It is our great pleasure and honor to announce that the International Symposium on Surgery for Catastrophic Epilepsy in Infants (ISCE) will be held in Tokyo, Japan on Feb18-19, 2012. This will be the 14th annual meeting of the Infantile Seizure Society (ISS), and is endorsed by the Pediatrics Commission and the Commission of Asian & Oceanian Affairs (CAOA) of the ILEA. We are especially grateful that our international colleagues have encouraged us to hold this conference as originally scheduled, despite the catastrophic tsunami and nuclear power plant disaster in northeast Japan last March. This will demonstrate that we are allied to fight the invisible and unreasonable fears and prejudices throughout the world since March 11.

Frequent epileptic seizures in infants cause severe epileptic encephalopathy with a catastrophic nature associated with progressive developmental delay. Early surgical intervention is essential when focal epileptogenic pathologies are identified by modern imaging techniques. It is critical, therefore, to establish the diagnosis and to start appropriate treatment as early as possible. In this symposium, we would like to focus on the state-of-art advancement in diagnosis and treatment of severe epileptic encephalopathy in infants. In addition, there will be comprehensive coverage over a broad area that includes genetics, pathophysiology, and treatment guidelines.

February is the plum blossom season in Tokyo, which means that the beautiful Japanese spring will soon arrive. We will sincerely appreciate it if you attended this meeting and participated in the lively discussions that will start the new year.