Canadian Association of Neuropathologists L’Association Canadienne des Neuropathologistes

Abstracts and unknown cases presented at the 58th annual meeting

The Canadian Association of Neuropathologists (CANP) held their 58^th annual meeting at the Halifax Harbourfront Marriott from October 3^rd to 6^th, 2018, under the leadership of Dr Marc Del Bigio, CANP president, and Dr. Sidney Croul handled the local arrangements. The annual banquet was held at Chives restaurant in Halifax.

The academic program of 20 scientific abstracts and 8 unknown cases was compiled by the CANP Secretary-Treasurer Dr Julia Keith into 5 sessions; I. Traumatic and Neurodegenerative Neuropathology, II. Pediatric, Epilepsy and Miscellaneous Neuropathology, III. Tumour Neuropathology, IV. Infectious/Immune Mediated Neuropathology, and V. Quality Assurance in Neuropathology. The Quality Assurance session included a guided interactive forum led by Dr Marc Del Bigio, and the Neurodegenerative session included an invited talk on Butyrylcholinesterase as a Biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease by Dr Sultan Darvesh (Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University). The digital pathology images from the 8 unknown cases are available for viewing online (www.canp.ca) thanks to the CANP webmaster, Dr Jason Karamchandani.

The Presidential Symposium explored the theme of Brain Inflammation. Dr Sean Pittock (Dept of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN) delivered the Dr Jerzy Olszewski Guest Lecture entitled Neural autoantibody discovery: the new era of autoimmune neurology – out with the old and in with the new! Dr Christian Pagnoux (Vasculitis Clinic, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto ON) was an invited speaker who spoke on Vasculitis – effects on the nervous system. Dr Alex Easton (Dept of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax NS) was the Dr Gordon Mathieson invited lecturer speaking about The blood brain barrier and inflammation, and Dr Serge Rivest (Directeur du Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval, Quebec QC) delivered the Dr David Robertson invited lecture on Microglial roles in human neuropathology. The symposium concluded with a panel discussion and group Question and Answer session with the speakers moderated by Dr Marc Del Bigio.

Several trainee awards were handed out. The Dr Mary Tom Award for best clinical science paper was awarded to Dr Maryam Abdollahi (supervisor Dr David Munoz) and the Dr Morrison H. Finlayson Award for best basic science/research paper went to Dr Maliha Khara (Drs Zhou, Wong, Renwick).

The following abstracts were presented at the 58^th annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Neuropathologists (CANP) in October 2018.