The 11th MENA-SINO Congress returns to Egypt from 29 to 31 October 2026, convening at the Steigenberger Nile Palace on the east bank of the Nile in Luxor. Organised by the Middle East and North Africa Stroke and Interventional Neurotherapies Organization, the congress is the region's principal meeting for neurointerventionists, stroke neurologists, neurosurgeons and neuroradiologists, and this edition carries the theme "Bridging Disciplines, Elevating Stroke and Neurointerventional Therapies".
The congress has been approved for 18.5 European CME credit hours by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), making the attendance directly usable for recertification by Saudi, Gulf and European practitioners. It is endorsed by ESMINT, the World Stroke Organization, SVIN, SNIS and WFITN, and carries EthicalMed compliance status — a meaningful signal for delegates whose employers require documented, industry-independent education.
More than 100 international faculty are expected across three days in a four-hall format. Joint plenaries gather the whole congress in the Nile Ballroom, while parallel content runs in Hall A (Stroke), Hall B (Neurointervention) and Hall C (Interactive/hands-on). Day one, "Acute Stroke — The Race Against Time", opens with a state-of-stroke-care keynote for the MENA region, then splits into thrombolysis and hyperacute pathways (rt-PA to tenecteplase, extended windows, door-to-needle and door-to-groin metrics, telestroke and pre-hospital systems) alongside thrombectomy technique sessions covering aspiration versus stent-retriever, MeVO and DMVO targets, EVT beyond 24 hours, intracranial atherosclerotic disease and rescue strategies. Hands-on stations run CT/CTP/MRI selection workshops and NIHSS and mRS certification. The afternoon adds post-acute management and intracerebral haemorrhage, carotid and cervical intervention including TCAR, stenting and intravascular lithotripsy, and a live tele-voting debate on EVT in medium-vessel occlusion and in large-vessel occlusion with low NIHSS.
Day two turns to stroke prevention — the new biology of atherosclerotic disease and Factor XI antagonists — and day three looks forward to chronic subdural haematoma and middle meningeal artery embolization, AI and robotics in the angiosuite, and brain-computer interface horizons. A "Top 10 Neurointervention Trials 2024–2026" plenary reviews Imperative, BASIS/ICAS, CREST-2, large-core EVT, flow diversion, MMA, AVM and DISTAL/MeVO data in one sitting — a practical way for busy clinicians to close a two-year evidence gap.
The presidential committee is led by co-presidents Prof. Farouk Hassan, Prof. Khaled Sobh and Prof. Mohamed Alaa, with MENA-SINO President Prof. Attila Ozcan Ozdimar and general secretaries Prof. Ehab Shwaky and Prof. Amr Mahmoud. Session titles are confirmed; speaker and moderator assignments are being announced progressively as confirmations arrive.
Luxor adds an unusual dimension to the meeting: the venue sits minutes from the Karnak Temple complex, and an organised evening excursion to the Valley of the Kings and the illuminated Karnak and Luxor temples is offered to delegates. For Gulf-based neurology and interventional teams, the combination of EACCME credit, regional case material and a short flight makes this one of the stronger autumn options in the neurovascular calendar.
