Message from the Editor

Greetings!

The WFNS Newsletter is intended to be a major communication channel for the neurosurgeons of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies.  As such, it is essential that you provide feedback on how the Newsletter can be of greatest benefit to you.  From feedback provided to the WFNS Central Office in Nyon, many of you would like more academic content in each issue. Thus the focus of this issue is “Neurotrauma” since this field is of relevance to most neurosurgeons worldwide.

The first article is a summary of the current status of decompressive craniectomy (DC) for traumatic brain injury (TBI) by Drs. Kolias, Hutchinson, and Servadei. Such a definitive review should be of great benefit for the many neurosurgeons who deal with situations where DC is an option.
The second article, under the caption “Minimizing Morbidity & Mortality: Clinical Pearls & Complication Management”, addresses the option of burr hole drainage for epidural hematoma.  It is likely that many patients with an EDH can be successfully managed by a burr hole rather than a full craniotomy – a significant savings in terms of resources.

The third article is a report by Drs. Osorio and Rubiano on the International Conference for Recent Advances in Neurotraumatology (ICRAN 2016) meeting held in Bogotá December 8-11.  I was fortunate to be one of the participants, and can affirm Dr. Osorio’s comments regarding the high standard of ICRAN 2016 in regard to both academic presentations and social events.

We plan to have each issue of the WFNS Newsletter present a “state of the art” summary of a major topic in neurosurgery, an entry under “Minimizing Morbidity & Mortality: Clinical Pearls & Complication Management”, and an article regarding neurosurgery in one country or region around the world.  Please forward your comments to Dr. Russell J Andrews at rja@russelljandrews.org.

 

Russell Andrews
Editor