Dr. G R Vijay Kumar

FRCS (Lond), FRCS (Neurosurgery), CCST (UK), Spine Fellowship (USA). Skull-base & Vascular Fellowship (USA). Director – Department of Neurosurgery and Spine.

Clinical Experience

NEUROSURGERY :

My first exposure to Neurosurgery was as a Senior House Officer at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge. The Department is the Regional Referral Center for Neurosurgery. My work involved management of patients with acute neurosurgical problems and pre- and post-operative care of patients admitted for elective procedures. It included management of patients in the Neuro-Intensive Care Unit under the direct supervision of a Consultant Anaesthetist. I assisted my consultants, senior registrars and registrars at elective and emergency neurosurgical procedures. It was during the course of this appointment that I successfully passed the Final FRCS examination at the first attempt.
In both the above posts I attended the regular academic teaching sessions, Audit meeting and was actively involved in teaching Undergraduates from the Cambridge University Medical School.

I commenced training in Neurosurgery as a Specialist Registrar. I completed a 2 year Registrar rotation comprising of 18 months at the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, London and 6 months at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, London. I was exposed to a wide spectrum of neurosurgery, both routine and highly specialized. Independent operating under supervision has included craniotomy for trauma, ventriculo-peritoneal and ventriculo-atrial shunt placements, stereotactic and burr hole biopsy, lumbar and cervical disc surgery including fusion with AO plates and pedicular screws and craniotomy for tumours both benign and malignant.

The post at Great Ormond Street Hospital as Registrar in Paediatric Neurosurgery provided me with invaluable experience in both Neurosurgery and Paediatrics! The unit is one of the very few dedicated Paediatric Neurosurgical units in the country. In addition to routine neurosurgery, I obtained experience in the management of craniofacial deformities and complex cranio-cervical junction defects.

As a Registrar in Neurosurgery at the Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, London, and subsequently at Oldchurch Hospital, Essex, I was able to consolidate my experience in independent operating on intracranial aneurysms, posterior fossa tumours and benign supratentorial lesions. I also had the opportunity to attend a number of meetings, courses and to augment my teaching and administrative experience.

I was awarded the Ohio State University Spine Fellowship for a period of one year, commencing on the 1st of Nov., 1996. This fellowship is part clinical and part research. My main research project involved setting up a hands-on Workshop, based on Cadaveric Prosection, to demonstrate practical techniques on exposure and instrumentation of the spine for the residents and faculty at the division of Neurosurgery. This 3-day workshop was held on the 16th-18th of May, 1997 and was very favourably commented upon. Apart from this, I was involved in setting up protocols for prospective clinical trials and participating in ongoing studies.  My clinical duties were at two locations- The University Medical Center, Ohio State University, Columbus and at Grant Hospital, Columbus. I attended two Outpatient Clinics per week and scrubbed in for complex spinal operative procedures at both Hospitals. I have gained valuable experience in complex spinal instrumentation procedures, especially the TSRH instrumentation for posterior fusions, anterior thoraco-lumbar surgical approaches and instrumentation (Z-plates and ATL plates), cervical lateral mass plating (Axis plates) and C1/2 lateral mass screws.

I worked as a Locum Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Manchester Royal Infirmary following my return from the USA. In this post, I was able to consolidate my teaching and administrative skills in addition to my operative experience.

As a Specialist Registrar in Neurosurgery at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, and subsequently at the Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK, I completed the clinical criteria and successfully passed the Intercollegiate Fellowship examination in Neurosurgery. I consolidated my experience in paediatric, general and spinal neurosurgery in the course of this year of training. I completed all the requirements to be awarded the Completion Certificate of Specialist Training in Neurosurgery in October 2000. I have been enrolled on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council, UK as a Specialist Neurosurgeon.I was Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon & Medical Director at Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata, India from Jan 2011 to August 2012. In addition to performing a wide variety of neurosurgical procedures, with special emphasis on complex cranial and spinal surgery, I am also interested in research, audit and aspects of quality assurance.

I completed a Fellowship in Skullbase and Vascular Neurosurgery at the Louisiana State University at Shreveport, USA under Dr. Anil Nanda, where I got the opportunity to hone my skills further in this complex subspeciality of neurosurgery.

I returned to India and started my clinical practice by setting up the Neurosurgery unit at Westbank Hospital, Howrah. I was one of the founding members of Westbank Hospital.

I am currently working at Fortis Hospital, Kolkata. The Neurosurgery unit here is state of the art, with all modern amenities for the performance of world standard neurosurgery. The unit is equipped with Neuro-navigation, both framed and frameless, apart from all other standard equipment.

I was a Council Member of the AO Spine India Chapter from May 2006-2008. I subsequently became the Chairperson for Education (Neuro) of the AOSpine Asia Pacific region from May 2008-Aug 2011. AOSpine is an international organization involved in propagation of Education and Research in Spinal Surgery. I am currently an Educational Advisor for AOSpine International and have been and continue to be a faculty member and Chairperson for many spine courses in India and abroad.

I am a member of the Association of Spine Surgeons of India (ASSI) and of the Neurological Society of India (NSI).