Robert F. Spetzler | |
---|---|
Born | 1944 (age 79–80) |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Knox College (BS), Northwestern (MD) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Neurosurgery |
Institutions | Barrow Neurological Institute University of California San Francisco |
Robert F. Spetzler (born 1944) is a neurosurgeon and the J.N. Harber Chairman Emeritus of Neurological Surgery and director emeritus of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. [1] He retired as an active neurosurgeon in July 2017. [2] He is also Professor of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona.
Spetzler specialized in cerebrovascular disease and skull base tumors. Extremely prolific, he has published more than 580 articles and 180 book chapters and has co-edited multiple neurosurgical textbooks, including The Color Atlas of Microneurosurgery (2000). He retired from surgery in July 2019.
Spetzler was born in Stierhöfstetten (Oberscheinfeld, near Würzburg) in Germany to where his parents had been evacuated due to the Second World War. When he was 11, he moved with his parents to the United States. He performed spectacularly in the American school system, despite the fact his first language was German.[ citation needed ]
He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1967 from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois after attending a year of community college in Illinois. He spent a year at the Free University of Berlin, and then entered medical school at the Northwestern Medical School in Chicago in 1967, receiving his M.D. in 1971. He completed post-graduate training at Wesley Memorial Hospital–Northwestern and a residency in neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, [1] training under Charles B. Wilson. [3] In 1983, Spetzler was named Chair of the Division of Neurological Surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute. He was named director in 1986.[ citation needed ]
Spetzler played a dominant role in the use of the standstill operation in treating large or dangerous cerebral aneurysms. [4] One notable application of this method occurred in 1991 when Spetzler successfully removed a large aneurysm in a 35-year-old American woman named Pam Reynolds. Prior to the operation proceeding, Reynolds was placed under general anesthesia, then had her eyes taped shut and a monitoring device placed in both of her ears. She was later induced into clinical death by Spetzler and his team, which was necessary for the operation to take place. Despite being clinically dead and under intense monitoring and medical observation whilst the procedure was ongoing, Reynolds claimed to have had a profound near-death experience in which she was able to accurately recall the sequence of events within the operating theater, the surgical instruments used, and the conversations that had taken place. In an interview that took place for a BBC documentary in 2002, Spetzler affirmed many of the observations that Pam had made and later admitted that he had no explanation for them. [5] In February 2007, Spetzler performed his 5,000th aneurysm procedure. [4] He travels and lectures frequently on the most recent advances in neurosurgery. After 30 years at the Barrow, Dr. Spetzler retired in July 2019, with Michael T. Lawton as his successor. [2]
Spetzler has written more than 300 articles and 180 book chapters, as well as co-editing multiple neurosurgical textbooks. A partial list is below:
A cerebral arteriovenous malformation is an abnormal connection between the arteries and veins in the brain—specifically, an arteriovenous malformation in the cerebrum.
Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nervous system, and cerebrovascular system. Neurosurgery as a medical specialty also includes non-surgical management of some neurological conditions.
An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder characterized by a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain due to a weakness in the vessel wall. These aneurysms can occur in any part of the brain but are most commonly found in the arteries of the cerebral arterial circle. The risk of rupture varies with the size and location of the aneurysm, with those in the posterior circulation being more prone to rupture.
Mahmut Gazi Yaşargil is a Turkish medical scientist and neurosurgeon. He collaborated with Raymond M. P. Donaghy M.D at the University of Vermont in developing microneurosurgery. Yaşargil treated epilepsy and brain tumours with instruments of his own design. From 1953 until his retirement in 1993 he was first resident, chief resident and then professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, University of Zurich and the Zurich University Hospital. In 1999 he was honored as "Neurosurgery’s Man of the Century 1950–1999" at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting. He is a founding member of Eurasian Academy. He is regarded as one of the greatest neurosurgeons in the modern age.
The International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT) was a large multicenter, prospective, randomised clinical medical trial, comparing the safety and efficacy of endovascular coil treatment and surgical clipping for the treatment of brain aneurysms. The study began in 1994. The first results were published in The Lancet in 2002, and the 10-year data were published again in The Lancet in early September 2005. A total of 2,143 study participants were mostly drawn from U.K. hospitals with the rest drawn from North American and European hospitals.
