Abstract
The dissemination of specialty hospitals throughout the urban centers has revolutionized
the full spectrum of care for cardiology, oncology and orthopedics during the last
decades. To centralize care, from translational and basic research to clinicians and
surgeons, in the same dedicated institution leads to a decrease in complications rates,
mortality and possible reductions in the length of hospital stays. Moreover, there
has been a significant impact on hospital costs and on the quality of care. The Insituto
Estadual do Cérebro Paulo Niemeyer (IECPN, in the Portuguese acronym) was opened in
June 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the very first high-volume neurosurgical
institution in the country. The core foundation of this institution is that the anesthesiologists,
intensive care practitioners, nurses, pathologists, radiologists and rehabilitation
staffs are trained and live the full management of neurosurgical lesions at the same
facility on a daily basis. The present paper seeks to analyze the circumstances in
which the institution was planned and opened as well as its complexity, infrastructure
and initial results following its first 24 months of operation.
Keywords
history of medicine - neurosurgery - aneurysm - glioma - meningioma
