What are the survival chances of children with brain tumors in Romania? What are the resources and infrastructure available for the parents whose children need to be treated by a neurosurgeon? How can neurosurgeons collaborate with oncologists, ICU specialists and other types of doctors, to provide multidisciplinary treatment to children with severe diseases?

Together with the medical staff of the neurosurgery department of Marie Curie Hospital and the Romanian Society of Neurosurgery, in May 2024, we organized an international symposium dedicated to pediatric neurosurgery and especially to international standards of treatment and surgical procedures meant for children with tumors of the central nervous system. Marie Curie Hospital in Bucharest hosts one of the two pediatric neurosurgery departments in the country, and the entire department has recently moved to the new Hospital built by Dăruiește Viață, with the support of civil society. Along with access to a new infrastructure and generous spaces, the department can now grow to provide the best treatment possible for children with brain tumors, promoting collaboration and interdisciplinarity.

The symposium had a mainly educative purpose, being open to all neurosurgeons, neurologists and oncologists in the country, as well as residents and medical students. The event included some of the most well-known professors and pediatric neurosurgery specialists in the world and was coordinated, from a medical point of view, by Dr. Sory Ibrahim Fofana, neurosurgeon at Marie Curie Hospital.

The scientific program of the symposium was created by Prof. Martin Schuhmann (Tubingen University Hospital, Germany), together with the team at Marie Curie Hospital, lead by Dr. Sorin Târnoveanu, and the Romanian Society of Neurosurgery (chaired by Prof. Ioan Ștefan Florian). More than 100 doctors were in attendance.

Speakers:

• Mr. Paul Chumas, Leeds General Infirmary, UK
• Prof. Federico Di Rocco, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Lyon, France
• Prof. Ioan Ștefan Florian, Cluj Napoca University Hospital, Romania
• Dr. Radek Fric, Oslo University Hospital, Norway – President of the Pediatric Neurosurgery section of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies
• Prof. Luca Massimi, A. Gemelli Hospital Rome, Italy
• Prof. Martina Messing-Junger, Asklepios Hospital Sankt Augustin, Germany
• Prof. Martin Schuhmann, Tubingen University Hospital, Germany
• Dr. Sergiu Stoica, Monza Hospital Bucharest, Romania
• Dr. Alexandru Szathmari, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Lyon, France
• Dr. Ovidiu Banea, Hospital Sant Rafael, Barcelona, Spain
• Prof. Ulrich Thomale, Charite Hospital Berlin, Germany
• Prof. Dominic Thompson, Great Ormond Street Hospital London, UK – President of the European Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery
• Dr. Laura Grazia Valentini, Carlo Besta Institute Milan, Italy.

Some of the topics discussed were: the state of oncologic neurosurgery in Romania, medulloblastomas, different approaches in treating pineal tumors, endoscopic options for treating pineal tumors, the treatment of supratentorial hemispheric tumors, craniopharyngiomas, marrow tumors, intraoperative neuromonitoring for pediatric brain tumors.

The participants also had the possibility of participating in guided tours of the new Hospital built by Dăruiește Viață at Marie Curie, focusing on the spaces dedicated to the neurosurgery department.