Network for the Definition of Death

FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COMA AND DEATH

International Conference Center

Havana , Cuba

February 24-27, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

Since ancient times, man has pondered the mystery of his own death. It seemed that by knowing the meaning of his death, he would be prepared to understand the reason for his life. For ages, people considered life to exist as long as an individual was breathing. It was later realized that respiration was a means of maintaining the heart, which circulated the blood. The focus then turned to cardio-respiratory function. But, in the middle of this century, physicians became aware that the brain required much more energy than other organs and that, if its needs were not met, it would cease to function, while other parts of the body (requiring less energy) might regain their activity provided that respiration was supported by intensive care. The result would be a dead brain in a viable body. French neurologists and neurophysiologists documented this at the end of the 1950s. Is such a patient alive or dead?

Although some decades have passed, there are still worldwide controversies about a concept of human death on neurological grounds. There are also disagreements on the diagnostic criteria for brain death, whether clinical alone or clinical plus ancillary tests. Moreover, some scholars who were strong defenders of a brain-based standard of death are now favoring a circulatory-respiratory standard.

This was the scene we faced in 1992, 1996, 1996, and 2000, when we convoked colleagues from around the world to attend the First, Second, and Third  International Symposia on Coma and Death. These were truly remarkable gatherings of an impressive number of the most outstanding personalities in the field. Scientific discussions were enriched by multi-disciplinary approaches covering most brain-death-related issues. To be sure, not all differences of opinion were resolved in the debates; therefore, we are far from a final consensus on the subject of human death.

We are pleased to announce the holding of the FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COMA AND DEATH at the Havana International Conference Center on February 24-27, 2004 . Please mark  these dates on your calendar and inform us if you would like to be included on our mailing list.

Our main goal is to provide a suitable scientific platform to discuss all topics related to human death. Cubans, as hosts, will sincerely offer a warm hospitality. This small Caribbean Island , with the greenness of its countryside surrounded by an incredible blue sea, will provide a most proper venue to remind us that the main motivation for discussing death is the betterment of life.

Sincerely,

 Calixto Machado, MD, Ph.D.

President of the Symposium

Main topics:

Speakers

Joseph Boyle, Ph.D.                         Canada

Alastair V. Campbell , MD                 England

Ignacio Carrasco, MD, Ph.D.          Italy

R. Alta Charo, Ph.D.                         USA

Ronald Cranford, MD                       USA

Antonio Culebras, MD                      USA

José Dominguez Roldán                  Spain

Linda Emanuel, MD                          USA

Angel Esteban, MD                          Spain

Enrico Facco, MD                             Italy

Catherine Fischer, MD                     France

Jeffrey Frank, MD                             USA

Jean-Michel Guérit, MD                   Belgium

Noel González, MD                           Cuba

Diego Gracia Guillén, MD                Spain

Arthur Grant, MD                               USA

Bernard Gert, Ph.D.                          USA

John M. Haas , Ph.D.                        USA

John Haldane, Ph.D.                         Scotland

Phillipe Hantson , MD                         Belgium

Raúl Herrera, MD                              Cuba

James Hughes, Ph.D.                      USA

Julius Korein, MD                              USA

John P. Lizza, Ph.D.                         USA

Margaret Lock, Ph.D.                       Canada

Calixto Machado, MD                       Cuba

Jorge Matias Guiu, MD                    Spain

Steven Miles, MD                              USA

Francisco Murillo, MD                      Spain

Fred Plum, MD                                  USA

Corina Pupo, MD                              Colombia

Peter Safar, MD                                USA

Juan Sahuquillo, MD                         Spain

Mario Shkurovich, MD                      Mexico

Josef Seifert, Ph.D.                          Liechtenstein

Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Ph.D.       USA

D. Alan Shewmon , MD                      USA

José I. Suárez, MD                           USA

Tom Tomlinson, Ph.D.                      USA

Robert R. Young , MD                         USA

Bryan Young, MD                              Canada

Stuart Youngner , MD                         USA

William Winslade , MD                       USA

Adam Zeman , MD                             U.K.

Scientific Program

A number of topics on coma and death will be featured in the program.  Each session will provide time for discussion.  The presentation modalities will be:

·        Keynote lectures             40 minutes

·        Oral presentations                      10 minutes

·        Round tables                               90 minutes

·        Poster presentations                  90 minutes

·        Lunch panels                               90 minutes

Official Languages

English and Spanish.

Pre-Symposium courses

( February 23, 2000 ; four-hour sessions. Registration fee: US $30.00 each.)

