On May 11, the International Huntington’s Disease Academic Symposium was held at the Land Port Division of the First Affiliated Hospital (FAH) of Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU). Focusing on the standardized diagnosis and treatment of Huntington’s disease and the latest international advances, the symposium specially invited Professor Jean-Marc Burgunder, Chair of the International Huntington’s Disease Collaborative Network and Director of the European Huntington’s Disease Center, to discuss the latest research achievements and clinical challenges in Huntington’s disease.
Professor Cao Hongmei, Deputy Director of the Department of Neurology at the FAH, presided over the entire meeting, and Professor Qu Qiumin from the Department of Neurology delivered a speech. Subsequently, Dr. Zhang Meng gave a systematic introduction to the development of the FAH’s Department of Neurology and its scientific research achievements, highlighting the outstanding progress made by the discipline in this field in recent years.
During the academic report session, Professor Jean-Marc Burgunder, an internationally renowned expert from the University of Bern in Switzerland and the European Huntington’s Disease Network (EHDN), delivered a keynote lecture titled “Huntington’s disease: knowledge and challenges”, providing a comprehensive overview of basic research, clinical management, and future challenges related to Huntington’s disease. Dr. Deng Yongning from the FAH gave a presentation titled “Understanding HD”, offering an in-depth analysis of cognitive dysfunction in patients with Huntington’s disease and related intervention strategies.
The symposium included a live patient consultation session. Dr. Wei Meng conducted standardized history taking, neurological examination, and assessment of choreiform movements for a patient with Huntington’s chorea on site. Professor Burgunder participated in the discussion simultaneously and offered diagnostic and treatment suggestions from an international perspective. Subsequently, Dr. Wei Meng gave a systematic case-based presentation, progressing step by step from the approach to initial diagnosis to multidisciplinary management strategies, which left a deep impression on the audiences.
During the roundtable discussion, several experts from Shaanxi Province held in-depth exchanges on the difficulties encountered in the case and consultation session, and shared their clinical experience. Feng Luyang, a representative of the China Huntington’s Disease Network (CHDN), briefly introduced the network’s structure, work objectives, and future development direction, and announced the FAH as the next member institution of the CHDN.
After the meeting, participating experts and representatives visited the neurology departments at the Land Port Division.
