TEHRAN—For the first time, the International Headache Society (IHS) and the Iranian Headache Association (IHA) collaborated to host the Fourth Iranian International Headache Congress. IHS helped facilitate the conference, which took place from September 16 to 18, 2015, as part of its visiting professor program. The gathering marked the first such meeting since the IHA became affiliated with IHS in January 2015.
The IHA organized the congress, which was sponsored by Sanofi (Paris) and Dr. Abidi Pharmaceuticals (Tehran). A total of 340 physicians and researchers participated in the congress. Guest speakers included Robert Cowan, MD, Clinical Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford School of Medicine in California; Hossein Ansari, MD, Director of the Headache Clinic at the University of California, San Diego; Hayrunnisa Bolay, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology and Algology at Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey; and Farooq Maniyar, MD, Lead for Headache Medicine at the Royal London Hospital.
Seated in front row (from left to right): Dr. Beladimoghadam, Professor Togha, Dr. Adibeig, Professor Pakdaman, Dr. Rapoport, Dr. Cowan, Professor Bolay, Dr. Maniyar, and Dr. Ansari.
The congress took place in the Olympic Hotel, one of the largest conference centers in Tehran. Its main aims were to familiarize neurologists and other specialists with the latest scientific achievements in the field of headache and to provide guidance about diagnosing and treating various headache types. During the opening ceremony, Mansoureh Togha, MD, Chair of the IHA, and Hossein Pakdaman, MD, President of the Iranian Neurological Association and Professor of Neurology at Beheshtee University School of Medicine in Tehran, welcomed attendees.
Alan M. Rapoport, MD, Clinical Professor of Neurology at David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, was an honorary guest speaker. During his term as president of IHS, Dr. Rapoport helped IHA to become an affiliate of IHS. He briefly reviewed the benefits of IHA’s new affiliation and the services now available to IHA members. He welcomed the IHA into the international community of the IHS and discussed ways that Iranians could join the IHS and access Cephalalgia. In addition, Dr. Rapoport discussed the various travel grants, scholarships, and fellowships that the IHS makes available to its members. He expressed regret that several young Iranians had received travel grants to attend the IHS Congress in Valencia, Spain, in May 2015, but could not attend because they were unable to obtain visas. He expressed hope that the neurologists would be able to attend the next IHS Congress in Vancouver in 2017.
Abstracts and most full texts of presented lectures at the Iranian International Headache Congress were available online on the IHA website on the first day of the congress. In addition, printed copies of the abstracts were offered to all participants upon registration.
Main Lectures
Headache specialists and physicians who were considered experts in a specific field related to primary or secondary headaches presented a total of 35 lectures. Some of the highlights included Dr. Bolay’s lecture on how neurologists can use animal models and Dr. Rapoport’s lecture on the pathophysiology of migraine, which emphasized the role of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP).
In addition, various lectures presenting updates in the diagnosis and treatment of primary headaches were presented, including Dr. Cowan’s talk about noncephalic migraine equivalents, Dr. Maniyar’s presentation about optimizing the treatment of acute migraine attacks, and Dr. Ansari’s review of cluster headache.
Several neurologists gave presentations about migraine variants, secondary headaches, and related subjects, such as metabolic headache and ictal epileptic headache. Dr. Togha spoke about migraine and vertigo, and Dr. Ansari provided an overview of cervicogenic headache. In addition, Leila Kuti, PhD, talked about drug interactions in headache treatment.
In his first lecture, Dr. Rapoport discussed the importance of an organized, widely used hierarchical classification for headache. He described the new International Classification of Headache Disorders III beta and indicated its changes from the previous version, as well as its potentially problematic areas.
In his final talk, Dr. Cowan used case presentations to discuss how technology can help neurologists bring expert diagnosis and treatment to patients with headache. He reviewed recent advances in technology that promise to make headache diagnosis and treatment more accurate and shorten the time that physicians spend collecting detailed histories.
In one of her three presentations, Dr. Bolay discussed the challenges in pediatric headache. She used case presentations to illustrate key points and clarify diagnostic and management challenges.
Case Presentations
Seyed Masood Nabavi, MD, Professor of Neurology at Beheshtee University School of Medicine, moderated a session dedicated to case presentations, which was one of the most popular portions of the congress. During this time, neurologists presented five challenging cases and invited responses from the audience. Attendees discussed differential diagnoses and management strategies for each case.