Neurosurgical Practice, Training, and Research Capacity Assessment in Nigeria: A Methodological Approach.

OBJECTIVE: There has been a progressive growth of neurosurgery in Nigeria over the past 6 nulldecades. This study aims to comprehensively evaluate the state of neurosurgical practice, training, and research in the country. METHODS: We used a mixed-methods approach that combined a survey of neurosurgery providers and a systematic review of the neurosurgical literature in Nigeria. The 83-question online survey had 3 core sections for assessing capacity, training, and gender issues. The systematic review involved a search of 4 global databases and gray literature over a 60-year period. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-nine respondents (95% male) completed the survey (65.4%). Their age ranged from 20 to 68 years, with a mean of 41.8 (±6.9) years. Majority were from institutions in the nation's South-West region; 82 (55.0%) had completed neurosurgery residency training, with 76 (51%) employed as consultants; 64 (43%) identified as residents in training, 56 (37.6%) being senior residents, and 15 (10.1%) each held academic appointments as lecturers or senior lecturers. The literature review involved 1,023 peer-reviewed journal publications: 254 articles yielding data on 45,763 neurotrauma patients, 196 on 12,295 pediatric neurosurgery patients, and 127 on 8,425 spinal neurosurgery patients. Additionally, 147 papers provided data on 5,760 neuro-oncology patients, and 56 on 3,203 patients with neuro-vascular lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Our mixed-methods approach provided significant insights into the historical, contemporary, and future trends of neurosurgery in Nigeria. The results could form the foundation for policy improvement; health-system strengthening; better resource-planning, prioritization, and allocation; and more purposive collaborative engagement in Nigeria and other low- and middle-income countries.

A Geospatial Analysis of the Availability, Distribution, and Accessibility of Neurosurgical Facilities, Workforce, and Infrastructure in Nigeria; and Projection Towards 2050.

OBJECTIVE: There has been a modest but progressive increase in the neurosurgical workforce, training, and service delivery in Nigeria in the last 2 decades. However, these resources are unevenly distributed. This study aimed to quantitatively assess the availability and distribution of neurosurgical resources in Nigeria while projecting the needed workforce capacity up to 2050. METHODS: An online survey of Nigerian neurosurgeons and residents assessed the country's neurosurgical infrastructure, workforce, and resources. The results were analyzed descriptively, and geospatial analysis was used to map their distribution. A projection model was fitted to predict workforce targets for 2022-2050. RESULTS: Out of 86 neurosurgery-capable health facilities, 65.1% were public hospitals, with only 17.4% accredited for residency training. Dedicated hospital beds and operating rooms for neurosurgery make up only 4.0% and 15.4% of the total, respectively. The population disease burden is estimated at 50.2 per 100,000, while the operative coverage was 153.2 cases per neurosurgeon. There are currently 132 neurosurgeons and 114 neurosurgery residents for a population of 218 million (ratio 1:1.65 million). There is an annual growth rate of 8.3%, resulting in a projected deficit of 1113 neurosurgeons by 2030 and 1104 by 2050. Timely access to neurosurgical care ranges from 21.6% to 86.7% of the population within different timeframes. CONCLUSIONS: Collaborative interventions are needed to address gaps in Nigeria's neurosurgical capacity. Investments in training, infrastructure, and funding are necessary for sustainable development and optimized outcomes.

Epidemiology and Management Trends of Neuro-Oncology in Nigeria: A Systematic Review and Pooled Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Access to neuro-oncologic care in Nigeria has grown exponentially since the first reported cases in the mid-1960s. In this systematic review and pooled analysis, we characterize the growth of neurosurgical oncology in Nigeria and build a reference paper to direct efforts to expand this field. METHODS: We performed an initial literature search of several article databases and gray literature sources. We included and subsequently screened articles published between 1962 and 2021. Several variables were extracted from each study, including the affiliated hospital, the number of patients treated, patient sex, tumor pathology, the types of imaging modalities used for diagnosis, and the interventions used for each individual. Change in these variables was assessed using Chi-squared independence tests and univariate linear regression when appropriate. RESULTS: A total of 147 studies were identified, corresponding to 5,760 patients. Over 4000 cases were reported in the past 2 decades from 21 different Nigerian institutions. The types of tumors reported have increased over time, with increasingly more patients being evaluated via computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). There is also a prevalent use of radiotherapy, though chemotherapy remains an underreported treatment modality. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights key trends regarding the prevalence and management of neuro-oncologic pathologies within Nigeria. Further studies are needed to continue to learn and guide the future growth of this field in Nigeria.

Posttraumatic leptomeningeal cyst capsule as a cost-free autograft for its repair: case illustrated technical reports.

