NASBS News and Upcoming Events

Vol 8 No 1 Archive

Report from the Immediate Past President

As we begin the year leading up to our first decade of existence and I get to enjoy being an ex-president, I would like to express appreciation to all those members of the Society who helped organize, plan, execute, and attend the recent annual meeting of the North American Skull Base Society combined with the Japanese Society for Skull Base Surgery and the Korean Skull Base Society at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Kamuela, Hawaii. The North American Skull Base Society represents one of the premier societies for the study, discussion, education, and dissemination of information on advances in Skull Base Disease and Surgery. The very heart and core of its organization and mission has been its multi-disciplinary nature and the ability to include multiple ancillary sub specialties, as well as joining together the expertise of head and neck surgery and neurosurgery, which helps advance our knowledge and ability to better treat our patients. Over the last decade, multiple meetings have demonstrated what is possible. As we approach our second decade, we need to continue to strive to answer what is appropriate.

NASBS Web Site In the last year, we have made arrangements to bring up a web site for the North American Skull Base Society. This will offer a means to improve communication between members of the Society and the leadership of the organization. Any organization is simply a conglomeration of its individual members and the more input we can have from membership, the better we can serve the individual member needs. With both public access, which may be viewed as a means of promoting knowledge about the presence of an expertise in skull base surgery, as well as a limited access on the web site, we should be able to begin to collect multi-center data and possibly initiate some of the members' plans for multi-institutional research projects. Clinical and basic research in rare lesions often cannot occur without identifying those institutions with those patients. I am optimistic that this web site has the potential for bringing that information immediately to the attention of the Society members. We also plan on making the abstracts from the previous meetings available on the web page. To promote the new web page, we are distributing mouse pads with the NASBS logo and our new web address, as well as our phone and fax address. This should keep the skull base society active in the anterior frontal cortex as well as the rest of the cranium.

CME Accreditation To emphasize, solidify, and formalize our mission in education, the last year has seen the Society take steps to arrange with the ACCME to have NASBS issue its own CME credit. This should simplify our ability to grant continuing medical education credits to those members participating in our annual scientific meeting.

NASBS Practical Course We have formalized the practical course to precede the annual meeting on a regular basis. As long as there is sufficient interest and member input, this should serve as an additional educational facility in skull base surgery.

Petrous Pulse In the past, the Petrous Pulse has been published as an advertisement for the Skull Base Society, as well as an information sheet regarding the activities of the Society itself. We owe a great debt to Dr. Anil Nanda, who has put forth a tremendous effort as the editor of the Petrous Pulse. We in the Society are most appreciative of all the effort that has gone into previous publications. With the maturation of the Society, we have decided to convert the Petrous Pulse into a quarterly newsletter for the Society members. This will serve as a venue for announcements as well as interaction among members. With time, we will shift this to our new web site, but for the moment it will be sent as a mailer directly from the Society office in Bethesda, Maryland.

Ad-Hoc Committee In an effort to keep us more in touch with the needs and interests of our members, an ad hoc committee of junior members (within five years of their fellowship) has been established under the chairmanship of Dr. Ali Krisht of Little Rock, Arkansas. We hope that this committee can serve as a means of identifying those younger members who have an interest in becoming more active in the Society leadership, as well as influencing the direction of the Society in the future. Any Society must address the concerns of its members, and it is in our more junior members that our future resides.

Annual Meeting Our annual meeting itself took place at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the big island of Hawaii between February 13 and 17. A total of 235 attendees were present. A total of 59 scientific posters and 115 free papers were presented. Eleven panel discussions emphasized the twin themes of emerging technologies and complication avoidance and rehabilitation. The Korean Skull Base Society were pleased to honor Professor Kil Soo Choi, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Seoul National University Hospital. Dr. Choi spoke on the past, present and future treatment for petroclival lesions. Dr. Naoaki Yanagihara, emeritus professor from Takanoko University in Japan, was the honored guest nominated by the Japanese Society for Skull Base Surgery. Dr. Yanagihara gave a detailed review of facial reanimation procedures, in keeping with our theme of rehabilitation. Finally, the North American Skull Base Society was delighted to honor Dr. Dwight Parkinson, one of the pioneers of skull base surgery. Dr. Parkinson, who remains active in teaching in the Department of Anatomy in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has had a life-long interest in the cavernous sinus and the sympathetic innervation of the eye and orbit. Dr. Parkinson gave a high tech talk on the history of our understanding of the cavernous sinus from Winslow to the present. The preceding practical course was organized by Dr. Ali Krisht, and special thanks go to Drs. Ossama Al-Mefty, Engelbert Knosp, Isao Yamamoto, George Haddad, Takeshi Kawase, Donald C. Wright, Luis Borba, Albino Bricolo, Evandro De Oliviera, Paul J. Donald, Norohiko Tamaki, Hiroshi Abe, Jacques J. Morcos, Akira Hakuba, Martin Bettag, and Charles Teo. The discussion was spirited and personal interaction was emphasized, maximizing educational benefit.

While some of the sessions had some trouble competing with the exquisite weather and multiple distractions available on the Kohala coast on the big island, the immediate feedback from the meeting seemed to be very favorable. We enjoyed the ability to interact with our colleagues from the Pacific rim and appreciate the input from several groups attending from Europe. This, combined with representation from the North American Skull Base Society, continues to emphasize the international nature of skull base surgery.

Annual Business Meeting A new slate of officers, with Dr. Robert Spetzler as president-elect, Dr. Tom Origitano as treasurer, and Dr. Don Wright as secretary were elected at the business meeting. New board members will include Dr. Robert Jackler, Dr. Anil Nanda and Dr. Chip Jungreis. The nominating committee for officers for next year will include Dr. Michael Holliday, Dr. Franco DeMonte, Dr. W. Scott Jellish and Dr. Carl H. Snyderman. These members along with the Immediate Past President, the President and President-Elect are responsible for nominating officers for the upcoming year and would be the appropriate venue for suggestions from the membership. The next meeting is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, May 28-31, 1999. Dr. John Leonetti, now president of the North American Skull Base Society, is currently actively planning and recruiting for the meeting. It is important that he have input and support from all members of the Society. We wish him luck in the upcoming year. I want to express my own appreciation to all the members for this opportunity to serve this Society and for their continued input.

Sincerely,

Steven A. Newman, MD