The Neuroscience Program (NSP) at Illinois hosted an event on October 6 for faculty and students who plan to attend the annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Meeting. The event included a buffet dinner and a “SfN Pre-Poster” session which allowed those presenting at the meeting to show early versions of their posters for practice and feedback.
The pre-poster session was held at the Beckman Institute Atrium and included 47 posters on exhibit, split between two separate sessions. This chance for students in neuroscience to discuss their research was very valuable for those involved, as the annual SfN Meeting has become the premier event for many neuroscientists in the program. The participants in the pre-poster session will take the feedback they receive from the session and begin creating final versions of their posters before they make their way to Chicago for the SfN Meeting later in October.
Sara Royston, MD/PhD candidate and graduate student in the neuroscience program, was involved in the pre-poster night, showing her poster titled, A retrospective assessment of adverse outcomes and analgesic relief following the Hanging Drop and Loss of Resistance Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection techniques. Partnered with Dr. Stuart King from Christie Clinic, they assessed the prevalence and outcomes of two different techniques of guided cervical epidural steroid injections (CESI): the Hanging Drop and Loss of Resistance methods. Royston and King assessed 93 patients who received 196 CESI using the Hanging Drop technique, and found that, overall, this technique heeded successful outcomes in terms of patient satisfaction and alleviated pain. This means that the well-known Loss of Resistance technique may be popularized simply because it is well known, and the Hanging Drop could be an equally successful way to address cervical back pain in the future. Royston is set to show her poster at the SfN Meeting toward the end of October.