Dear Guests, Colleagues and Friends,
                 I hereby open the XVIIIth Conference on Epilepsy of the Polish Society of Epileptology and greet all its participants very warmly. My especially warm greetings go to our Guests and the Honorary Members of our Society.
                 I am very happy to greet Professor Heinz-Gregor Wieser who will bring splendour to our Conference with his Inaugurating Lecture.
                 As always, our Conference was preceded by the XIIth Symposium Epilepsy and Pregnancy organized by the Foundation of Epileptology and devoted to state of knowledge of women with epilepsy on procreation.
                 Within the next three days we shall discuss the latest advancements in the study of drug resistant epilepsy and non-convulsive seizures and status epilepticus. These discussions will be acompaniated by a demonstration of video-EEG, a method which is greatly helping to diagnose such conditions more and more frequently and swiftly. We shall discuss the problems involved in the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy in adolescence and the increasing epidemiological problem of the epilepsy in the elderly. I think that there is more and more understanding among contemporary epileptologists that different age groups, health condition and assocciated diseases, should be taken into consideration, when making decisions about how to treat them. This is related to differences in sensitivity to drugs and differences in pharmacokinetics.
                 A separate session will be devoted to social issues in epilepsy. Members of a self-help group for epileptic patients, "Spokojna Głowa", will share their observations and opinions with us.
                 This year we have two satellite symposia. The first one, Antiepileptic Drugs in the Treatment of Nonepileptic Disorders, is sponsored by Polpharma and will expand our knowledge of the effects of these drugs in other fields than epilepsy. The second one, Epilepsy after 65 Years Old, is organized by Pfizer and will discuss a problem which has only recently been recongnized and which we shall be confronting more and more frequently as societies grow older - the problem of the specificity of epilepsy in the elderly. The Epileptology Foundation is responsible for the scientific organization of both of these symposia.
                 This year, during our poster session, authors will be able to present their main theses and discuss them with other participants.
                 During the Gala Dinner, the President of the Polish Epileptology Society will presents the Honorary Member Diplomas and the Foundation of Epileptology will present the prize awarded by Janssen-Cilag for the best publication in "Epileptologia" in 2003/2004.
                 Finally, I would like to thank all the members of the Organizing Committee, the Scientific Committee and the Epileptology Foundation Secretariat for their competent cooperation and preparation of this conference according to our years-long tradition and standards.
                 I thank the pharmaceutical firms for their participation. They will enrich our knowledge and give us much enjoyment during the Welcome Party and Gala Dinner, to which I have pleasure to invite you.
                 I wish you fruitful proceedings and many enjoyable social meeting.

Prof. Jerzy Majkowski M.D., Ph.D.
Chairman of the Organizing Committee