Rokuya Tanikawa, MD
The neurosurgery giant has died. I would like to express my deepest condolence to
all the family members.
I first met Evandro in 2012 at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital's microsurgery
cadaver dissection and bypass hands-on course hosted by Sanford PC Sue in Taipei.
I was invited by Sanford to treat a giant aneurysm at internal carotid-posterior communicating
which had a direct branching of anterior choroidal artery from the dome.The live surgery
was scheduled after the microsurgery course and I had two lectures about a vascular
reconstruction and a microsurgical cisternal approach about transsylvian and anterior
interhemispheric approach. Evandro commented several points about the advantage pterional
approach to anterior communicating aneurysm based on his enormous experiences of clipping
anterior communicating aneurysm with emphasizing the number of experience which is
very important to achieve a successful result. That was great opportunity for me to
looking back my experience of anterior interhemispheric approach to anterior communicating
aneurysm, because I had just 300 to 400 cases of Acom aneurysm with anterior interhemispheric
approach and the number I experienced was too small to conclude “Hundred percent of
anterior communicating aneurysm can be treated safely with anterior interhemispheric
approach”. I humbly remember what he meant to me.
He is not only a master of cerebrovascular surgery but also one of big master of neuroanatomy,
although I have been learning skull base anatomy under Professor Fukushima since 2000.
The way to obtain the knowledge and skills to understand exactly is not easy and it
takes long time as Evandro mentioned any time. I am still learning skull base anatomy
in my daily surgeries to solve my question inside me and in a cadaver course at least
once a year.
The neurosurgeons in the next generation after Evandro must continue to learn neuroanatomy
and train hard themselves to achieve the knowledge and the skills to treat the patient
safely. The most important what Evandro meant is a humble attitude to improve ourselves.
