This year’s Asia Pacific Stroke Conference (APSC 2024) will be held in Australia, the country where the Asia Pacific Stroke Organisation (APSO) was founded in 2009 through the merger of the Asian Stroke Forum and the Asia Pacific Congress against Stroke [1]. This year’s APSC will be cohosted with the Australian and New Zealand Stroke Organisation (ANZSO; formerly the Stroke Society of Australasia). Building on the success of the two previous joint conferences held in Australia (Cairns in 2009 and Brisbane in 2016), the theme for the 2024 Adelaide conference is “Transcending Borders” bridging the borders between countries; between research and implementation; between prehospital, hospital care, and recovery; between medical, neuro-interventional, and surgical specialties; between medical and nonmedical professions; and between health professionals and consumers [2].
The Asia-Pacific is a diverse region with varying levels of resources in their stroke care systems. In order to address the country-specific medical situation of each participant, we have planned symposia on stroke epidemiology in each country, stroke center accreditation, and Asia-Pacific-specific issues such as intracerebral hemorrhage, intracranial atherosclerosis, and more. We also cover a wide range of topics related to neuroprotection, heart and stroke, cerebral aneurysm surgery, basic sciences, nursing sessions, rehabilitation, and poststroke sequelae. Of particular interest are the joint sessions, “Advances in Atherosclerosis” with the Australian Atherosclerosis Society and “Stroke Centre Accreditation” with the World Stroke Organization on day 1, and co-branded session “Cognition and Stroke” with VasCog Asia on day 3. These joint APSO sessions will demonstrate the breadth of the APSC. Add to these cutting-edge plenaries, original research and hands-on workshops across the continuum of care, neurosonology and endovascular therapy are also offered especially to educate younger clinicians. More than 200 free paper abstracts have been accepted, and 156 speakers and cochairs have been selected with a good balance of diversity and equity in terms of seniority, gender, expertise, country/region, and economic status. We are confident that this vibrant program will lead to academic advances, improved international collaborative ties, and improved quality of care, ultimately benefiting stroke patients.
From a broader perspective, stroke remains the main cause of death and disability worldwide, and even more so in the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, more than half of the world’s population lives in the Asia-Pacific region, and stroke-related disability is a significant national burden [3]. Professional efforts are essential to remedy this situation, and APSO is a professional organization that responds to this need. With 21 stroke societies in the Asia-Pacific region as members, APSO’s three pillars of activity are advancing stroke knowledge, research, and practice; educating and training healthcare professionals and institutions; and influencing stroke care policy and improving healthcare services. Various CME activities are offered to promote and encourage advances in scientific knowledge, research, and practice in all aspects of stroke. APSO also supports the participation of APSO visiting professors as speakers at conferences in member countries. Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, in addition, APSO has initiated regular webinars; 13 webinars have recently been held since 2021 and have received much attention [4].
Finally, APSC is APSO’s flagship conference. The conference showcases exemplary research and clinical leadership in the Asia-Pacific region and provides a rich networking experience within and between nations. We hope to inspire both sponsors and participants to “push the boundaries” locally, nationally, and internationally. In addition, thanks to Karger, abstracts have been published electronically in Cerebrovascular Diseases since the first APSC and APSO value these links and hopes to develop them further in the future. Together, APSO and ANZSO extend a warm welcome to all those attending the APSC 2024 during the beautiful spring season “down under” in Adelaide, South Australia.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Funding Sources
No funding sources were required for this article.
Author Contributions
Teruyuk Hirano conceptualized the paper, wrote the paper, and approved the final version. Henry Ma, Candice Delcourt, Timothy Kleinig, Bernard Yan, Nijasri C. Suwanwela, and Narayanaswamy Venketasubramanian provided critical review and approved the final version.
