Inside Neurosurgeon

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    Inside Neurosurgeon focuses on the news and views of the AANS and other neurosurgical organizations. A sampling of this section’s content is listed below. AANS Neurosurgeon invites submissions of news briefs and bylined articles to Inside Neurosurgeon. Instructions for all types of submissions to AANS Neurosurgeon are available at www.aansneurosurgeon.org under Write for AANS Neurosurgeon.

    Advancing Neuroresearch
    2008 Medical Student Summer Research Fellows Announced

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    The AANS, through the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation, announces the 2008 AANS Medical Student Summer Research Fellows. The fellowship is open to medical students in the U.S. or Canada who have completed one or two years of medical school and wish to spend a summer working in a neurosurgical laboratory, mentored by a neurosurgical investigator who is a member of the AANS. Applications for the 2009 awards are due by Feb. 1, 2009. The 2008 awardees are:

    Lucas Harmon Bradley, University of Missouri
    Derek Chew, University of Toronto
    Anne Chin, UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School
    Andrew Kahlen Conner, Indiana University
    Kassandra Dassoulas, University of Virginia
    Dale Ding, Duke University
    Brian Hanak, Massachusetts General-Harvard
    Obehioya Irumudomon, Case Western Reserve
    Julia Jaffe, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
    Jonathan Latzman, New York University
    Neal Mehan, University of Cincinnati
    Whitney Parker, University of Pennsylvania
    Matthew Parry, Virginia Commonwealth University
    Caroline Tougas, University of Ottawa
    Nina Zobenica, Barrow Neurological Institute

    Interview With the AANS President
    Dr. Bean Sees an Increasingly Global Perspective in Neurosurgery’s Future
    Manda J. Seaver

    Incoming AANS President James R. Bean, MD, (right) presents Jon H. Robertson, MD, with the Tennessee state flag that was displayed at the AANS headquarters office during his presidency.
    Catching up with James R. Bean, MD, at the 2008 AANS Annual Meeting was no mean feat. Even before taking office, numerous commitments crowded the 2008-2009 AANS president’s schedule.

    “I’ll meet you in the press room,” he promised, heading off to yet another engagement.

    When he arrived for the interview, he was, as always, perfectly prepared. A veteran of AANS media training seminars, Dr. Bean had honed his interview skills as a spokesperson for neurosurgery’s campaign for federal tort reform and for other issues as well. His experience as chair of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee, the group devising neurosurgery’s advocacy agenda in the nation’s capital, and as editor of the AANS Bulletin, the predecessor of the AANS Neurosurgeon, also stood him in good stead.

    “I’ve been thinking about this,” he warned, easing into a chair. He paused for a split second before laying out the areas of primary concern to the AANS in the next year.

    “Clearly, our focus on education will continue,” he began. He noted that the AANS is rooted in education, and therefore staying ahead of the expanding continuing medical education needs of members is an essential service to AANS members.

    Dr. Bean said that AANS’ educational activities as well as professional services would continue to expand internationally. A task force recently was convened to brainstorm ways the AANS can meet the needs of international members, augmenting the efforts of the AANS International Outreach Committee. Some ideas that have been implemented include developing an international area of the Web site where selected articles from AANS scientific journals are freely available; offering free or low-cost online access to major biomedical and related social science journals for not-for-profit institutions in developing countries through the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative; instituting scholarships, including the AANS International Travel Scholarship and the AANS International Visiting Surgeons Fellowship; and recognizing excellence through onors such as the AANS International Lifetime Achievement Award.

    He also noted that these expanded international activities also would lay the groundwork for the 2009 World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies meeting, which the AANS will host in Boston from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4.

    “The AANS is and should be a source of help to neurosurgeons around the world,” said Dr. Bean. “We are an integral part of an essential and interconnected network.”

