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Chairman's
Reflection on the Past, Present and Future of Neurosurgical Oncology
Raymond Sawaya
AANS/CNS
Section on Tumors, Department of Neuro surgery, Unit 442, The University of
Texas MD. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030,
USA; Tel.: +1-713-792-2400; Fax: +1-713-792-5562; E-mail: rsawaya@mdanderson.org
The
development of neurosurgical oncology as a subspecialty is closely tied to the
development of neurosurgery as a whole.
Therefore, the progress that has taken place in the diagnosis and the surgical
management of neurosurgical disorders has been widely applied to oncologic
disorders affecting the nervous system.
The
challenges and opportunities that characterize the specialty are grouped into
five general categories.
These are issues that are related to
(1) the management of a large and diverse patient population,
(2) the proper training of neurosurgeons to develop the set of required
technical skills,
(3) the lack of disease curability and its associated opportunity for research
endeavors,
(4) the importance of the multidisciplinary coordination of care in a horizontal
matrix model, and
(5) the psychosocial dimensions that are a part of the complexity of human
nature.
Based on
a current assessment of the subspecialty, a perspective on the unfolding future
is obtained.
This future can be characterized by a stronger workforce, a broader connectivity
and representations, and an improved scientific inquiry.
Keywords: brain
neoplasms, multidisciplinary care, neurosurgical oncology, skull base neoplasms,
spine neoplasms
Copyright
©
2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
All rights reserved
Source: http://ipsapp007.kluweronline.com/IPS/content/ext/x/J/5042/I/124/A/13/abstract.htm
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