From November 26 to 29, the 7th edition of the Mapping Course Bellvitge is taking place at Bellvitge Hospital and the Bellvitge University Campus, where the latest advances in neurosurgery with intraoperative mapping, neurophysiological monitoring, and surgical neuropsychological assessment are being presented.
This prestigious international course is led by Dr. Andreu Gabarrós, with Dr. Alejandro Fernández-Coello, Dr. Isabel Fernández Conejero, and Dr. Gerard Plans as co-directors. As part of the course, the Neuropsychological Assistance Workshop is also held, with Dr. Anna Gasa-Roqué and Dr. Joanna Sierpowska on the organizing committee.
Among the invited speakers are Dr. Hugues Duffau (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier), Dr. Emmanuel Mandonnet (Hospital Lariboisière in Paris), Dr. Juan Martino (Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla in Santander), and Dr. Francesco Sala (Hospital of Verona).
The sessions include lectures, workshops, practical sessions on procedures in the dissection room, and two live surgeries that are commented on and analyzed—one with the patient asleep and the other with the patient awake.
As Dr. Gabarrós highlights, "This is essentially a practical course based on the experience of our service, in which professionals from all areas related to the brain mapping process participate, from preoperative planning to surgery and postoperative follow-up."
Brain mapping with the patient awake is the most precise method for identifying and protecting critical brain regions during tumor resection. This procedure is necessary when tumors are located near the brain's language, motor, or sensory regions.
The Neurosurgery Service at Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB) performs around a hundred brain tumor surgeries annually and has over 20 years of expertise in extracting these tumors using brain mapping techniques and intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, making it a national and international leader in this technique.