700 pediatricians attended
The 16th Annual Conference of the Athens Pediatric Center of the Athens Medical Group was held on October 14-15, 2023 under the title “Pediatrics in practice”.
This scientific meeting was attended by a large number of pediatricians, more than 700, both in person and online. It is important to note that with today’s technological capabilities, pediatricians from all over Greece are watching in real time.
Professor of Paediatrics, Andreas Fretzaias, scientific manager of the Conference, developed in introductory presentations the topic of immunological coexistence and mother-fetus cooperation and informed about the latest advances in the field of vaccines, focusing on the new vaccines, which will be administered during pregnancy for protection of the newborn-infant after birth.
The Professor of Pediatrics, Andreas Fretzaias.
The current news regarding streptococcal infections, the diagnostic criteria of the inflammatory syndrome after a COVID infection and instructions for safe sleep were respectively presented by the Pediatrics Curators Panagiota Haikali, Krystallia Valsamidis and Victoria Goumas.
Of particular interest was the pediatric surgery session in which, with diagnostic direction, everyday surgical problems represented by common entities such as appendicitis, ovarian cysts and anatomical problems of the intestine were analyzed. Pediatric surgeons Marios Maragakis, Nikolaos Baltogiannis and Fotini Fili participated in this session.
In a special session, Pediatric endocrinologists Dimitris Papadimitriou, Aristotelis Panagiotopoulos and Jessica Arditis, presented respectively the possibilities of preventing Type I Diabetes with vitamin D, the investigation that should be done in children with short stature and in adolescents who present with goiter of the thyroid gland.
The conference’s guest speaker was Professor of Pulmonology Panagiotis Behrakis, head of the anti-smoking campaign in Greece and the European Union, presenting the damage caused by electronic smoking (vaping) to the lungs of teenagers.
From left: Professor of Pulmonology Panagiotis Behrakis and Professor of Pediatrics, Andreas Fretzaias.
In separate diagnostic sessions, the topics of functional urinary disorders and gluten sensitivity were discussed, respectively by the Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Nephrology of the University of Athens. Stella Stamboulis and the gastroenterologist of the Athens Pediatric Center Despina Tsita, trained for a long time in Sweden.
The field of Pediatric Pulmonology was covered by Professors Konstantinos Priftis and Konstantinos Douros, referring to the pulmonary disease of prematurity and persistent microbial bronchitis respectively. In the same session, the Pediatric Pulmonologist of the Athens Pediatric Center, Anastasia Filou, gave an exemplary comment on school-age asthma, a field she has cultivated during her long training in Sweden.
There were particularly interesting separate sessions with experts who covered vision problems related to electronic multimedia by Chrysavgi Adamopoulou, arthritis by Rubini Smerla, cranial expansion disorders by Pediatric neurosurgeon Panagiotis Kokkalis, amenorrhea in teenage girls by Paediatrician-Pediatric Endocrinologist Eleni Dermitzakis and dysmenorrhea by Assistant Gynecologist Professor of Adolescent Gynecology Panagiotis Christopoulos, lameness in walking due to neurological causes and recognition of neurocutaneous syndromes by Pediatric Neurologists Lambros Kousoulos and Maria Spanou respectively.
In the separate session on hematological and oncological problems, Pediatrician-Hematologist Stavroula Costaridou spoke about the problems of iron deficiency and Pediatrician-Hematologist-Oncologist Anastasia Stasinopoulos spoke about the evolutionary symptoms of brain tumors.
During the conference, the pharmaceutical company VIANEX organized a satellite talk about the vaccine that covers 4 bacteria that all cause purulent meningitis, with the speaker being the Senior Director of the Second Pediatric Clinic of the Athens Pediatric Center, Margarita Markouris.