Joshua B. Bederson is an American neurosurgeon, Leonard I. Malis, MD/Corinne and Joseph Graber Professor of Neurosurgery, and System Chair of Neurosurgery at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and an attending neurosurgeon at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
Vein of Galen aneurysmal malformations(VGAMs) and Vein of Galen aneurysmal dilations (VGADs) are the most frequent arteriovenous malformations in infants and fetuses. A VGAM consists of a tangled mass of dilated vessels supplied by an enlarged artery. The malformation increases greatly in size with age, although the mechanism of the increase is unknown. Dilation of the great cerebral vein of Galen is a secondary result of the force of arterial blood either directly from an artery via an arteriovenous fistula or by way of a tributary vein that receives the blood directly from an artery. There is usually a venous anomaly downstream from the draining vein that, together with the high blood flow into the great cerebral vein of Galen causes its dilation. The right sided cardiac chambers and pulmonary arteries also develop mild to severe dilation.
Barrow Neurological Institute is the world's largest neurological disease treatment and research institution, and is consistently ranked as one of the best neurosurgical training centers in the United States. Founded in 1962, the main campus is located at 350 W. Thomas Road in Phoenix, Arizona.
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.
Cavernous hemangioma, also called cavernous angioma, venous malformation, or cavernoma, is a type of venous malformation due to endothelial dysmorphogenesis from a lesion which is present at birth. A cavernoma in the brain is called a cerebral cavernous malformation or CCM. Despite its designation as a hemangioma, a cavernous hemangioma is not a tumor as it does not display endothelial hyperplasia. The abnormal tissue causes a slowing of blood flow through the cavities, or "caverns". The blood vessels do not form the necessary junctions with surrounding cells, and the structural support from the smooth muscle is hindered, causing leakage into the surrounding tissue. It is the leakage of blood, referred to as hemorrhage, that causes a variety of symptoms known to be associated with the condition.
Curtis Dickman is an American researcher, author, and retired Neurosurgeon. He is recognized internationally for his pioneering work in the fields of Spinal Surgery, Surgery of the Craniocervical Junction, Spinal Biomechanics, and Thoracoscopic Neurosurgery.
Interventional neuroradiology (INR) also known as neurointerventional surgery (NIS), endovascular therapy (EVT), endovascular neurosurgery, and interventional neurology is a medical subspecialty of neurosurgery, neuroradiology, intervention radiology and neurology specializing in minimally invasive image-based technologies and procedures used in diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the head, neck, and spine.
James Ivan Ausman is an American neurosurgeon, science editor, television broadcaster, medical entrepreneur, and public advocate on health-care reform. He currently is professor of neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles and editor-in-chief of Surgical Neurology International.
The Dextroscope is a medical equipment system that creates a virtual reality (VR) environment in which surgeons can plan neurosurgical and other surgical procedures.
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 is a Canadian neurosurgeon who is professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah, a position he assumed in 2001.
Alexander Coon is an American neurosurgeon who is the director of endovascular and cerebrovascular neurosurgery at the Carondelet Neurological Institute of St. Joseph's and St. Mary's Hospitals in Tucson, Arizona. He was previously the director of endovascular neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and an assistant professor of neurosurgery, neurology, and radiology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is known for his work in cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery and his research in neuroendovascular devices and clinical outcomes in the treatment of cerebral aneurysms, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and AVMs.
Luca Paolo Eugenio Regli is a neurosurgeon and full professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery of the University Hospital of Zürich since October 2012. He is the son of Franco Regli, a Swiss professor of neurology and founder of the Foundation Franco Regli for the Research in the Field of Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Michael T. Lawton is an American neurological surgeon. He serves as the President and CEO of Barrow Neurological Institute and the Robert F. Spetzler Chair in Neuroscience in the Department of Neurosurgery.
İlhan Elmacı is a Turkish neurosurgeon specializing in brain and nerve surgery. He was born in Türkiye in 1962. He has extensive experience in treating various neurological conditions and has contributed significantly to his field through both clinical practice and academic work.
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