key: cord-0008096-t8yn00e5
authors: (Leigh) Atkinson, R.L.
title: History of the Asian Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons from 1964 to 2012: A personal account
date: 2012-11-19
journal: J Clin Neurosci
DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2012.07.005
sha: 22ec9e45e986a9b2a64f37fe27c7dff8da046927
doc_id: 8096
cord_uid: t8yn00e5

A steering committee of the Asian Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons (AASNS) first met on 17 October, 1961, and between 29 and 31 October 1964, the First Congress was held in Canberra, Australia. A Constitution was accepted and Sir Ian (Douglas) Miller was elected as the first President. The Society was established “to facilitate personal association of neurosurgeons in the region” and to develop training programs and neurosurgical services. The progress of the Society meetings is best tracked through the four-yearly scientific meetings, of which 13 have now been held. The AASNS is now a continental body within the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS), established in Geneva, Switzerland. Two special milestones have included the establishment of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience in 1993 and the launching of the Asian Australasian Travelling Fellowship in 1987. The current President of the AASNS is Professor Andrew H. Kaye from Melbourne, Australia, and the President-elect of the WFNS is Professor Yong-Kwang Tu from Taipei, Taiwan.

The first meeting of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) was held in Brussels, Belgium, in 1957, with Sir Geoffrey Jefferson as President. 1 After the Second International Congress of the WFNS at the Staller Hotel in Washington DC, USA, in 1961, Romeo Gustilo, a neurosurgeon from the Philippines, observed, ''There are fifty-odd neurosurgeons here from our part of the world''. 2 He meant from Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

Following this observation, a steering committee that comprised Keith Bradley (Australia), Romeo Gustilo (Philippines), Omar Jooma (Pakistan) and Kentaro Shimizu (Japan) met on 17 October, 1961 to discuss the formation of a regional organisation. They subsequently developed a Constitution, laying down the aims and objectives. As a result, the Asian Australian Society of Neurological Surgeons (AASNS) held its first scientific meeting in Canberra, Australia, in 1964.

The members of the original Society were drawn from Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Pakistan, New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand. In the following years, neurosurgeons from other countries joined the Society, including Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (Republic of China [ROC]), China (People's Republic of China), South Korea and Malaysia. Today the AASNS is recognised as one of the continental organisations forming the WFNS. 3 

The initial Constitution emphasised that the purpose of the AASNS was to 4 : (a) facilitate the personal association of neurological surgeons in Asia and Australasia (b) develop training programs for neurological surgeons (c) provide neurosurgical services in developing countries within the scope of this organisation (d) foster and aid research.

The first Congress was convened at the National Science Centre in Canberra from 29 to 31 October, 1964. 5 Over the two days of the scientific meeting, there were 31 papers presented. John Eccles discussed the transmission through the cuneate nucleus, Hsiang-Lai Wen spoke on management of trigeminal neuralgia, Donald Simpson reported on meningiomas past and present and Derek Denny-Brown spoke on causalgia.

The number of visiting clinicians was enhanced by a backto-back meeting with the Australian Association of Neurologists in Canberra. The social functions included a trip to the innovative national project which was developing, the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

At this meeting, the Constitution was accepted and the representatives of the member countries chose Douglas Miller (Sydney) as President, with Kentaro Shimizu (Tokyo) as Vice President and Keith Bradley (Melbourne, Australia) as Secretary (Fig. 1 ). While World War II left a pathway of destruction in Asia, there were some benefits in breaking down international barriers and establishing personal bridges with political leaders and professionals in the neighbouring countries. Douglas Miller was one of the first again to develop international initiatives in South-East Asia. ''Between 1956 and 1960, working with the Colombo Plan, he visited Singapore, Malaya, India and Thailand and, in 1960, he was Visiting Professor in Singapore''. 7 Not surprisingly, he received the Australian Honour of Knight Bachelor in 1961 for his contributions. He had a major influence on neurosurgery in Australasia in the second half of the 20th Century and I, like many others, owe much to him. Douglas Miller worked very closely with the Japanese neurosurgeons and he was a particular friend of Keiji Sano in Tokyo. At the Eighth Congress in Seoul, the Japanese neurosurgeons announced they were minting a special gold medal which was subsequently presented by myself on behalf of the Japanese neurosurgeons to Sir Douglas Miller on 1 September, 1993 in Sydney.

Further Congresses were held in 1968 in Sydney and in 1971 in Tokyo. Apart from my photographs of the Executive at the Tokyo meeting, where the President was Keiji Sano of the Department of Neurosurgery, Tokyo University (Fig. 2) , I have no other records of these two meetings.

