The Emirates Cerebrovascular & Stroke Forum 2025 was held on November 15, 2025, at Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre, offering 7 CME hours of intensive, system- focused dialogue. Co-chaired by Prof. Suhail Alrukn and Dr. Ayman Al Sibale, this pivotal forum moved beyond individual clinical topics to address the critical infrastructure, collaboration, and standardization required to elevate stroke care across the Emirates.
The forum commenced with a foundational focus on the hyperacute phase in Session 1: EMS and Hyperacute Stroke Logistics. Experts from National Ambulance and Dubai Ambulance detailed the challenges and metrics of prehospital recognition and transfer, emphasizing the necessity for seamless EMS-Hospital synchronization, a theme explored in a dedicated roundtable discussion.
Building on this, Session 2 provided an unprecedented panoramic view of the national stroke landscape through "UAE Stroke Center Experience." Leaders from five major centers—including Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City Ajman, and Sheikh Khalifa Specialty Hospital RAK—presented concise overviews of their setups, quality improvement initiatives, and outcomes. This collective sharing fostered a unique opportunity for benchmarking and identifying best practices across the network.
The afternoon shifted to complex clinical decision-making in Session 3: Intervention, Imaging & Complex Decision-Making. Renowned neurointerventionists like Prof. Dr. Nader Sourour tackled difficult scenarios such as mechanical thrombectomy in borderline cases and the management of hemorrhagic AVMs. The session also provided updates on recent clinical trials from WSC 2025 and practical insights into thrombolytic agents.
A high-level Roundtable Discussion directly addressed national "Challenges and Opportunities," bringing together perspectives from hospital leadership, neurointervention, EMS, and health authorities to strategize on systemic improvements.
The forum concluded with the vital topic of standardization in Session 5: Stroke Certification & Registry. Representatives from DHA, the American Heart Association, SITS Registry, and initiatives like the Angels Program outlined their certification processes, highlighting the role of external validation and data-driven registries in bridging quality gaps and driving continuous improvement.
By meticulously connecting the chain of survival—from EMS dispatch and hospital readiness to advanced intervention and national quality accreditation—the Emirates Cerebrovascular & Stroke Forum 2025 successfully provided a strategic blueprint. It reinforced the imperative of multidisciplinary, system-wide collaboration to optimize patient outcomes and solidify the UAE's stroke care ecosystem.
