Name of the WFNS Training Center:
Service de Neurochirurgie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble-Alpes (CHUGA)
Avenue Maquis du Grésivaudan, 38700 La Tronche, FRANCE
https://www.chu-grenoble.fr/
About the Training Center:
1. The Department of Neurosurgery at the University Hospital of Grenoble-Alpes is the most important Neurosurgical Center of the region, where more than 1100 surgical procedures are performed each year, among which 78% elective and 22% urgent cases.
Our department has 44 standard hospitalization beds and works in close collaboration with a Neurosurgical-ICU that encompasses 15 Intensive care beds. Poly-traumatized patients are hospitalized in a separate Surgical-Traumatology ICU with more than 15 beds.
Given the location of our Center, surrounded by high mountains encouraging outdoor sports activities, there are winter and summer peaks of traumatic surgeries. During these periods the hospital has the capacity to increase the number of our hospitalization beds.
Our department is affiliated with the Neurosurgical Department of Annecy-Genevois Hospital in the neighboring Haute-Savoie region. This center performs around 800 procedures each year, among which 65% spinal and 35% cranial cases. Complex spinal and cranial cases are referred to our Center.
2. Neurosurgical procedures in our Department include:
Skull Base and pituitary surgery through open and endonasal endoscopic approaches
Vascular Neurosurgery / Endovascular procedures
Brain tumors
Pediatric Neurosurgery
Functional Neurosurgery (DBS, and Epilepsy surgery)
Degenerative Spine Surgery and Spine Instrumentation
Spine and Spinal Cord Trauma
Skull and Brain Trauma
Program Details:
1. Neurovascular pathologies:
This activity includes intracranial aneurysms, Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs), Dural Arteriovenous Fistulas and cavernomas (DAVFs).
Around 200 neurovascular procedures are performed each year, among which 75% are treated through endovascular approaches and 25% by open surgery.
A significant proportion of aneurysms treated by open surgery concern complex anatomy aneurysms.
Aneurysms, Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs) and cavernomas are treated in close collaboration with the Neuroradiology and the Neurosurgical-ICU teams. Patients with AVMs often benefit from combined treatment (endovascular and open surgery).
A weekly multidisciplinary neurovascular meeting (collaboration between neurosurgeons, neurologists and neuroradiologists) allows to review each case for both urgent and elective situations.
2. Skull Base and Pituitary pathologies:
This activity includes tumors of the skull base such as Meningiomas, Adenomas, Schwanomas, Chordomas, Craniopharyngiomas, …
Around 150 conventional skull base procedures and 70 endoscopic transnasal pituitary procedures are performed each year.
A weekly multidisciplinary oncology meeting (collaboration between neurosurgeons, oncologists, radiotherapist, pathologists and neuroradiologists) allows to review each case for both urgent and elective situations.
A bimonthly multidisciplinary hypothalamo-pituitary meeting (collaboration between neurosurgeons, endocrinologists, ophthalmologists and neuroradiologists) allows to review each case for both urgent and elective situations.
We also work in close collaboration with the ENT-surgery and Maxillo-Facial Surgery units.
Other Program details:
For more than 2 decades our Department has regularly received visiting residents from many countries, the large majority from French-speaking African countries including Togo, Mali, Niger, Djibouti, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal. These young neurosurgeons have been each time successfully incorporated into the standard functioning of the clinic at the same level of workload and responsibilities as our training french residents, and have become and indispensable part of our department’s functioning.
The current platform would like to extend this established thread, to form a WFNS-certified short period training program in which more advanced neurosurgical fellows could benefit from exposure to complex Neuro-vascular and Skull Base pathologies.
We would like to tailor our offer to young neurosurgeons from African countries, with established basic surgical skills, fluency in French language and thriving to develop their clinical and surgical skillsets in the fields of Neurovascular and Skull Base surgery.
This Short Period training will include:
- Participation in Neuro-vascular and Skull Base Surgeries and observation of endovascular procedures.
- Participation in Multidisciplinary meetings for decision-making in complex cases.
The success of this short period training is highly dependent on the participant’s involvement.
We would plan to further our commitment by participating locally in the countries of origin of our trainees, through courses and short-term training missions. To start the training, we can take care of 4 trainees per year (6 weeks each), the daily 3 meals and accommodation are covered.
Technical Platform
- 4 dedicated Neurosurgical Operating Rooms
- 1 Independent Angiography-Endovascular Operating Room
- 2 Neuro-navigation Stations
- O-arm for Spinal instrumentation and Stereotactic procedures
- Rosa Robotic Arm for stereotactic procedures
- Intra-operative Neuro-Monitoring for selected cases
- Intra-operative vascular fluorescence and surgical Doppler system
- Ventricular and transnasal trans sphenoidal Neuroendoscopes
- Operating microscopes
- Ultrasonic aspirators
Neurosurgical Faculty and Medical Team at CHU Grenoble-Alpes
Pr. E. GAY, Chief of the Neurosurgical Department.
Pr. S. CHABARDES
Pr. O. PALOMBI
Pr. J. G. PASSAGIA
Dr. D. HOFFMANN
Dr. A. ASHRAF
Dr. E. SEIGNEURET
Dr. S. ISNARD
Dr. E. de SCHLICHTING
Dr. L. LIU
Dr. F. LECHANOINE
+ 1 or 2 Neurosurgical Fellows
5 Neurosurgical Residents (among which at least 1 foreign graduate DFMS/DFMSA)
Neurosurgical Faculty and Medical Team at CHU Annecy-Genevois
Dr. V. MENDES MARTINS
Dr. R. MONTESSUY
Dr. C. GUARNEIRI
+ 1 Neurosurgical Fellow
3 Neurosurgical Residents (among which at least 1 foreign graduate DFMS/DFMSA)
Required documentation:
- A copy of the Passport or the ID card
- A copy of the Diploma in Medicine or a certificate issued by the Faculty of Medicine
- Curriculum Vitae (CV)
- Two letters of recommendation
- A motivation letter
- The Fellowship application bearing the date of beginning
- A valid French / EC Visa for the length of the stay
How to Apply:
Qualified applicants are invited to fill out the Online Application Form. Only the online application will be accepted.