The surgical treatment of traumatic leptomeningeal cyst (LMC) is repair of the dural defect with or without cranioplasty. The dural substitutes used are either autografts (which may not be enough) or artificial grafts (which are foreign-body implantations and which also may be too expensive in a low-resource practice). In this report from a developing country, we present the surgical description of the use of the cyst capsule as a cost-free autologous graft in the surgical repair of the dural defects of two cases of traumatic leptomeningeal cyst.

Clinical and Radiologic Outcome of a Less Invasive, Low-Cost Surgical Technique of Osteoplastic Decompressive Craniectomy.

BACKGROUND: Decompressive craniectomy (DC) has many technical details with significant constraining logistic/economic considerations in low-resource practice areas. We present a less invasive, cost-saving, and evidence-based technique of DC evolving in our practice. METHODS: Earlier, we reported a technique of hinge decompressive craniectomy (hDC), in which the frontotemporoparietal skull flap is hinged on the temporal muscle. In this article we describe further refinements of this temporal muscle hDC : The scalp flap is raised in a galeal-skeletonizing plane preserving the subgaleal fascia on the pericranium, ready for use for duraplasty after durotomy. We performed a descriptive analysis of the clinical outcome of this surgical technique in a prospective consecutive cohort of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The primary and secondary clinical outcome measures were in-hospital mortality and survival, respectively, and the immediate as well as long-term surgical wound issues. RESULTS: There were 40 cases, 38 men (95%) and 2 women over a 40-month period with a mild (n = 8), moderate (n = 17), or severe TBI (n = 15). As assessed by the computed tomography Rotterdam score, life-threatening significant brain injury was present in 90%. Poor clinical outcome occurred in about a third of cases (32.5%) mainly in the severe TBI group (77% of poor outcome) and not in the mild TBI group. Surgical site complications occurred in four patients (10%) CONCLUSIONS: The presented modified temporal muscle hDC technique offers significant economic advantages over the traditional surgical method of DC without added complications. Analysis of the clinical data in a consecutive prospective cohort of patients with potentially fatal TBI who underwent this surgical procedure showed a good outcome in at least two thirds.

Clinical-radiological improvement following low-tech surgical treatment of an extensive cervical-medullary idiopathic syringomyelia in a low-resource African neurosurgical practice.

Surgical intervention is not so commonly deployed for idiopathic syringomyelia, even the symptomatic ones; is only undertaken, in the current era, after thorough clinical evaluation and extensive high-resolution neuroimaging; and is more assuredly performed, high-tech, in health facilities in the developed world with cutting edge logistic supports. In the practice environment of a low-resource African developing country, a 41-year-old young man recently presented in severe clinical-neurological deficit, Nurick grade 5, with an extensive cervical-medullary idiopathic syringomyelia. In spite of severe preoperative and intraoperative resource limitations, he successfully underwent spinal surgical decompression, fenestration of syrinx, and expansile duraplasty. He improved clinically postoperatively and achieved mobility, Nurick grade 3, before hospital discharge. He sustained this improvement, Nurick grade 3 to 2, 20 months post-op. He is now independent, needing only a walking stick to aid ambulation, and an MRI at this time showed only minimal focal post-op changes but total disappearance of the syrinx.

Skull base surgery in a large, resource-poor, developing country with few neurosurgeons: prospects, challenges, and needs.

BACKGROUND: Upon returning home to Nigeria from postresidency fellowship training in skull base surgery, using expertise gained overseas, we applied appropriate treatment to various skull base pathologies. This is an audit of our initial experience. METHODS: This is a prospective, descriptive survey of all the skull base pathologies operated on during 30 months. Clinical-demographic data, surgical procedures, and the postoperative outcome are presented statistically. Simple inferential statistics was performed for associations deemed significant at P≤0.05. RESULTS: Fifty-one individuals (27 men and 24 women, mean age 32 years) were operated on for skull base pathologies. Clinical presentation had a mean symptom duration of 22 months and a poor clinical status in more than 60% of the patients. Congenital, infective, traumatic, and neoplastic lesions were encountered, including craniofacial malignancies operated on jointly with other craniofacial surgeons. Other intracranial neurosurgical pathologies like jugular foramen and brain stem tumors, and meningiomas of various skull base corridors, including the cavernous sinus and the foramen magnum, were encountered. Our skull base dissections were craniofacial in 23.5% of cases, anterolateral in 33.3%, midbasal in 15.7%, and posterior fossa in 27.5% of patients. Surgery was successful in 86.3%. The patients' status improved on hospital discharge in 70.6% of cases. The postoperative outcome was significantly worse (P=0.03) in those patients with postbasal lesions with poor clinical performance index preoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of the many inherent challenges of a typical developing country health system, there are great prospects for skull base surgical practice in Nigerian neurological surgery.