·        Annual meeting of the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery

·        First International Seminar on Cardiopulmonary-cerebral resuscitation in the 21th century

·        Measuring brain blood flow (SPECT)

·        New trends in cerebral protection

·        Sleep and coma

·        Donation and transplant organization systems

·        Intensive care of the organ donors

·        Immunology and organ transplantation

·        Legal and ethical controversies on the dilemma at the end of life

·        Ethical challenges and medical decision-making

·        Clinical ethics and health justice

·        Neuromonitoring of critical patients

·        Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of coma and death in children

·        Cerebrovascular disease: current state of knowledge at the threshold of the Year 2000

Call for abstracts

Participants are invited to send abstracts concerned with all aspects of brain death and coma before October 15^th, 2004 . Submissions are subject to the following conditions:  

·        Abstracts must be submitted in English.

·        Format the abstract exactly according to the following model:

·        Type the title in capital letters. Do not underline the title. Space two lines underneath the title. Type the author's name(s) in lower case and put the name of the presenting author first. Include the name(s) of the institution(s) where the work was done. Space two lines and type the entire abstract as one paragraph in lower case. Do not use subtitles. When using abbreviations, spell out the word or phrase in full the first time mentioned, followed immediately by the abbreviation in parentheses.

·        Abstracts should be sent by e-Mail. An On-line submission will be possible very soon. Alternatively abstracts may be sent on a floppy disk, IBM compatible, labeled with author name, title, and preferred session.

Posters

Posters must be presented on a 0.95 m. wide by 2 m. high maximum format.

Audio-visual aids

·      Powerpoint presentation

·      Single or dual projection of 35 mm slides

·      Videos must be presented in VHS or Beta format, NTSC 3.58 standard

·      Video Beam multi-standard

Travel visa:

If you decide to arrange the trip to Havana through an International Conference Center agency, the agency will guarantee you the visa. Entry to the country is granted to all foreigners taking part in congresses organized in Cuba , regardless of their nationality. Participants must meet the normal requirements, i.e. they must posses valid travel documents and sufficient means of support. Participants requiring a visa for entry to Cuba are strongly advised to make their application in their home countries at least one month before the intended date of travel.

Visa application procedures are faster when the acknowledgment of registration is included. All registered participants will receive such confirmation once their registration has been processed by the Symposium secretariat and their payment has been made. In absence of the above, participants are advised to fax or e-mail, at least 30 days in advance, the following data:

·        Name and surname.

·        Maiden name.

·        Sex.

·        Date and place of birth (please write out the name of the month).

·        Passport No., date of issue, expiration date.

·        Citizenship/Nationality.

·        Occupation.

·        Full home address.

·        Expected date of arrival in Havana .

·        Expected duration of stay in Cuba .

·        Flight No. / Airline.

Letter of Invitation

On request, the Secretariat will be glad to send you a personal invitation for the Symposium. It should be understood that such an invitation is not a commitment on the part of the organizers to provide any financial support.

Cuba in a nutshell

The Republic of Cuba is an archipelago consisting of the island of Cuba , the Isle of Youth and around 1600 islets. Its total area is 110,922 square kilometers and it has a population of nearly 11 million. The long, narrow island of Cuba resembles a large crocodile. It is 1250 kilometers long and has 289 natural beaches along its coastline. Cuba ’s climate is subtropical. Average annual temperature is 25º C (77º F). The average highs and lows are 35º and 19ºC (95º and 66º F). Politically and administratively, Cuba is divided into 14 provinces and a special municipality. Havana , the capital, has a population of nearly 2 million. Cuban fauna includes over 8,000 species and fauna is abundant and no species are harmful to man.

Sugar and its by-products are the main economic commodities. Other important economic branches are: tourism, fishing, tobacco -famous all over the world-, citrus fruits and coffee.

The national culture has well-defined features resulting from the fusion of several cultures, mainly Spanish and African. Among Cuba’s main tourist attractions are Varadero beach, stretching over 20 kilometers of fine white sand, transparent sea and palm trees; Guam/a {?}, a recreated Taino Indian village built on piles in a lagoon; the Isle of Youth with its many natural caves, long ago shelter of pirates and corsairs, which inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island; Cayo Largo, a paradise where nature is your only host; and the Viñales Valley, with its typical pincushion hills and marvelous tobacco fields, the best in the world. Cuba ’s best attractions, however, are its people and the rhythms of their music.

Havana

Havana was founded by the Spaniards on the southern coast of Cuba and was later transferred to its current location. Its territorial and urban development started during the second half of the 17^th century, but it was not until the 19^th century that the city attained its splendor.

