual conference Movement Disorders Society of India (MDSI) -MDSICON-2017 was held at the Convention Centre of the National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore from 6-8 January, 2017. It was organized by the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, NIMHANS, co-hosted by the Bangalore Neurological Society and supported by the Ambassador Program of the MDS Asian & Oceanian section of the International Movement Disorder Society (MDS-AOS).

MDSICON-2017 aimed to bring together the national and International movement disorder specialists and the researchers and practitioners in the field of Movement Disorders, to share their knowledge, expertise and understanding of Parkinson’s disease and other Movement disorders. This was also a historically significant gathering as we commemorated 200 years of diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. Since its initial description by James Parkinson in 1817, there have been tremendous knowledge explosion in the nomenclature, management and understanding of the pathophysiology and genetic basis of this disease. Accordingly, the theme of this conference was “200 years of Parkinson’s Disease: From James to Genes”.

This meeting was a grand success with 536 registered delegates. The 3-days program included 5 plenary sessions (21 talks including Presidential and MDSI Orations), 8 symposia (25 talks), 2 interactive video sessions (8 presentations), Grand Round with patients, Botulinum Toxin hands on workshop, Knowledge Video Café, Movement Disorders Quiz, Video Akhada (Video Olympics), Patient-Caregiver Program, platform and poster presentations. Speakers included 52 eminent Faculty from India and 5 International Faculty. Among the latter, Dr. K. Ray Chaudhuri from UK was the MDSI Orator. Dr. Louis Tan and Dr. Shen-Yang Lim were invited Ambassadors of the MDS Asian & Oceanian section (MDS-AOS). Dr. Elena Moro from France and Dr. Takomi Taira from Japan were the other Faculty.

The Department of Neurology at NIMHANS organized the second Teaching Course in Movement Disorders (TCMD-2012) from 16-18th November 2012, which was approved and supported by the WFN – APRD.  Locally, the Course was organized at the Holiday Inn Resort, Goa, by Dr. Aaron De Souza, Neurologist, Goa Medical College.

The course was of two-and-a-half days and was attended by 208 delegates from across India.  The delegates included neurologists, neurosurgeons and psychiatrists.  Prof. Erik Ch. Wolters, President of the WFN-APRD and Chairperson of TCMD, Dr. Daniel Truong, Chair, Educational Committee of WFN-APRD, Prof. Zbigniew Wszolek, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, Prof. Madhuri Behari, Chairperson of TCMD and Member of the Educational Committee of WFN-APRD, Dr. Pramod Kumar Pal, Organizing Secretary of TCMD, and Dr. Aaron De Souza, Local organizing Secretary (Goa) inaugurated the program.  Two books-“Parkinsonism and Related Disorders” and “Manual of Botulinum Toxin Therapy” were released on this occasion and were provided free to all the delegates.

A panel of renowned International and National faculty shared their expertise.  The International faculty included Erik Ch. Wolters, The Netherlands; Zbigniew Wszolek, USA; Daniel Truong, USA; Chong Lee, South Korea and E K Tan, Singapore. The program covered sessions on (1): Parkinson’s Disease and other Parkinsonian Disorders, (2) Diagnostics in Movement Disorders (3) Medical management of Parkinson’s Disease (4) Movement disorders emergencies, secondary movement disorders, (4) Epidemiology of Movement Disorders in India, (4) Spinocerebellar ataxias, (4) Psychiatric and Sleep problems in Movement Disorders, (4) Functional Neurosurgery for Movement Disorders,  (5) Video-based clinical discussions of tremor, dystonia, chorea, myoclonus, parkinson-plus disorders, gait problems,  (6) Workshop and hands-on-training on applications of Botulinum Toxin in Movement disorders.

A patient support group meeting was also conducted in association with the Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders Society, Mumbai, presided by Dr. B.S. Singhal and his team. Over 100 patients and their relatives attended the talks and demonstrations which were held for the first time in Goa.

In summary, the program provided a unique opportunity to the Indian neurologists, researchers and medical students to enrich their knowledge on Parkinson’s Disease and other movement disorders from the basics to the recent advances.  The program will go a long way in inspiring young neurologists to opt for specialization in Movement Disorders which will help in better patient care and research in India.  We look forward to conduct many more such Teaching Courses in Movement Disorders in different parts of India.