The hospital, together with UNC NeuroCare, celebrated our new comprehensive stroke certification with refreshments, music, and conversation at the Children’s Hospital lobby on Monday. Dr. Huang spoke and thanked everyone at UNC Healthcare who helped make this certification possible. Several members of hospital leadership were in attendance including Mr. Gary Park and Dr. Brian Goldstein. This is a BIG DEAL, so it's nice to see us celebrate.

Dr. Wu Presents at Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative:

Dr. Jing Wu presented at the annual Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative (BTTC) meeting in Houston on February 8. This meeting helps to increase the awareness of the brain tumor program. The protocol that Dr. Wu leads has been fast to accrue, which puts UNC in a very good light.

Dr. Wu Gives Talk at Molecular Med Tri-CON in San Francisco:

Dr. Wu was also invited to join a panel and give a talk at the Molecular Med Tri-CON on February 15 in San Francisco. Dr. Wu’s session discussion was on “It is Brain Surgery: Changing the Standard of Care to Include Molecular Diagnostics.” The other three speakers on the panel were Bob Carter MD, PhD (UCSD), William G. Loudon, MD, PhD (UC Irvine), and Leonard S. Sender, MD (UC Irvine).

Dr. Elton on Outreach Visit with Raleigh Pediatric Associates:

Dr. Scott Elton met with Dr. Sharon Foster, Dr. Chip Koscielniak, Dr. Robert Helms and Dr. Allen Hewett from Raleigh Pediatric Associates on February 21 for his first outreach visit. Dr. Elton provided information on Pediatric Specialty services at both UNC and the Raleigh Clinic. The visit was very positive, and we believe it will lead to the opportunity to care for more kids from Wake County.

Mary Jane Kagarise Back on Neurosurgery Team:

We welcome a long-time friend, Mary Jane Kagarise back to our team. MJ was the Associate Chair in Surgery during our time as the Division of Neurosurgery. Since her retirement, she has been very busy with volunteer activities. However, she has agreed to lend us her expertise in faculty development and management of the promotion process. We look forward to seeing her around neurosurgery as she advises us on these important issues.

Teaching Conferences Next Week:

• Monday, March 4, 4:00pm-5:00pm: Perinatal Care Conference, Ground Floor Conf Room #4, Women’s Hospital;
• Tuesday, March 5, 7:30am-8:30am: Epilepsy Surgery Conference, CNP Lab Conference Room;
• Wed, March 6, 7:00am-8:15am: Grand Rounds, Morbidity and Mortality - Resident Case - Jeff/Carolyn, WHB0122 Radiology Conference Room;
• Friday, March 8, 7:30am-8:30am: Multidisciplinary Brain Tumor Conference, CG221 Cancer Hospital

Eric Oermann, a Doris Duke fellow who worked with Neurosurgery last year, and Dr. Matt Ewend were notified yesterday via email that their manuscript entitled "Predicting Survival in Patients With Brain Metastases Treated With Radiosurgery Using Artificial Neural Networks" is scheduled for publication in the June 2013 issue of NEUROSURGERY®. Congratulations! The Department looks forward to future fine publications.

Dr. Bullitt Publishes Four Papers in Last Year:

Dr. Bullitt holding hunter eagle

• Burcu A, Pataki G, Wang H, Ladha A, Bullitt E, Marron JS. New Approaches to Principal Component Analysis for Trees. Statistics in Biosciences 4:132-156, 2012.  Paper is available electronically on SpringerLink.
• Alfaro C.A, Aydin B, Bullitt E, Ladha A, Valencia C.E. Dimension reduction in principal component analysis for trees. ARXiv e-prints (1202.2371) Feb 2012. Full text available
• Yuan Wang, J. S. Marron, Burcu Aydın, Alim Ladha, Elizabeth Bullitt, and Haonan Wang. Nonparametric Regression Model with Tree-Structured Response. Accepted by Journal of the American Statistical Association 2012. Full text available
• Chang Hsin-Wen, Iyer Hari, Bullitt Elizabeth, Wang Haonan (2013). Generalized Linear Mixed Models for Branching Probabilities of Brain Artery Systems. Statistical Modeling of Branching Probabilities for Tree-structured Data Objects (2013) accepted for publication by Model Assisted Statistics and Applications (MASA).

Dr. Orning Accepts Fellowship at University of Illinois:

The Department congratulates Jenny Orning on her acceptance of combine endovascular and open cerebrovascular fellowship at the University of Illinois – Chicago.

Dr. Ewend Presents at AORN:

Dr. Matt Ewend spoke to Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) OR nurses on February 16 on minimally invasive pituitary surgery at the Friday Center.  A total of 95 operating nurses from the region including a strong representation of UNC OR nurses attended.