For over two centuries Havana ’s harbor was the most important in the western hemisphere. It was the meeting place of the fleets on their voyage back to Spain . It was one of the largest shipyards in the world.

Impressive fortresses were erected: “El Castillo de la Fuerza” (1538), the oldest in Cuba and the second oldest in America; “El Castillo del Morro”, guarding the harbor; “La Fortaleza de la Cabaña”, completed in the 18^th century, where a cannon is still fired at nine o’clock every night, a tradition which dates back to colonial times when it signaled the hour when all the doors in the city wall were closed (the city was enclosed by a wall which served as limit and protection). Some sections of this wall have been preserved.

Old Havana , still with remnants of its original grandeur, is the best preserved colonial architecture complex in America . That’s why, on December 4, 1982, UNESCO declared Old Havana a World Patrimony.

The prodigious architecture of Colonial Havana is here for all visitors to see. An example of it is the San Francisco Square , the second oldest in Cuba , located near the port, a major commercial center of the old city.

The most beautiful places in Old Havana are the Cathedral Square; the streets of San Ignacio, Empedrado, Callejón del Chorro, with their cobblestones; the palaces of the Marquis of Arcos, the Counts of Casa Bayona, and the Marquis of Aguas Claras, now housing El Patio restaurant.

Some religious buildings are of particular beauty: the church of El Angel , the church and convent of Santa Clara , and the church “La Merced”, with an unpretentious façade contrasting with its gold encrusted altar.

“El Templete” was erected at the foot of a ceiba tree, where the first town hall meeting was held and the first mass celebrated.

Havana offers tourists numerous hotels, restaurants and night clubs which will surely make for a pleasant stay. Among the most outstanding hotels are the Melia Cohiba Hotel, the Inglaterra Hotel, decorated in 19^th century style, the Presidente Hotel, with an atmosphere of old luxury, the Havana Riviera, the Habana Libre, the Nacional and the Capri hotels, with comfortable rooms overlooking the city and the sea.

The world famous and refreshing drink “mojito” and our most typical Cuban dishes are to be found at “La Bodeguita del Medio”. “El Floridita” offers international cuisine and a special daiquiri; “La Torre de Marfil” and “El Mandarín” specialized in Chinese food, while “La Casa de los Vinos” and “El Baturro” have on their menus a wide variety of Spanish fare. El Emperador, La Torre and 1830 restaurants are special treats for gourmets.

World famous for its wonderful shows and tropical setting, Tropicana presents visitors with two options: “Bajo las Estrellas”, show under the stars, surrounded by exuberant vegetation, and the dazzling “Arcos de Cristal”.

Havana, a city with a particular beauty and a charm of its own, awaits your visit, certain of meeting all your expectations.

Venue

The Havana International Conference Center, located in an alluring site surrounded by beautiful gardens, is only a few minutes away from downtown Havana and its major hotels.

The center has a plenary hall seating 1475, two rooms for 400 persons each, a number of other well-equipped conference rooms and wide exhibit areas. The center provides conference services (typing pool, translation, interpretation, photocopying, design and printing), catering services (restaurant, self-service cafeteria and snack bars), medical, postal and communications facilities. It also has a store and a book shop. Havana International Conference Center also boasts of an excellent exhibition hall –PABEXPO– 1,000 m away from its central facilities.

FOURTH  INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COMA AND DEATH

 Registration Form

Nombre/Name:                          __________________      

    Dirección/Address:                                                           

Apartado Postal/P.O. Box                    

País/Country:                              

 Afiliación/Affiliation:                                                           

Tel:                                              Fax:           ________          

E-mail:                                      

    Acompañante/Accompanying persons:

Sí/Yes    No   ¿Cuántos?/ If yes, how many?   ____

ANY INQUIRES AND ABSTRACTS MAY BE DIRECTED TO:

Dr. Calixto Machado, MD, Ph.D.

Tercer Simposio Internacional sobre el Coma y la Muerte

Presidente del Simposio

Instituto de Neurología y Neurocirugía

29 y D, Vedado, Apartado Postal 4268

Ciudad de La Habana 10400

Tel.:         537-553022 Ext 218

Fax:         537-228382

E-mail:    braind@infomed.sld.cu

http://www.sld.cu/eventos/comadeath.html

http://www.chagesurfer.com/BD/2000.html

Ms. Migdalia Luna Cisneros

Organizadora del Simposio

Palacio de Convenciones de La Habana

Tel: (537) 22-8382/21-9496

E-mail: migdalia@palco.cu