Salman Sharif, Muhammad Aamir Saghir, Hira Burhan, Noorulain Iqbal Department of Neurosurgery, Liaquat National Hospital & Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan

Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons is a world body of neurosurgeons which

works for the interest and the betterment of trainees

of young neurosurgeons worldwide. The congress

consists of the top neurosurgeons who exchange

innovative technology and share experiences through

society meetings. ACNS aims to provide an equal

opportunity to all the young neurosurgeons by

conducting educational workshops and courses.

Keeping this tradition, ACNS in collaboration with the

Department of Neurosurgery of Liaquat National

Hospital & Medical College and Pakistan Society of

Neurosurgeons organized a comprehensive didactic

and 'hands on' Workshops and Educational Course

from 14th to 16th February, 2014 in Karachi. 13

participants were offered complimentary registration

and stay during this course.

Department of Neurosurgery at Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College,

Karachi, has organized many workshops and courses in the past years, for the

development and improvement of neurosurgical skills in young neurosurgeons. It

has been highly involved in bringing together neurosurgeons from all over Pakistan

and across the World, under one roof, so that innovative ideas and techniques

can be discussed and carried out to improve the standard of Neurosurgery in all

parts of the world.

The first day of the prestigious ACNS course had Endovascular, Vascular and

Cadaver Spine Workshops. A

designated team directed by Naoya

Kuwayama, Akio Hyodo, Daniel

Sandmann conducted the hands-on

endovascular workshop to teach the

basic catheter manipulation, carotid

shunting and aneurysm coiling using

simulating machines. This was the first

workshop of its kind in Pakistan. The hands on workshop on Cadaver spine was

directed by Mehmet Zileli, Joachim Oertel, Russell Andrews, Maximilian Mehdorn,

Hyeun Sun Kim and Salman Sharif and the

participants were taught anterior and posterior

cervical approaches on cadavers. A live surgery

on Endoscopic Discectomy was demonstrated by

Joachim Oertel. At the end of the day the faculty

was escorted to Ambala Corniche, a restaurant

with spectacular reviews. The evening of 14th

February with a full moon accompanying the

gathering, made the dinner more beautiful and

memorable.

On the first day of the Educational Course, there were talks on Mini-open

TLIF/ELIF/PLIF using percutaneous screw fixation, lumbar disc degeneration and

intra-cranial endoscopy were discussed by M. Zileli, Joachim Oertel, Hyeun Sun

Kim and Russell Andrews. A vascular session was conducted by Yoko Kato,

Naoya Kuwayama and Eka Julianta. This was followed by session of case

discussion by Gregory Trost (via Skype). At the end of the day, a banquet dinner

was organized at the Sind Governor House, Karachi, which was honored by the

presence of the Governor, Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan, who was the Chief Guest of

the event. The dinner turned out to be a great social gathering which began by Dr

Salman Sharif, the chief of Neurosurgery in Liaquat National Hospital, Dr. Salman

Faridi, the Medical Director of Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College, Dr.

Junaid Ashraf, President, Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons and Prof. Yoko Kato,

President, Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons thanking all the honored

guests and speakers forgiving their time for this workshop which will help the

upcoming neurosurgeons of Pakistan. At the end certificates and shields were

given to all faculty, by the Honorable Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad, who especially thanked

the faculty that came from different parts of the world, to make this course

successful.

On the last day, there was discussion on clipping surgery and endovascular

neurosurgery by Yoko Kato, Kentaro Mori, Akio Hyodo, Hyeun Sun Kim and

Yerbol Makhambetov, followed by session on Endoscopic techniques on Spine

Surgery and management of tumors and multi-level cervical denegation by Joachim

Oertel, Maximilian Mehdorn, Salman Sharif, Azmi Alias, Sandeep Vaishya, Russell

Andrews and T. Salahuddin. And at the end, a quiz was conducted by Anjum

Habib Vohra and Khalid Mahmood in which all participants were tested on the

basic management in various case scenarios and multiple choice questions related

to the course. The workshop was wrapped up by a closing ceremony on 16th

February, 2014 in which the renowned Faculty presented souvenirs and certificates

to all the participants and volunteers.

After the Educational Course, all faculty and volunteers were taken for a trip to

Mohenjo daro, an archeological site in the province of Sindh, built around 2600

BCE, one of the largest settlements of ancient Indus Valley Civilization. From

there, everyone was escorted to Fort Kot Diji in Khairpur District, near Indus River

at the edge of the Nara-Rajisthan Desert which was built in 1785. Then everyone

was taken to Sadhu Bela, is a Hindu Temple situated on an island at the centre

of the Indus River. This one day trip was memorable for everyone, especially for

our faculty who came from different parts of the world.

ACNS 2014 was a comprehensive workshop supervised by experience and world-

renowned surgeons from United States, Kenya, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Turkey,

Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudia Arabia and Pakistan. This intensive

course which focused on the fundamentals of spine surgery was designed to help

the young spine surgeons in this part of the world improve the basic as well as

the latest surgical skills related to different spinal diseases.