• Abdullah Keles, Alberto Acitores Cancela, Charbel K Moussalem, Yannick Canton Kessely, Zviad Malazonia, Jayunkumar M Shah, Mehmet Sabri Gurbuz, Turab Gasimov, Adefisayo Adekanmbi, Mohammad Shahnawaz Bari, Chloe Dumot, OriolaGuillermo GarciaGGDepartment of Neurosurgery, Hospital Clinic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain., Jared Paul U Golidtum, Mohd Aidil Bin Mohd Nor, Ahmed Hussein Omar, Burak Ozaydin, Nirav J Patel, Robert J Dempsey, and Mustafa K Baskaya.
• Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
• Neurosurgery. 2024 Jan 30.

Background And ObjectivesIn low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), approximately 5 million essential neurosurgical operations per year remain unaddressed. When compared with high-income countries, one of the reasons for this disparity is the lack of microsurgery training laboratories and neurosurgeons trained in microsurgical techniques. In 2020, we founded the Madison Microneurosurgery Initiative to provide no-cost, accessible, and sustainable microsurgery training opportunities to health care professionals from LMICs in their respective countries.MethodsWe initially focused on enhancing our expertise in microsurgery laboratory training requirements. Subsequently, we procured a wide range of stereo microscopes, light sources, and surgical instrument sets, aiming to develop affordable, high-quality, and long-lasting microsurgery training kits. We then donated those kits to neurosurgeons across LMICs. After successfully delivering the kits to designated locations in LMICs, we have planned to initiate microsurgery laboratory training in these centers by providing a combination of live-streamed, offline, and in-person training assistance in their institutions.ResultsWe established basic microsurgery laboratory training centers in 28 institutions across 18 LMICs. This was made possible through donations of 57 microsurgery training kits, including 57 stereo microscopes, 2 surgical microscopes, and several advanced surgical instrument sets. Thereafter, we organized 10 live-streamed microanastomosis training sessions in 4 countries: Lebanon, Paraguay, Türkiye, and Bangladesh. Along with distributing the recordings from our live-streamed training sessions with these centers, we also granted them access to our microsurgery training resource library. We thus equipped these institutions with the necessary resources to enable continued learning and hands-on training. Moreover, we organized 7 in-person no-cost hands-on microanastomosis courses in different institutions across Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Paraguay. A total of 113 surgical specialists successfully completed these courses.ConclusionOur novel approach of providing microsurgery training kits in combination with live-streamed, offline, and in-person training assistance enables sustainable microsurgery laboratory training in LMICs.Copyright © Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2024. All rights reserved.

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