Agenda
The 3rd Joint SIH Congress will take place on 29–31 May 2026.
Venue
The event will be hosted at the Kursaal Bern
Kornhausstrasse 3
3013 Bern, Switzerland
Friday 29th of May 2026
Principles & Introduction to SIH
|
08:30 |
Welcome |
|
|
09:00 – 09:30 |
Introduction to SIH, etiologies, brain MRI |
Petutschnigg Tomas - Switzerland, Zander Charlotte - Germany |
|
09:30 – 10:00 |
Standardized diagnostic spine work-up |
Lützen Niklas - Germany, Piechowiak Eike - Switzerland, Dobrocky Tomas - Switzerland |
|
10:00 – 10:30 |
Q & A |
|
|
10:30 – 11:00 |
coffee break |
|
|
11:00 – 11:30 |
Unravelling the CSF venous fistula mystery |
Carlton-Jones Lalani - UK |
|
11:30 – 12:00 |
Endovascular treatment of SIH |
Cagnazzo Federico - France |
|
12:00 – 12:15 |
Q & A |
|
|
12:15 – 13:15 |
lunch break |
|
|
13:15 – 13:45 |
Principles of SIH treatment – percutaneous / blood patch |
Piechowiak Eike - Switzerland, Amrhein Timothy - USA |
|
13:45 – 14:15 |
Principles of SIH treatment – the surgery perspective |
Goldberg Johannes - Switzerland, Häni Levin - Switzerland, Volz Florian - Germany |
|
14:15 – 14:30 |
Q & A |
|
|
14:30 – 15:00 |
coffee break |
|
|
15:00 – 15:30 |
Group 1: Case – discussion and Group 2: Setup during myelo |
|
|
15:30 – 16:00 |
Group 1: Setup during myelo and Group 2: Case – discussion |
Saturday 30th of May 2026
Scientific Sessions
|
08:30 |
Welcome & registration |
|
|
09:00 – 09:20 |
The 100 faces of SIH |
Scoffings Daniel - UK |
|
09:20 – 09:40 |
Spine MRI, finding the leak (flow void, bud on branch, SLEC distribution and leak localization) |
Lützen Niklas - Germany |
|
09:40 – 09:55 |
Spine MRI advanced – Phase Contrast MRI |
Wolf Katharina - Germany |
|
09:55 – 10:10 |
Imaging Biomarker in SIH (spinal volumetry, elastrography) |
Piechowiak Eike - Switzerland |
|
10:10 – 10:40 |
Q & A |
|
|
10:40 – 11:00 |
coffee break |
|
|
11:00 – 11:30 |
The ideal setup for CSFVF detection (battle debate) (straw, inspiration, Photon counting, just the filling matters, It’s all about the pressure, DSM?) |
Kranz Peter - USA vs. Carlton-Jones Lalani - UK |
|
11:30 – 11:50 |
The (un)reliable brain MRI score |
Dobrocky Tomas - Swizerland |
|
11:50 – 12:10 |
SIH Probability – brain imaging (Scores, optic nerve, spinal cysts) |
Tay Angelique - USA |
|
12:10 – 12:30 |
Q & A |
|
|
12:30 – 13:30 |
Lunch break |
|
|
13:30 – 13:50 |
sacral CSF leaks – hard to find, easy to treat? |
Lützen Niklas - Germany |
|
13:50 – 14:10 |
pediatric SIH |
Madhavan Ajay - USA |
|
14:10 – 14:30 |
Venous disease and SIH (inferior vein of cava, azygos vein stenosis, nutcracker) |
Mikkelsen Ronni - Denmark |
|
14:30 – 14:50 |
TBD (Abstracts a 10 min?) |
|
|
14:50 – 15:15 |
coffee break |
|
|
15:15 – 15:30 |
Evidence for surgical and percutaneous procedures in SLEC+ (how good are we?) |
Petutschnigg Tomas - Switzerland |
|
15:30 – 15:50 |
Surgery (classic + endosopic) for SLEC+ |
Schievink Wouter - USA |
|
15:50 – 16:10 |
Patching for SLEC+ |
Amrhein Timothy - USA |
|
16:10 – 16:40 |
Treatment of CSF venous fistula (battle debate) |
Carlton-Jones Lalani - UK, Cagnazzo Federico - France, Schievink Wouter - USA, Beck Jürgen - Germany |
|
16:40 – 17:00 |
PDPH Session, how aggressive should we be (battle debate) |
Beck Jürgen - Germany, Volz Florian - Germany, Schyns-van den Berg Alexandra - Netherlands |
|
17:00 – 17:30 |
Q & A |
|
|
Dinner Rosengarten 19:00 |
Sunday 31th of May 2026
CSF the intriguing fluid
|
09:00 – 09:20 |
CSF dynamics (Production, resorption, infusion testing, RCSF) |
Czosnyka Sophie - UK |
|
09:20 – 09:40 |
Glymphatics in SIH |
Proulx Steven - Switzerland |
|
09:40 – 10:00 |
Glymphatic – let me show you the invisible |
|
|
10:00 – 10:20 |
CSFomics – new Biomarkers of SIH |
El-Rahal Amir - Germany |
|
10:20 – 10:50 |
Q & A |
|
|
10:50 – 11:15 |
coffee break |
|
|
11:15 – 11:30 |
Outcome parameters, what is success (for the patient or for the physician) |
|
|
11:30 – 12:00 |
Medical therapy after successful leak closure, cervicogenic etiology of orthostatic headache |
Gray Linda - USA |
|
12:00 – 12:15 |
Role of beta-Trace protein as a marker |
Mark Ian - USA |
|
12:15 – 12:30 |
Time matters, Economic impact of SIH |
Häni Levin - Switzerland |
|
12:30 – 13:30 |
lunch break |
|
|
13:30 –13:50 |
Underlying IIH in CSF venous fistula patients – do we have sufficient proof? |
Malinzak Mike - USA |
|
13:50 –14:10 |
Chronic Subdural hematoma, look for CSFVF, don’t do MMA embo! |
Volz Florian, / Lützen Niklas - Germany |
|
14:10–14:30 |
How to setup-up a SIH service (the Porto experience) |
Miguel Lopes Miranda Andre - Portugal |
|
14:30–15:00 |
Q & A |
|
|
Closing remarks |

