We weren't used to thinking about the future
En Mar del Plata, la neurología argentina retomó su encuentro presencial tras dos años de distancia impuesta por la pandemia, reuniendo a especialistas locales e internacionales para reflexionar sobre los avances en enfermedades del cerebro y el horizonte que la ciencia comienza a vislumbrar. El 59.° Congreso Argentino de Neurología no fue solo una conferencia médica: fue un acto de reencuentro con la incertidumbre y con la promesa de lo posible, en un campo donde la complejidad del cerebro humano rivaliza con la vastedad del cosmos. La esclerosis múltiple, el Alzheimer, el Parkinson y la irrupción de la inteligencia artificial en el diagnóstico marcaron el pulso de una disciplina que aprendió, en tiempos difíciles, a pensar el futuro.
- Después de dos años de pantallas y distancia, los neurólogos argentinos volvieron a compartir un mismo espacio físico, cargando con la urgencia de todo lo que había cambiado.
- La esclerosis múltiple concentró buena parte de la atención: una enfermedad que golpea entre los 18 y los 35 años y que, sin cura, sigue siendo la principal causa de discapacidad no traumática en ese grupo etario.
- El especialista español Oscar Fernández, referente mundial con más de cuatro décadas de experiencia, se sumó al panel junto a expertos argentinos para presentar nuevas terapias farmacológicas que mejoran la calidad de vida de los pacientes.
- La inteligencia artificial y el Big Data irrumpieron en el congreso como herramientas que ya están redefiniendo cómo se procesan datos, se formulan diagnósticos y se anticipa la evolución de las enfermedades neurológicas.
- La formación de nuevos neurólogos ocupó un lugar central, con tecnologías inmersivas —realidad virtual y aumentada— que prometen transformar la manera en que las próximas generaciones aprenden a entender el cerebro.
Mar del Plata fue sede esta semana del 59.° Congreso Argentino de Neurología, el primero en formato presencial tras dos años de encuentros virtuales forzados por la pandemia. El tema elegido —"neurología abierta al futuro"— no fue casual: reflejaba el cambio de paradigma que la crisis sanitaria había impuesto sobre una disciplina acostumbrada a mirar el presente más que el horizonte. El vicepresidente del comité científico, el Dr. Vladimiro Sinay, lo resumió con honestidad: pensar el futuro era un desafío para el que el campo no estaba del todo preparado.
El cerebro, comparado por Sinay con la complejidad del sistema solar, sigue siendo uno de los grandes misterios de la naturaleza. Pero los últimos años trajeron avances notables en la comprensión de sus redes y estructuras. Entre las enfermedades abordadas —demencia, Alzheimer, Parkinson—, la esclerosis múltiple emergió como foco especial. Esta enfermedad ataca el sistema nervioso central entre los 18 y los 35 años, destruyendo la mielina que protege las neuronas y desencadenando síntomas que van desde la fatiga y la debilidad muscular hasta problemas de visión y pérdida de memoria. Sin cura, pero con tratamientos cada vez más eficaces, representa la principal causa de discapacidad no traumática en ese grupo etario.
El Dr. Ricardo Alonso, del Hospital Ramos Mejía, compartió panel con el neurólogo español Oscar Fernández —referente mundial con más de cuarenta años dedicados a la esclerosis múltiple— y con el Dr. Jorge Correale, jefe de neuroinmunología del FLENI. Juntos presentaron los avances en diagnóstico, donde las nuevas resonancias magnéticas permiten detectar la enfermedad con mayor precisión y seguir su evolución en el tiempo.
El congreso también abrió espacio a la inteligencia artificial y el Big Data como herramientas emergentes en neurociencia, y dedicó una sección especial a la formación de jóvenes neurólogos mediante tecnologías inmersivas. "La educación ya no es solo un profesor y un libro", señaló Sinay. El encuentro fue, en definitiva, un momento de balance y renovación: la neurología argentina reunida para compartir lo aprendido y prepararse para un futuro que la pandemia volvió más incierto, pero también más urgente.
Mar del Plata was hosting Argentina's neurology establishment this week—the first time in two years that the country's premier medical conference had gathered in person. The 59th Argentine Neurology Congress opened on November 16th and would run through Friday, bringing together specialists from across the country and abroad to discuss the state of brain science and where it was heading. The theme, chosen deliberately, was "neurology open to the future"—a nod to how profoundly the pandemic had reshaped not just medicine but the way doctors thought about their field.
Dr. Vladimiro Sinay, the vice chair of the congress's scientific committee, explained the shift in thinking. For two years, neurologists had met only through screens. Now they were back in a room together, but something had changed. "The congress arrives with a paradigm shift in how we think about the world and life," Sinay said. The pandemic had forced the field to reckon with uncertainty, to imagine what neurology would look like in the years ahead. That was harder than it sounded. "It was a challenge, because we weren't used to thinking about the future," he noted. Part of moving science forward meant understanding what was possible, what alternatives existed, what doors might open.