    This interconnectivity is reflected in the theme Dr. Bean chose for the 2009 AANS Annual Meeting in San Diego from May 2 to 7. The meeting, “Shaping Neurosurgery’s Future: A Global Enterprise,” will be not only an opportunity for scientific discovery and continuing medical education, but also a venue that reflects a beneficial and appropriate relationship between neurosurgery and industry.

    To ensure that this is the case, the AANS established ethical guidelines for relationships between the AANS and industry and more recently between individual neurosurgeons and industry. Dr. Bean, who was instrumental in development of the latter document, noted that such guidelines are necessary because of growing commercialism in healthcare that threatens professionalism.

    “The AANS and individual neurosurgeons must make a conscious effort to keep patient interests at the center of business decisions,” he said.

    Further, he maintained that this conscious focus on patient interests must extend to the political arena: “American politics has a lot to do with medical practice today and with payment regulations and practices in particular,” he said. “We have to influence politics at the national level, particularly in an election year when the nation is focusing on healthcare as a top voting issue, and never forget that the medical profession’s role in this whole business is safe and available care for patients.”

    Dr. Bean said that an essential element for increasing the effectiveness of advocacy efforts in Washington is an improved public relations strategy.

    “We must get the message out on what neurosurgeons do and become more visible and comprehensible as a profession to the public,” he said. “We should recognize that, while medical terminology needs to be translated into language and images that people can understand, the art of public communications doesn’t come naturally to most of us.”

    He advocated media training, offered at AANS annual meetings, for neurosurgery’s leadership and for any neurosurgeon who interfaces with the public.

    Dr. Bean concluded with an issue of vital importance to the health of neurosurgery in the future: attracting the best qualified candidates to the profession, particularly women.

    “Neurosurgery is science that is applied by men and women,” he said. “To remain a professionon the leading edge of medicine, we must be able to attract top people to our field, and today that means, in part, becoming a profession that can accommodate a rewarding family life for the men and women in neurosurgical practice.”

    “Neurosurgery has been an innovative profession in many ways,” Dr. Bean concluded. “If there’s a better way to do something, we have to do what it takes to make that happen.”

    Manda J. Seaver is staff editor of the AANS Neurosurgeon. The author reported no conflicts for disclosure.

    Membership
    Do You Know These AANS Members?

    The AANS is seeking contact information for the following Lifetime members. If you can help, please contact Kim Bulat at [email protected].

    Hugh W. Barr, Canada
    Allan E. Bayless, Fla.
    C. Ashley Bird, Fla.
    Wesley A. Cook, N.C.
    Giuseppe Dalle, Italy
    Michel R. Decarie, Canada
    Robert A. Evans, Calif.
    William S. Fields, Ga.
    Eugene D. George, Va.
    John Hankinson, U.K.
    Milton D. Heifetz, Calif.
    Thomas J. Holbrook, W.V.
    Henry L. Hood, Pa.
    Dean S. Hope, Calif.
    John P. Kapp, Fla.
    Kenneth I. Kiluk, N.C.
    Stephen Francis, Hungary
    Joyce A. Kunkel, N.C.
    Walter S. Lockhart, N.C.
    Nills G. Lundberg, Sweden
    Kasargod B. Mallya, Canada
    Richard Malmros, Denmark
    S. Napoleon Martinez, Canada
    Colleen A. McLaughlin, N.C.
    Juan Negrin, N.Y.
    Helge Nornes, Norway
    Walter D. Obrist, Fla.
    J. E. O’Connell, U.K.
    Ralph A. Olson, N.Y.
    John W. Pace, Calif.
    John A. Sandin, Wis.
    John Albert Savoy, Mass.
    Joel Leonard Seres, Ore.
    Gordon J. Strewler, N.C.
    Garrett M. Swain, Canada
    John L. K. Tsang, Nev.
    Bryce K. A. Weir, Canada
    Walter R. Whitehurst, Fla.
    John C. Zahniser, Utah
    Leonard L. Zinker, Fla.

