Kurdistan is a roughly defined geopolitical region where the Kurdish people form a
majority population and where the Kurdish language, culture, and identity have historically
been based. The region of Kurdistan refers to large areas of eastern Turkey, northern
Iraq, northwestern Iran, and northeastern Syria. In particular, the Kurdistan Region
of Iraq, although not sovereign, is an autonomous region with a parliamentary democracy.
This region is divided into four governorates, comprising ∼40,000 km with a population
of more than 8 million people.
As part of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Duhok is financially well endowed, owing
to the natural resource of oil. Its infrastructure gleams of modern roads, buildings,
and bridges. Ironically, the development of medical infrastructure has not kept pace
with the otherwise bustling economic growth. Hospitals are rural and medical equipment
is sparse. Medical emergencies are often not met with a sense of urgency. The challenge
of bolstering the medical infrastructure lies not only in advancing technology but
also in inculcating an ethos compatible with the proficient practice of the art of
medicine and surgery.
Gazi Zibari, an American-trained hepatobiliary surgeon who hails from Duhok, has led
medical mission trips for well over a decade to the Duhok governorate. Since 2012,
Dr. Zibari has led a multidisciplinary team of U.S.-trained doctors and other medical
professionals in Duhok. Over the years, volunteer neurosurgeons have played an instrumental
role in building neurosurgical capacity in the region. They have delivered lectures
on fundamental neurosurgical topics and have mentored local neurosurgeons in performing
basic and advanced neurosurgical procedures.
At NASBS, we hope to present our cumulative neurosurgical skull base experience in
Duhok. We have performed nearly 50 skull base procedures for pathologies including
pituitary adenoma, meningioma, craniopharyngioma, glioma, and acoustic neuroma. We
would be glad to have the opportunity to present our results, and more importantly,
to highlight challenges in performing complex skull base neurosurgery in a resource-poor
region.
