Evolution of the species - the neurointerventional surgeon in 2017 and beyond

What we call ourselves as physicians matters. It reflects our daily work and outlines both our role among our peers and our responsibility to patients. When the Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz's performed the first cerebral angiograms in 1926, a new species, the cerebral angiographer, was born. We subsequently evolved along three parallel but mostly asynchronous evolutionary lines with pioneers such as Berenstein, Serbenenko, and Djindjian to name a few. Neurointerventional Radiologists, Endovascular Neurosurgeons or Neurologists all contributed and advanced the field. Progressive improvements in imaging techniques and devices, and fundamental advancements in medical knowledge transformed angiographers from diagnosticians to surgeons consistent with the 13^th century Anglo-Norman origin of the word: 'sorgien, cirurgian – person who heals by manual operation on the patient'.1 Over time, these three evolutionary lines recognized they had more similarities than differences and the angiographer was renamed the Neurointerventional Surgeon as reflected by...

from # All Medicine by Alexandros G. Sfakianakis via alkiviadis.1961 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2AeLZZL