Advances in the treatment of pain: Magda as lecturer
VI Symposium „Advances in the treatment of pain” organized by Polish Association for the Study of Pain was held on 15-17th October 2015 in Zakopane.
IASP and EFIC started 2015 with a Global Year Against Neuropathic Pain and that is why the topics of this meeting were mainly focused on pain and what arises as a direct consequence of a lesion or how diseases are affecting the somatosensory system. The purpose of the meeting was to display the presentation of innovations in the pain diagnosis and treatment.
This year our Department of Pain Pharmacology was invited to contribute to a session dedicated to the molecular aspect of pain. Head of the Department prof. Joanna Mika chaired session. Among other colleges from department Magda represented PainLab. With her talk “Osteoarthritis: a look at pathophysiology and approach to endocannabinoid-based treatment” she faced a big challenge of presenting a lot of data in a 30 minutes talk. In a clear and understandable way she gave the highlights of our basic science research to the audience, which constituted mainly of clinicians. However, these types of challenges are our specialty and we like to take them. With a note of motivating stress and warm words of support from prof. Marek Kowalczyk Magda gave a great talk which took a big interest with the audience. She was very grateful for every word of recognition and was also satisfied with the scientific chat that followed her lecture about clinical trials with medical cannabis or patients suffering from knee OA. In line with Magda’s presentation our lab colleagues Magdalena Żychowska and Katarzyna Popiolek- Barczyk gave excellent talks about theirs ongoing PhD projects. Magdalena acquainted us with the influence of minocycline on immunological factors in the diabetic neuropathy development (STZ model). While Katarzyna’s talk was about Parthenolide effects on nociception during neuropathic pain (CCI model).
One of the invited guests was prof. Hans-Georg Kress, the President of the European Federation of IASP Chapters, who presented the latest innovations in spinal cord stimulation as an alternative therapy for analgesic medication in chronic neuropathic pain. Magda was very interested in Dr. Magdalena Kocot-Kępska’s lecture about Peripheral neuropathic pain who pointed out that many of OA patients also have symptoms of neuropathic pain, an issue observed in our latest studies in OA animal model. Because it is know that rehabilitation and being in shape is an important issue in OA treatment; Magda couldn’t missed the lecture (and another conversation) of prof. Marek Kowalczyk from the University of Physical Education in Warsaw.
Participation in Pain Symposium was a great opportunity to get acquainted with the latest achievements of pain medicine presented by leading polish MDs and researchers. Many thanks go to prof. Jan Dobrogowski (Chairman of the Scientific Committee) and Dr. Anna Przeklasa-Muszyńska (President of the Organizing Committee) for the excessive scientific and social program. We are grateful for the invitation to participate. The knowledge and experience that Magda gained are priceless.
Hope to see you in 2016 in Gdansk!
