Global neurosurgery is a field at the intersection of public health and clinical neurosurgery. It aims to expand provision of improved and equitable neurosurgical care globally. [1]
Global neurosurgery is "the clinical and public health practice of neurosurgery with the primary purpose of ensuring timely, safe, and affordable neurosurgical care to all who need it." [2] The term global neurosurgery was first used in 1995 by Canadian neurosurgeon Dwight Parkinson to describe comprehensive clinical neurosurgery care in Manitoba; [3] however, the field as defined today was born in the mid-2010s. [4] The modern definition of global neurosurgery was born from a combination of global health and neurosurgery. Hence, global neurosurgery is conceived as a subspecialty of global health within global surgery. [2] [5]
Around 22.6 million people are affected by diseases amenable to neurosurgery each year, and 13.8 million require surgical intervention. [6] The burden of diseases amenable to neurosurgery is disproportionately distributed globally, with low- and middle-income countries bearing more than 78.1% of cases. [6] Low- and middle-income countries lack the workforce, infrastructure, funding, and data needed to address the disease burden. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] High-income country patients, especially in rural areas and from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds, face unique challenges in accessing safe, timely, and affordable neurosurgical care. [11] For this reason, most global neurosurgery work has focused on access to care in low- and middle-incomce countries despite the global nature of disparities in accessing neurosurgical care. [12]
Global neurosurgery practice involves advocacy, education, policy, research, and service delivery. [2] The components of global neurosurgery practice are interdependent but global neurosurgeons tend to focus their practice on one or two of them. This trend has allowed for specialization within the field and greater collaboration between individuals and institutions. [12]
Advocacy efforts happen at the international, regional, and local levels and in collaboration with health initiatives that share similar goals with global neurosurgery - universal health coverage and sustainable development. Internationally, global neurosurgery advocacy groups participate in high-level health policy events like the World Health Assembly and the United Nations General Assembly. [13] Global neurosurgery advocates have contributed to numerous high-level decisions including folate fortification, detection and management of congenital malformations, and injury prevention. [13] [14] Locally, global neurosurgery advocacy groups are constituted of health workers and other patient advocates. These groups affect local decision making but they are equally active internationally. Many local advocacy groups are members of international advocacy groups like the G4 Alliance, [15] [14] People and Organisations United for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (PUSH!) Global Alliance, [16] and International Federation Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (IFSBH). [17] Local global neurosurgery advocacy groups work within these international organizations to coordinate advocacy efforts regionally and globally.
Global neurosurgery education focuses on two aspects. First, global neurosurgery educators train specialists to serve under-resourced regions. The training focuses primarily on safe and quality service delivery within underserved communities. These global neurosurgery education efforts can be divided into non-specialized and specialized training. Non-specialized training or education for task-sharing/-shifting targets non-specialized healthcare workers such as general surgeons, clinical officers, and general practitioners. [18] [19] Non-specialized training is especially important in increasing access to essential and emergency neurosurgical care rapidly. [20] Non-specialized training, unlike specialized training, can be done in shorter periods, with larger cohorts, and with fewer resources. [19] Specialized neurosurgery training can last anywhere from a few months to 8 years depending on the training level. [21] Postgraduate medical fellowships in one of the neurosurgical subspecialties are open to graduate neurosurgery residents/registrars and can last between three and 24 months. On the other hand, neurosurgery residencies last between 4 and 8 years. [22]
The other focus of global neurosurgery education is fellowships that introduce trainees to global and public health concepts. Global neurosurgery fellowships are relatively new but increasingly popular with institutions like Cambridge, [23] Cornell, [24] Duke, [25] Harvard, [26] and the University of Cape Town [27] offering specialized training. [28]
Global neurosurgeons contribute significantly to the design and implementation of health policies that improve access to safe, timely, and affordable neurosurgical care globally. Prime examples of global neurosurgery policy efforts include the comprehensive health policy guidelines for traumatic brain and spine injuries [29] [30] and for spina bifida and hydrocephalus. [31] The comprehensive policy guidelines address challenges that affect the patient continuum of care and suggest solutions for every component of the healthcare system. [29] [30] [31] These documents were designed for policymakers in areas with a large burden of diseases amenable to neurosurgery. Traumatic brain and spine injuries were chosen because they constitute more than 47.1% of the global neurosurgical disease burden while hydrocephalus and spina bifida were chosen for their deleterious impact on children. [6]
Research is an indispensable aspect of global neurosurgery practice called academic global neurosurgery. [2] Academic global neurosurgery has a broad focus and uses concepts from epidemiology, health economics, health policy, health services, health systems, implementation & dissemination science, and patient safety & quality improvement research. [2] Academic global neurosurgery's exponential growth since 2016 is the result of increased interest and support from the neurosurgical community characterized by the creation of an ad-hoc committee within the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, [32] publication of special issues in reputable peer-reviewed journals, [33] [34] creation of a specialized journal, [35] and the creation of global neurosurgery centers. [12] Academic global neurosurgery identifies challenges to accessing neurosurgical care and proposes solutions that increase access to care. [12] The evidence generated by academic global neurosurgery informs the other aspects of global neurosurgery practice.