Teaching Conferences Next Week:

• Monday, February 25, 4:00pm-5:00pm: Perinatal Care Conference, Ground Floor Conf Room #4, Women’s Hospital;
• Monday, February 25, 5:30pm-8:30pm: Surgical Skills Lab, Skull and Cortical Surface Anatomy, Skills Lab, 3100 Thurston Bowles Bldg;
• Wednesday, February 27, 7:00am-7:40am: Grand Rounds, Morbidity and Mortality - Jason Blatt (since it was canceled last week), WHB0122 Radiology Conference Room;
• Wednesday, February 27, 4:00pm-5:00pm: Phase I/Melanoma/Brain/Sarcoma/\Developmental Therapeutics POD Meeting, POB 3101;
• Thursday, February 28, 4:00pm-5:00pm: Pediatric Oncology Tumor Board, Small Conference Room in Cancer Hospital;
• Friday, March 1, 7:30am-8:30am: Multidisciplinary Brain Tumor Conference, CG221 Cancer Hospital

Neurosurgery accepted 51 inpatient transfers in January, which is the largest number (previous high was 44) of patients accepted by our service over the last 13 months and likely the most ever (since the dawn of recorded history, which for this data is about three years ago). This is a testament to the excellent care and customer service provided to patients and referring MDs/facilities by our team.

Neurosurgery Receives Excellent Teaching Evaluation:

The Neurosurgery team received excellent evaluations from the third-year medical students rotating with us. Average score was 4.5 out of 5. Some of the comments were:

- This was a great rotation to start on for my surgery clerkship. The residents and attendings were very friendly and loved to teach!

- Great balance between OR, clinic and inpatient.

- I very much enjoyed this service. Everyone was nice and welcoming while still being professional and taking good care of their patients. I felt involved and welcome.

Teaching Conferences Next Week:

• Tuesday, February 19, 7:30am-8:30am: Epilepsy Surgery Conference, CNP Lab Conference Room;
  
• Wednesday, February 20, 7:00am-8:15am: Grand Rounds, Morbidity and Mortality - Jason Blatt, WHB0122 Radiology Conference Room;
• Friday, February 22, 7:30am-8:30am: Multidisciplinary Brain Tumor Conference, CG221 Cancer Hospital;
• Friday, February 22, 11:00am-12:00pm: Brain Tumor Translational Research Conference, Terri S. Armstrong, PhD, ANP-BC, FAANP, Presenting on “From Reaction to Prevention: The Changing Paradigm of Symptom Science in Neuro-Oncology,” LCCC 00-002 Pagano Conference Room; 11:00am-12:00pm

Skull Base Lab

The UNC Department of Neurosurgery’s infection rates for surgical procedures have decreased in 2012.  The infection rate for craniotomies decreased from 3.64 in 2011 to 0.40 last year, and ventricular shunts improved from 4.11 to 2.43. The Department identified this as a key area for improvement.

(Rates are from the The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), an Internet-based system that collects data from a sample of healthcare facilities nationwide and managed by the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the CDC.  The data collected is analyzed and reported to provide an estimate of adverse events among patients and healthcare personnel and an estimate of the adherence to practices known to be associated with prevention of these adverse events.)

Neurosurgery Team Visits Middle School:

Dr. Eldad Hadar, Dr. Jason Blatt, and Dr. Carolyn Quinsey, along with 11 medical students, visited science students at Phillips Middle School and presented on the brain and brain surgery.  Robert Bedell, a Science Teacher at the school, said that the Neurosurgery troop was “great with the students, filling them with information and a hunger for more.”  The presentation was a huge success which left the class full of amazement and eagerness to share their experience with fellow students.  They are already looking forward to next year’s visit.

Dr. Jason Blatt with some students from Phillips Middle School

Dr. Elton Making Great Strides:

The Pediatric Neurosurgery team, with Dr. Scott Elton at the helm, is making great strides in a hurry.  The in utero myelomeningocele program is busy and has four cases scheduled for February.

First Surgical Skills Lab Training Session:

This week the Department held its first training session as a group in the Surgical Skills Lab.  The procedures performed were vessel-sewing and bone-drilling.   Thanks to Dr. Deanna Sasaki-Adams and the residents for getting the program rolling.

This week we focus on a transformative event for the UNC Department of Neurosurgery. Together with our partners in Ophthalmology, ENT Surgery, School of Medicine Administration, and the North Carolina Eye Bank, we celebrated the grand opening of the North Carolina Eye Bank Surgical Skills Lab with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The Surgical Skills Lab, which is located in Suite 3100 in the Thurston Bowles Building, has state-of-the-art equipment that will allow residents-in-training to gain hands-on experience to better prepare them for the operating room. This was made possible with the generous donation of $1 million from The North Carolina Eye Bank Inc.

