Advanced training in neurosurgery, new course at the Neuromed Center

It has just ended in the ‘Giampaolo Cantore’ Necroscopic Medicine Center of theIRCCS Neuromed of Pozzilli a new training course for young specialized and resident neurosurgeons. This time, minimally invasive intervention techniques of the anterior and middle cranial fossa were the focus of the training, focusing attention on the use of intraoperative technologies. International and national specialists from Germany, Switzerland and Guatemala as well as from Italy. Together with the Neuromed Neurosurgeons they illustrated to the participants the use of the 3D Exoscope in the operating room.

The courses are organized by Professor Vincenzo Esposito and by doctors Paolo di Russo, Nicola Gorgoglione, Arianna Fava, Michelangelo De Angelis, from the Neuromed Department of Neurosurgery. “We are very happy to have organized this eighth training course – said Paolo di Russo – many colleagues came from all over the world to take part as well as the participants. This time we wanted to explore theuse of 3D Exoscopes, a technology that is joining the surgical intraoperative microscope. Furthermore, the exoscopes are functional for training purposes on anatomical preparations. All this is possible thanks to the great compactness and efficiency of our team, which allows us to work well not only in the laboratory but also in the operating room”.

A better anatomical vision, the one guaranteed by the 3D Exoscopes, which allows to refine the surgical techniques and guarantee a better approach of the neurosurgeon as explained by Dr. Nicola Gorgoglione: “Just as it happens in our homes, technological progress also has repercussions in a branch with a high use of technology such as neurosurgeryto. Now our operating theaters are equipped with equipment that allows very high definition vision. This helps us to see the patient’s structures better, with a high level of accuracy. Precisely for this reason, the use of exoscopes has gone well with our anatomical dissection courses. We recall that the improvement of vision can lead to a consequent improvement in the efficiency of the gesture and therefore in the patient’s outcome”.

Initiated towards a regular and intense program, the Center for Necroscopic Medicine sees a rich offer of courses in the near futurewith registrations already practically full.

“In March – specifies di Russo – we will have another endoscopy course in collaboration with the University of Naples. We then organized a course in basic techniques for first-year residents and finally we will have a course that will see the collaboration of Neuromed neuroradiologists. The latter will be used to show colleagues the anatomical aspect of the brain from another point of view, namely that of radiological images. Then, in April, we will continue with the Memorial Cantore and with a subsequent calendar that will accompany us until the end of the year”.

“This activity is a source of great pride for us – comments Professor Vincenzo Esposito, head of Neurosurgery II Neuromed – because our group has worked hard to set up this anatomy laboratory. It has only been open for 14 months and this is the eighth course organized. Merit of the Neuromed management and above all of the neurosurgeons of my team who worked very hard to plan the courses. A laboratory that has proven to work well, to be well equipped, managing to attract personalities from international surgery. It is difficult to bring people from all over the world to Pozzilli, we are succeeding and we hope to continue on this path”.

Then the comments of some of the Neurosurgeons called to lecture during the course. “I am very impressed by this Neuromed laboratory – commented Professor Marco Fontanella, Full Professor of Neurosurgery at the University and Director of the Neurosurgery Unit at the Spedali Civili of Brescia – a truly high-level resource for Italy, which can be useful to our young people in their university and surgical careers, as well as refine complex techniques. In neurosurgery we have moved from microscopy to exoscopy. That is, systems that let us see anatomical images on the monitors with the possibility of enlarging and illuminating deep areas of the brain in the best possible way”.

“There are few Centers in Italy where training is done like here – said Professor Francesco Zenga, Director of Skull Base and Pituitary Surgery of the City of Health and Science of Turin – This well-structured laboratory is an excellence for all those who want to exploit its potential. During the course, all workstations had an exoscope, guaranteeing participants the opportunity to try it and then use it in the operating room. Technology is important for us neurosurgeons and the fact of being able to try it is certainly a great added value”.

The Neuromed Necroscopic Medicine Center is one of the few in Italy to promote practical and theoretical training on anatomical preparations. Different disciplines that can be deepened so that, in addition to the Neurosurgical ones, the Center receives various requests to accommodate training moments in the other branches of surgery.