On the 19th and 20th of February 2010 was held at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) the XXVI Meeting of the Sociedad Española de Neurocirugía Pediátrica (SENEP), organized this year together with the French Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery. The assistance of French and Spanish colleagues was abundant, attending also were neurosurgeons from Italy and Portugal.

Although the weather was not exceptional during that time—the Islands were on orange alert due to the storms—the atmosphere throughout the meeting was one of great cordiality and friendship with our French colleagues. The scientific sessions started with three invited lectures. The first was delivered by Prof. Maurice Choux (Marseille) who dealt with “Intraventricular tumors”, with an exquisite presentation on different ways on how to approach the brain ventricles and their complications. The second lecture, on “Endoscopic endonasal approach for skull base tumors” was delivered by Paolo Cappabianca from Napoli, who presented his experience on the intransnasal endoscopic approach in different basal cranial tumors. A third lecture was devoted to “Third ventricle tumors in children” and was presented by Dr. Jean C. Marchal from Nancy. In a wonderful presentation, he discussed the different histological types, the neuroimaging findings and ways of approach, with particular reference to the transcallosal approach

The second morning session on the 19th was devoted to the posterior fossa tumors, “Posterior cranial fossa astrocytomas” Dr. Villarejo (Madrid), “Fourth ventricle ependymomas” Dr. G. Lena (Marseille), and “Lyon experience in medulloblastomas”, Dr. C. Mottolese (Lyon).

After lunch, Prof. C. Di Rocco made a masterful presentation on his experience with surgical treatment of spinal cord tumors, accompanied by a magnificent images and intraoperative videos. Next, Dr. George Noren from Boston (USA) reviews the main indications of stereotactic radiosurgery in children, followed by the afternoon session with different inputs on both systemic and local chemotherapy (carmustine).

The first session of Saturday, 20th, was devoted to the neurotrauma, started with the presentation of Dr. Lopez of the Canary Islands on child neuro-monitoring, its indications, limitations, and major complications. The second lecture, on “The shaken-baby syndrome. Factors predisposing to subdural hematomas” was presented by Dr. Chazal (France) with a rigorous analysis of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment techniques of these cases.

The final session of the meeting was devoted to the craniofacial malformations. The first exhibition was provided by Drs. Rodriguez and Basco on the surgical treatment of hypertelorism. Dr. Carmine Mottolese exposed a magnificent review of the unclassified craniosynostosis and Dr. Hinojosa from Madrid, reviewed the various technical advances in their pathology with special reference to the use of distractors, springs, etc.

Dr. Costa (Barcelona) presented his experience in the diagnosis and treatment of positional plagiocephaly, explaining the treatment protocol used in his area.

Several free-paper sessions included, among others, the following topics: “Intraventricular tumors” (Dr. Ros, Malaga), “Choroid plexus carcinoma” (Dr. Poch, Barcelona), “Epidemiology of brain tumors in Canary islands” (Dr. Morales, Las Palmas), “Telovelar approach for fourth ventricle tumors” (Dr. Cantero, Madrid), “Brain stem tumor treated with carmustine wafer implants” (Dra. Dominguez, Las Palmas), “Carmustine Wafer implants in children” (Dr. Marquez, Sevilla), “Intraoperative computed tomography in pediatric brain pathology” (Dr. Márquez, Sevilla), “Intracranial epidural hematomas” (Dr. Castro, Santiago de Compostela), “Endoscopic management of scaphocephaly” (Dr. Boetto, Toulouse), “Minimally approach of scaphocephaly” (Dr. Scaravarda, Marseille), and “Cranioplasty for small skull defects” (Dra. Conde, Valencia).

While the scientific level of the meeting was very high, in my opinion, the closing dinner held on Friday 19th was no less spectacular, where, in addition to tasting the magnificent Canary cuisine, the attendants enjoyed a carnival show comparable to that of Rio de Janeiro.

We must congratulate Dr. Maximino G. Ojellón for the magnificent organization of the meeting and also thanks to all our colleagues who attended it in person. We are finally indebted to the French Society for their attendance and participation in our conference.