Workshop on Cerebral NIRS 

Dear NIRS users,

During the last ESPR meeting in Nice, we found that there is a need for users of NIRS to meet and discuss problems and obtain advice from each other. The first aim of this workshop is to focus on daily problems using NIRS and discuss possible solutions. The second aim is to create contacts between NIRS users and facilitate the exchange of ideas and initiate collaborations.

During the ESPR meeting in Prague in 2007, the Section of Circulation, Oxygen Transport & Haematology organized a „Round Table”, where we discussed standards in NIRS measurement of “peripheral-muscle” oxygenation. This highly interesting discussion ultimately laid the foundation of a consensus paper. Thus at the ESPR section meeting of the “Section Circulation, Oxygen Transport and Haematology” in Nice 2008, we decided to organize a workshop dealing with practical problems and discussion on cerebral NIRS.

Basic concept of this “workshop”:

• Experts/scientists working in the field of cerebral NIRS measurements meet each other for discussion.
  
  
• The focus will be on questions/experiences/problems concerning the practical performance of measurements (these points are neither well described nor discussed in published papers):
• Application of optodes to obtain good optical contact
• Artifacts
• What exactly is measured?
• What is the influence of superficial tissue?
• Reproducibility, accuracy and precision of measurements

This workshop is intended to focus on your problems. You are encouraged to provide us with any suggestions for topics to be discussed by e-mail.

Organisation of the workshop by:
Martin Wolf, Zürich, Switzerland, (martin.wolf@usz.ch)
Gerhard Pichler, Graz, Austria, ( pichler.gerhard@klinikum-graz.at)
Berndt Urlesberger, Graz, Austria, (berndt.urlesberger@medunigraz.at)

Claudia Roll, Datteln, Germany (claudia.roll@kinderklinik-datteln.de)

Section Secretary