Brain and Spine (Jan 2024)

Expertise in surgical neuro-oncology. Results of a survey by the EANS neuro-oncology section

  • K. Gousias,
  • A. Hoyer,
  • L.A. Mazurczyk,
  • J. Bartek, Jr.,
  • M. Bruneau,
  • E. Celtikci,
  • N. Foroglou,
  • C. Freyschlag,
  • R. Grossman,
  • C. Jungk,
  • P. Metellus,
  • D. Netuka,
  • R. Rola,
  • P. Schucht,
  • C. Senft,
  • F. Signorelli,
  • A.J.P.E. Vincent,
  • M. Simon,
  • Rachit Agrawal,
  • Luigi Albano,
  • George A. Alexiou,
  • Amanj Ali,
  • Rafid Al-Mahfoudh,
  • Michael Amoo,
  • Christos Anagnostopoulos,
  • Sven Bamps,
  • Soham Bandyopadhyay,
  • Damiano G. Barone,
  • Fabio Barone,
  • Sami Barrit,
  • Felix Behling,
  • Alin Blaga,
  • Alexandros Boukas,
  • Paul Brennan,
  • Vicki M. Butenschoen,
  • Mauro Campello,
  • Areda Cara,
  • Salvatore Chibbaro,
  • Robert Chrenko,
  • Pere J. Cifre Serra,
  • Hans Clusmann,
  • Alba Corell,
  • Jan F. Cornelius,
  • Marcello D'Andrea,
  • Andreas K. Demetriades,
  • Steven De Vleeschouwer,
  • Richard Drexler,
  • Johnny Duerinck,
  • Ruben V. Fanarjyan,
  • Alejandro Fernandez-Coello,
  • Kostas Fountas,
  • Thomas M. Freiman,
  • Vadim Gadzhiagaev,
  • Miltiadis Georgiopoulos,
  • Nathalie Gilis,
  • Jagos Golubovic,
  • Eric Goulin Lippi Fernandes,
  • Giovanni Grasso,
  • Francesco Guerrini,
  • Beste Gulsuna,
  • Ciaran S. Hill,
  • Julius Höhne,
  • Markus Holling,
  • Ievgenii Iarmoliuk,
  • Florian Ioan-Alexandru,
  • Tamara Ius,
  • Kestutis Jacikevicius,
  • Asgeir S. Jakola,
  • Paweł Jakubowski,
  • Georgios Kalantzis,
  • Konstantina Karabatsou,
  • Ramez Kirollos,
  • Ralph König,
  • Danil A. Kozyrev,
  • Dietmar Krex,
  • Barbara Ladisich,
  • Ruth Lau,
  • Yauhen Lizunou,
  • Arnaud Lombard,
  • Hu Liang Low,
  • José Luís Alves,
  • Yazid Maghrabi,
  • Marco Mammi,
  • Ala Marji,
  • Luca Massimi,
  • Ioannis Mavridis,
  • Aaron Lawson McLean,
  • Anna C. Lawson McLean,
  • Bernhard Meyer,
  • Malte Mohme,
  • Pedro Moura Branco,
  • Michael Müther,
  • Issam Musleh,
  • Danial Nasiri,
  • Ramon Navarro,
  • Ibrahim Omerhodzic,
  • Marvin Darkwah Oppong,
  • Nikolaos A. Paidakakos,
  • Zoi Pantera,
  • Mohammed A. Patel,
  • Mateusz Pawlowski,
  • Athanasios Petridis,
  • Adrian J. Praeger,
  • Stephen Price,
  • Franz Ricklefs,
  • Luigi Rigante,
  • Florian Ringel,
  • Pierre A. Robe,
  • Karl Rössler,
  • Eduarda Sá-Marta,
  • Jose L. Sanmillan,
  • Alba Scerrati,
  • Matthias Schneider,
  • Henry W.S. Schroeder,
  • Michael Schwake,
  • Mohamed Shoaib,
  • Octavian Mihai Sirbu,
  • Iñigo L. Sistiaga,
  • Tomasz J. Skajster,
  • Albertas Sliauzys,
  • Vitaly Sokotukhin,
  • Jehuda Soleman,
  • Veit M. Stoecklein,
  • Eric Suero Molina,
  • Wojciech Świątnicki,
  • Νikolaos Syrmos,
  • Graziano Taddei,
  • Avin Taher,
  • Martin Tamarit,
  • Mark ter Laan,
  • Theocharis Theocharous,
  • Dieter Thijs,
  • Leonidas Trakolis,
  • Monica Truffelli,
  • Miriam Weiss,
  • Eberhard Uhl,
  • Laura Grazia Valentini,
  • Dimitri Vanhauwaert,
  • Bassel Zebian,
  • Bojana Zivkovic,
  • Matteo Zoli

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4
p. 102822

Abstract

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Introduction: Technical advances and the increasing role of interdisciplinary decision-making may warrant formal definitions of expertise in surgical neuro-oncology. Research question: The EANS Neuro-oncology Section felt that a survey detailing the European neurosurgical perspective on the concept of expertise in surgical neuro-oncology might be helpful. Material and methods: The EANS Neuro-oncology Section panel developed an online survey asking questions regarding criteria for expertise in neuro-oncological surgery and sent it to all individual EANS members. Results: Our questionnaire was completed by 251 respondents (consultants: 80.1%) from 42 countries. 67.7% would accept a lifetime caseload of >200 cases and 86.7% an annual caseload of >50 as evidence of neuro-oncological surgical expertise. A majority felt that surgeons who do not treat children (56.2%), do not have experience with spinal fusion (78.1%) or peripheral nerve tumors (71.7%) may still be considered experts. Majorities believed that expertise requires the use of skull-base approaches (85.8%), intraoperative monitoring (83.4%), awake craniotomies (77.3%), and neuro-endoscopy (75.5%) as well as continuing education of at least 1/year (100.0%), a research background (80.0%) and teaching activities (78.7%), and formal interdisciplinary collaborations (e.g., tumor board: 93.0%). Academic vs. non-academic affiliation, career position, years of neurosurgical experience, country of practice, and primary clinical interest had a minor influence on the respondents’ opinions. Discussion and conclusion: Opinions among neurosurgeons regarding the characteristics and features of expertise in neuro-oncology vary surprisingly little. Large majorities favoring certain thresholds and qualitative criteria suggest a consensus definition might be possible.

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