Service delivery is the oldest component of global neurosurgery practice and can be traced back to the colonial era when surgeons would deliver care in colonies. [21] [36] Global neurosurgery aims to reduce barriers to essential and emergency neurosurgery procedures such as those needed for acute stroke, neural tube defects, traumatic brain injuries, and traumatic spine injuries. [37] [38]
Low- and middle-income country patients have worse outcomes than their high-income country counterparts because they regularly face barriers to accessing timely and safe neurosurgical care. [39] [40] [10]
The workforce deficit in low- and middle-income countries constitutes a significant barrier to receiving care. Although former colonies have trained local neurosurgeons since their independence, the neurosurgical workforce density in many low- and middle-income countries remains below the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies' recommendation of 1 neurosurgeon per 200,000 people. [41] In addition, the majority of low- and middle income countries have geographical disparities in the neurosurgical workforce with most neurosurgeons working in urban areas whereas the majority of people in these countries are rural-dwellers. [19] In addition, surgical non-governmental organizations from high-income countries help fill the service delivery gap in some low- and middle-income countries. [42] Although most neurosurgical non-governmental organizations offer short-term service delivery in low- and middle-income countries, some like CURE International offer long-term care. [43]
The neurosurgical workforce in low- and middle-income countries has increased gradually in the past decade thanks to targeted efforts from the global neurosurgery community. For example, the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies supports the training of aspiring neurosurgeons from understaffed countries through scholarships at accredited centers in Africa, Asia, and South America. [44] [45] [46] [21] [47]
Young neurosurgeons from under-resourced regions who have been trained in advanced neurosurgical techniques report their patients do not get safe and timely care because of inadequate infrastructure. [19] Access to neurosurgical infrastructure can be assessed summarily using the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies facility three-tier classification or using hospital assessment tools. [48] The World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies facility three-tier classification groups facilities into level 1 (equipment for emergency neurosurgery procedures), level 2 (equipment to perform basic microneurosurgical procedures), and level 3 (equipment for complex and advanced neurosurgery).
Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.
Psychosurgery, also called neurosurgery for mental disorder (NMD), is the neurosurgical treatment of mental disorder. Psychosurgery has always been a controversial medical field. The modern history of psychosurgery begins in the 1880s under the Swiss psychiatrist Gottlieb Burckhardt. The first significant foray into psychosurgery in the 20th century was conducted by the Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz who during the mid-1930s developed the operation known as leucotomy. The practice was enthusiastically taken up in the United States by the neuropsychiatrist Walter Freeman and the neurosurgeon James W. Watts who devised what became the standard prefrontal procedure and named their operative technique lobotomy, although the operation was called leucotomy in the United Kingdom. In spite of the award of the Nobel prize to Moniz in 1949, the use of psychosurgery declined during the 1950s. By the 1970s the standard Freeman-Watts type of operation was very rare, but other forms of psychosurgery, although used on a much smaller scale, survived. Some countries have abandoned psychosurgery altogether; in others, for example the US and the UK, it is only used in a few centres on small numbers of people with depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In some countries it is also used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other disorders.
Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact are often emphasized. Thus, global health is about worldwide health improvement, reduction of disparities, and protection against global threats that disregard national borders, including the most common causes of human death and years of life lost from a global perspective.
Majid Samii is an Iranian neurosurgeon and medical scientist.
Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) is a surgical procedure for treatment of hydrocephalus in which an opening is created in the floor of the third ventricle using an endoscope placed within the ventricular system through a burr hole. This allows the cerebrospinal fluid to flow directly to the basal cisterns, bypassing the obstruction. Specifically, the opening is created in the translucent tuber cinereum on the third ventricular floor.