    AANS National Neurosurgical Procedural Statistics Report: New Survey Offers Insight Into How Neurosurgeons Are Practicing Today
    Betsy van Die

    More than 60 percent of procedures that neurosurgeons perform are spine-related, according to the AANS National Neurosurgical Procedural Statistics 2006 Survey.

    “The data obtained in the recent AANS report is the most comprehensive representation of caseloads for board-certified neurosurgeons in the United States currently available,” stated AANS President James R. Bean, MD.

    With inclusion of the CPT codes and new procedures, it is actually more comprehensive than a similar AANS survey conducted in 2000 using 1999 data. However, many side-by-side comparisons are included to capture a glimpse of how the field has changed demographically and procedurally in the intervening seven years.

    To obtain the most accurate results for the neurosurgical statistics report, a survey was distributed in April 2007 to 3,614 neurosurgeons nationwide in group, academic and solo practices. The report collected 2006 data by Current Procedural Terminology code. Nearly 750 neurosurgeons participated in the survey. The mean was calculated for the sample by each procedure audited. This procedural mean was then multiplied by 3,443, which was the number of neurosurgeons board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery at the time of the survey, to allow extrapolation of the data to all U.S. neurosurgeons.

    Someof the key data from the survey follow.

    • The total number of procedures performed in 2006 was estimated at 2,171,195.
    • Of these, 1,345,167 were spine-related, equating to nearly 62 percent of the total.
    • The most common spine procedure was lumbar disc laminectomy, with 185,651 performed.
    • The second highest category was cranial, with 592,443 procedures performed.
    • The most common cranial procedure was supratentorial craniotomy, with 55,578 performed.

    Select comparative data from 1999 to 2006 revealed:

    • a 14 percent decrease in the number of neurosurgeons in private practice;
    • a 13 percent decrease in the number of neurosurgeons in solo practice;
    • an 11 percent increase in the number of neurosurgeons with full-time academic appointments; and
    • a 6 percent increase in the number of female neurosurgeons.

    Some of the recent advances in neurosurgery are reflected in the new procedures included in the 2006 report and not in the 1999 report. These include kyphoplasty, the endoscopic transnasal procedure, and several endovascular procedures including balloon angioplasty and balloon test occlusion.

    AANS members can access the report at password-protected MyAANS.org by selecting the Procedural Statistics link under the Resources heading in the left-hand tool bar. Members of the media can receive a free copy of the AANS neurosurgical statistics report by contacting Betsy van Die, [email protected]. Companies can purchase a downloadable copy by visiting the AANS Online Marketplace.

    Betsy van Die is AANS director of communications. The author reported no conflicts for disclosure.

    International Awards
    2008 AANS International Visiting Surgeon Fellowship Recipients Announced

    Sudipta Mukherjee, MD, of Bagerhat, Bangladesh, and Okezie Obasi Kanu, MD, from Lagos, Nigeria, have been selected as the recipients of the 2008 International Visiting Surgeon Fellowships. This fellowship provides financial assistance to physicians in developing countries who want to participate in a visiting surgeon program in North America. The AANS funds roundtrip airfare, provides a monthly stipend to help offset expenses, and offers a stipend to attend the AANS annual meeting.

    Dr. Mukherjee will be visiting the University of Washington at Harborview Medical Center where he will work with Laligam N. Shekhar, MD, observing skull base and cerebrovascular treatments. His concentration will be on microsurgical techniques of cerebrovascular surgery in respect to aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, and stroke management.

    Dr. Kanu will be visiting the Duke University School of Medicine where he will work with Allan H. Friedman, MD, FACS. Dr. Kanu’s interest is in neuro-oncology, particularly the management of skull base (including pituitary) lesions.

    The AANS will begin accepting applications for the 2009 International Visiting Surgeon Fellowship on July 1, 2008. Additional information is available at www.aans.org/international/surgeons_fellowships.asp.

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