The Australian and New Zealand Scientific Neurology meeting brought specialists from Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States, including Dr. Ruxandra Costa of Klamath Falls.

There were 75 posters presented during the meeting that was at Alice Springs, Northern Territories, Australia, from May 21 to 25.

The poster from Klamath Falls, which was documentation of a medical case, represented the work of three Klamath Falls physicians, Dr. Petya Gueordjeva, Dr. David Panossian and Dr. Costa.

They received assistance from three other Klamath Falls physicians, Dr. Jeffery Chudoba, Dr. Miguel Montes, Dr. Robert Edwards, in developing the poster.

Also contributors in the medical case were three physicians from Oregon Health Science University, Dr. Edward Cupler, Dr. Atul Deodhar and Dr. Sean Lasalle.

The Klamath Falls case stirred quite an interest, being one of the few rare cases of vasculitis (inflammation of small and medium arteries) that presented with an acute stroke.  This disease can affect the skin, the lungs, the kidneys and the nerves and could be a major cause of disability, Dr. Costa said.

Although there are some forms of medical treatment, more research is needed to discover future treatments, she added.

Another topic of interest was tropical neurology, which is considered to e common in Australia given the incidence of tropical disease in the Southern Hemisphere.

“The presentation of this poster to an international meeting marks the beginning of future other cases or publications that will place Klamath Falls on the map,” Dr. Costa said.

“I look forward to working with all physicians from Sky Lakes Medical Center to bring up what is best for this community in the medical spotlight,” she said.