Neurosurgical anesthesiology, neuroanesthesiology, or neurological anesthesiology is a subspecialty of anesthesiology devoted to the total perioperative care of patients before, during, and after neurological surgeries, including surgeries of the central (CNS) and peripheral nervous systems (PNS). The field has undergone extensive development since the 1960s correlating with the ability to measure intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and cerebral metabolic rate (CMR).
Nicholas Theodore is an American neurosurgeon and researcher at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is known for his work in spinal trauma, minimally invasive surgery, robotics, and personalized medicine. He is Director of the Neurosurgical Spine Program at Johns Hopkins and Co-Director of the Carnegie Center for Surgical Innovation at Johns Hopkins.
Ivar Mendez is a neurosurgeon, neuroscientist and Professor of Surgery at the University of Saskatchewan. He is internationally known for his work in cell transplantation for Parkinson's disease and the use of remote presence robotics in neurosurgery and primary health care. In December 2022, Mendez was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada for his pioneering work in the use of remote telemedicine and robotics to revolutionize the delivery of health and patient care.
Albert Loren Rhoton Jr., was an American neurosurgeon and a professor specializing in microsurgical neuroanatomy. He developed and introduced a number of microsurgical techniques that improved the safety and effectiveness of neurosurgery, including the use of the surgical microscope in neurosurgery. He also designed many of the commonly used of microneurosurgical instruments, which bear his name. Such tools in use worldwide include the Rhoton Micro Dissectors designed for delicate work in the treatment of brain aneurysms and tumor resection.
Aaron A. Cohen-Gadol is a professor of neurological surgery in the department of neurosurgery at Indiana University School of Medicine and a neurosurgeon at Indiana University Health specializing in the surgical treatment of complex brain tumors, vascular malformations, cavernous malformations, etc. He performs removal of brain tumors via minimally invasive endoscopic techniques, which use the nasal pathways instead of opening the skull.
The Dextroscope is a medical equipment system that creates a virtual reality (VR) environment in which surgeons can plan neurosurgical and other surgical procedures.
Kathryn Ann Kelly "Kelly" McQueen is an American anesthesiologist and global health expert. She currently practices anesthesiology at the UW Health University Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin and serves as the chair for the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public health.
Yoko Kato is a Japanese neurosurgeon. She is professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Fujita Health University. She was the first woman in Japan to be promoted to full professor of neurosurgery.
Antonio Bernardo is an Italian-American neurosurgeon and academic physician. He is a professor of Neurological Surgery and the Director of the Neurosurgical Innovations and Training Center for Skull Base and Microneurosurgery in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. He has gained significant notoriety for his expertise in skull base and cerebrovascular surgery, and has published extensively on minimally invasive neurosurgery. He is a pioneer in the use of 3D technology in neurosurgery and a strong advocate for competency-based training in surgery.
William T. Couldwell M.D., Ph.D., a neurosurgeon, was born in British Columbia, Canada. He is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah, a position he assumed in 2001.
The Asian Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons (AASNS) is the inter-continental, non-governmental, learned society representing neurosurgeons of the Asian-Australasian region. It was founded in 1964 and is made up of twenty-eight national societies, totaling 60 percent of neurosurgeons globally. It is the largest of the five continental associations of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies. The official journal of the society is the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience.
Faiza Lalam is a medical doctor from Algeria, who is credited as the first woman neurosurgeon in Africa, spearheading the work of women in the specialism on the continent. She was described in 2020 as the "'Dean' of women neurosurgeons in Africa and the Middle East" by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies.
Claire Karekezi is a Neurosurgeon at the Rwanda Military Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. As the first woman neurosurgeon in Rwanda, and one of six neurosurgeons serving a population of 13 million, Karekezi serves as an advocate for women in neurosurgery. She has become an inspiration for young people pursuing neurosurgery, particularly young women.
Sandi Lam is a Canadian pediatric neurosurgeon and is known for her research in minimally invasive endoscopic hemispherectomy for patients with epilepsy. Lam is the Vice Chair for Pediatric Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University and the Division Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Lurie Children's Hospital. She has spent her career advancing pediatric brain surgery capabilities globally through her work in Kenya performing surgeries as well as training and mentoring local residents and fellows.
Juliet Sekabunga Nalwanga is a physician from Uganda, who is the country's first female neurosurgeon. As of 2021 she was one of only thirteen neurosurgeons in Uganda. As of 2018 she was employed by Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala.