Dr. Ernest Braxton of Vail Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery travels extensively to talk about different surgery techniques at conferences around the world — but a recent trip was a little different. In December, Dr. Braxton trekked over to Nepal with his team to not only share knowledge but also provide services in operating rooms.
“A neurosurgery colleague of mine, Dr. Richard Wohns of Seattle, has been going to Nepal for the past 10 years with the Nepal Spine Foundation and last year he recruited me to come along with him,” Braxton said. “He and other surgeons go out there every year and they are always looking for surgeons who have more innovative techniques.”
Wohns is the founder of the Nepal Spine Foundation whose mission is to improve access and care for Nepali spine patients through its deep collaboration with the Department of Neurosurgery at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Wohns has been both a physician and climber during expeditions on Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest.
“One of the things Dr. Wohns thought might be of interest to the neurosurgeons in Nepal is doing the surgeries while the patient is awake and without general anesthesia,” Braxton said. “The way the Nepalese hospitals are structured, everybody’s in the hospital for several days after surgery and from a cost and efficiency standpoint the doctors were very interested in it. It’s a very low-cost intervention that they can do right away. It’s a safer operation, too, in that the patients are not exposed to general anesthesia.”