Tisha Powell and ABC-11 had a great story on it.

Number one reactions from those taking their first look: "WOW!"

Dr. Sharpless has also been named as one of the "Best Doctors in America" in the endocrinology category.  The Department is proud of her for this achievement and thrilled to have her working even more closely with the team.

All eligible Neurosurgery providers continue to meet Meaningful Use metrics which positions the Department extremely well heading into 2013 as it will be required to report data for the entire 12 months and not simply for a 90-day template, as was the case in 2012.

Department Publishes First Newsletter:

The Neurosurgery Department has published its first Newsletter. View it at the following link: http://www.med.unc.edu/neurosurgery/files/UNCN-Newsletter-Vol1Issue1Dec2012. Terrific work by Yolanda Merced-Graves, who lead the effort, and the entire administrative team.

Match 2013 Interviews Completed:

The Department finished meeting with the resident applicants for 2013. This year's group was the strongest cohorts we have ever seen. It is a challenge to rank so many terrific candidates. Thanks to Felicia Sawyer, Smyrna Robinson, Dr. Eldad Hadar and Dr. Deanna Sasaki-Adams for their leadership on this.

Two of our Neurosurgeons Listed in “The Best Doctors in America 2013”

Dr. Eldad Hadar and Dr. Matt Ewend from the Department of Neurosurgery are among the 277 UNC Health Care physicians included in the latest compilation of “The Best Doctors in America” database. Only about 5 percent of physicians in the US are included in the Best Doctors database. View the full list of UNC’s honored physicians at http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/december/bestdocs2013

Dr. Elton Credentialed:

Dr. Scott Elton, the Department’s new Pediatric Neurosurgeon, was credentialed this week. The Department is looking forward to his joining the team on December 31.

Through the collaboration of multiple departments, UNC has purchased a freestanding Robotic Surgery Simulator dV Trainer by Mimic Technologies Inc.  This Robotic Simulator will be housed in the new Surgical Skills Lab – located in Suite 3100 Thurston Bowles Building. The fact that the simulator will be located outside of the OR and freestanding from the dual console should make scheduling and access much more feasible for everyone.  It has over 40 exercises of various skill levels and is customizable for each user and/or specialty. In addition to using the Robotic Simulator in future surgeries, it should be beneficial simulation training for residents.

The Robotic Simulator, which was purchased by a shared effort lead by the UNC Department of ENT, including multiple departments, the Cancer Center, and UNC Hospitals, is ready for use in the simulation section of the North Carolina Eye Bank Surgical Skills Laboratory.

A Field Engineer from Mimic Technologies will be on-site December 6 (from noon to 4:00pm) and December 7 (from 8:00am to 2:00pm) for installation and user training.  Please make room in your schedules on either of those days to stop by and get familiar with the system. Training sessions are expected to last between 30 and 60 minutes. For more information, contact Lab Manager Matt Pillsbury.

View of lab during construction phase

Dr. David A. Reardon

Dr. David Reardon Lectures at UNC Neurosurgery Conference:

Guest speaker David A. Reardon, MD, delivered a riveting lecture at the UNC Department of Neurosurgery’s Brain Tumor Translational Research Conference on November 30.  Dr. Reardon, Clinical Director of the Center for NeuroOncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, presented to the NeuroOncology Community on the "The role of antiangiogenic therapy in glioblastomas."  Attendance was high, the crowd was engaged, and the talk was outstanding.  Special thanks go to Dr. Jing Wu for inviting and hosting Dr. Reardon and to Yolanda Merced-Graves for her diligent work organizing the event and spreading the word.  With such active participation throughout the UNC Cancer Program, the Department is thrilled to continue inviting other national thought leaders.

• N²QOD: We have finalized an agreement to participate in the National Neurosurgery Quality & Outcomes Database (N²QOD) sponsored by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/NeuroPoint Alliance.  Leading Neurosurgery practices around the country have signed on to be a part of this national clinical registry so that we can track the outcomes of our patients and use this data to improve the neurosurgical care provided to patients around the world.

• Jennifer Wiles Joins the Department of Neurosurgery: Jennifer Wiles joined our team as the new Nurse Practitioner who will focus on our inpatient population and our patients' transition from inpatient to outpatient.  She is a great hire for our group and we welcome her.  Please help her to get oriented to UNC Health Care.  Jennifer's goals include shortening the length of stay for patients, implementing protocols for inpatient care, assisting in the ease of transition for outpatient followup, and improving inpatient satisfaction.