The brain itself remained one of nature's most intricate puzzles. Sinay compared its complexity to astrophysics or the solar system—vast, interconnected, still largely mysterious. Yet the last several years had brought enormous breakthroughs in understanding how neurons communicated, how the brain's networks connected, how its structures functioned. The congress would explore those advances across multiple conditions: dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease. But multiple sclerosis had emerged as a particular focus, a disease where recent progress had been striking.
Multiple sclerosis strikes primarily between ages 18 and 35, attacking the central nervous system in a way that derails the immune system's ability to recognize its own tissue. The body's defenses turn on myelin, the fatty sheath protecting nerve cells, damaging it and disrupting the electrical signals that travel to and from the brain. The result is fatigue, muscle weakness, vision problems, tingling, numbness, memory loss, balance problems—a cascade of symptoms that makes it the leading cause of non-traumatic disability in that age group. There was no cure, but treatments had improved dramatically, and doctors could now manage the disease and preserve quality of life in ways that hadn't been possible before.
Dr. Ricardo Alonso, a multiple sclerosis specialist at Ramos Mejía Hospital in Buenos Aires, emphasized that the congress would address prevention, diagnosis, management, and treatment across all neurological diseases, with particular depth on MS. On Wednesday, he would share a panel with Dr. Oscar Fernández, a Spanish neurologist with over four decades of experience treating and researching the disease. Fernández, based at a major teaching hospital in Málaga, was among the world's leading authorities on MS and would present details on new medications. Joining them would be Dr. Jorge Correale, head of neuroimmunology at FLENI hospital in Argentina.
Diagnosis itself had become more precise. Multiple sclerosis doesn't announce itself simply; doctors have historically relied on clinical criteria. But newer MRI technology—more powerful machines, more sophisticated imaging sequences—now allowed neurologists to spot the disease's signature patterns with greater certainty and less room for error. These same tools let doctors track how a patient was progressing, predict outcomes, and see whether treatment was working. The congress would also showcase how artificial intelligence and Big Data were beginning to reshape how scientists processed information and made diagnoses.
Another emphasis of the gathering was training the next generation. The congress had set aside space for young neurologists still in training, offering them a chance to learn the clinical scales and tests that guide diagnosis and research. Medical education itself had transformed. It was no longer just a professor and a textbook. Now there were immersive technologies—virtual reality, augmented reality—that could show trainees how the brain actually worked in ways that were far more engaging and effective. Sinay underscored the point: "Education is no longer just a professor and a book. Today we have great technological devices that can help us understand how the brain functions much better."
The congress represented a moment of reckoning and renewal. Neurologists were gathering to share what they'd learned, to think collectively about what came next, and to prepare their field for a future that the pandemic had made both more uncertain and, in some ways, more urgent.
Notable Quotes
The congress arrives with a paradigm shift in how we think about the world and life— Dr. Vladimiro Sinay, vice chair of the scientific committee
Multiple sclerosis is one of the neurological diseases that has made the most progress in recent years, with advances in diagnostic methods and treatments that improve patients' quality of life— Dr. Ricardo Alonso, multiple sclerosis specialist
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did they choose to emphasize the future so explicitly? Why not just focus on what's been discovered?
Because the pandemic broke something in how scientists think about time. For two years, everything was reactive—just surviving the present. Now they're asking: what does neurology look like in five years, ten years? It's not abstract. It shapes what research gets funded, what young doctors study.
And multiple sclerosis—why did that disease become the centerpiece?
Because the progress has been real and visible. Better diagnostics, new drugs, actual improvements in how patients live. It's one of the few areas where you can point to concrete wins. That matters when you're trying to convince people that neurology is moving forward.
The brain is compared to astrophysics. Does that mean we understand it about as well as we understand space?
Roughly, yes. We're still mapping it. We know some things work, but the mechanisms—how billions of neurons create thought, memory, identity—that's still mostly dark. The new imaging and AI are starting to illuminate it, but we're early.
What changes for a 25-year-old just diagnosed with MS, given these advances?
Everything, potentially. Twenty years ago, the disease was a slow descent. Now there are drugs that can stop it, slow it, even reverse some damage. You can still work, still have a life. The diagnosis is still serious, but it's not a death sentence the way it used to feel.
Why does training the next generation matter so much at a conference like this?
Because neurology is changing so fast that textbooks lag behind. Young doctors need to see how the new tools work, how to use them, how to think about problems differently. If you don't train them now, in five years you'll have a generation that doesn't know what's possible.