Keiji Sano was the father figure to Japanese neurosurgery during the latter half of the 20th Century. He was born in Fujinomiya, Japan, in 1920. He had trained as a general surgeon and then under his mentor, Kentaro Shimizu. He moved to the University of California to work under the direction of Howard Christian Naffziger in the Department of Neurosurgery, and he returned to be the first Professor of Neurosurgery at Tokyo University. In 1965, he was President of the Japanese Neurosurgical Society and Chairman of the Board of Neurosurgery from 1967 to 1973. He was a close friend of Douglas Miller and he became President of the Asian Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons in 1968 and he chaired the Third Congress in Tokyo in 1971. Despite these responsibilities, he was also elected as the first Australasian President of the WFNS in 1969 and he hosted the Fifth Congress in Tokyo in 1973.

He published 629 papers and he was particularly focused on thalamotomy for pain and behaviour disorders and the treatment of glioblastomas. He wrote about embolisation of arteriovenous malformations. Keiji Sano often spoke at our Congress meetings, revealing a great depth of knowledge about neurosurgery, but also showed his extensive knowledge of philosophy and languages. He passed away on 6 January, 2011 at the age of 90 years. He was the pioneer of modern neurosurgery in Japan. 

As a young neurosurgeon, I first attended the meetings of the Asian Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons in Bangkok from 16 to 21 November, 1975. It was held at the Convention Centre and the Dusit Thani Hotel. Charas Suwanwela was the President for this meeting. Bangkok was a colourful, pulsing city with special oriental charm. There was a memorable wide river, the Chao Phrya, with its constant movement of people, ferries and barges winding in and out.

The Australian contingent at this meeting included David Brownbill, Peter Ebeling, Douglas Miller, Dudley O'Sullivan, Peter Petty, John Segelov, Geoffrey Vanderfield, and myself. We were welcomed at Government House by the Prime Minister, Mr Kukrit Pramoj, and this was followed by a colourful fairytale presentation of Thai dancing. On the following evening, we attended the Loi Krathong Festival by the side of that memorable, wide river -the Chao Phraya. Ornately decorated banana leaf floats with inserted candles were released into the current. According to this tradition, it was time to rid oneself of sadness, sickness and misfortune.

Here, at this meeting, I developed long-lasting friendships with Sira Bunyaratavej, from Ramathibodi University, and Vira Sangruchi, from Central Hospital, Bangkok. It was also the meeting at which I first met Bill Nordenboss from Amsterdam ( Fig. 3 ), who had a significant influence on my interest in chronic pain management -it was a meeting which offered opportunities to develop long-term neurosurgical interests with surgeons from other countries.

Each city has its own special character. Manila, capital of the Philippines, with its Spanish American influence, was infective with its friendliness and colour when we met there from 21 to 24 November, 1979. The neurosurgeons from the Philippines were led by the Congress President, Romeo Gustilo, often referred to by his colleagues as, ''The Prince''. He was supported by fellow neurosurgeons, Renato Sibayan and Faustino Domengo. The official opening was delayed as the First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda

Marcos, cancelled at the last minute. The meeting was held at the Philippine International Convention Centre, a showpiece at the time.

There were 143 delegates from 20 countries, including Tham Cheok Fai (Singapore), B. Ramamurthi (India), Omar Jooma (Pakistan) and Chun-Jen Shih (Taiwan, ROC). Notable scientific papers were presented by Jiro Suzuki with a personal surgical collection of 1500 intracranial aneurysms, while Chun-Jen Shih presented results from the surgical treatment of hyperhidrosis in Taiwan. Albert Shen presented a memorable paper on the management of arteriovenous malformations of the spinal cord. There was vigorous debate on the distribution of neurosurgical expertise in the region. At the time, Japan had 279 units with over 1000 neurosurgeons. About 60% of the trainees did extended work in the United States and 30% in Germany. In contrast, Thailand had 45 neurosurgeons and Pakistan had 10. There were 40 neurosurgeons from the Philippines practising in the United States in contrast to a small number servicing the local population, which caused vigorous discussion.

The social program included the opening reception on 21 November and a formal dinner at the magnificent Peninsula Manila Hotel in central Makati. Keith Bradley, Douglas Miller and Romeo Gustilo gave memorable speeches.

The issues that arose from the Executive Meeting at this Congress included a resolution that there would be a Douglas Miller Lecture. Keith Bradley retired as the Secretary General and I joined the Executive of the Society.

Hong Kong is one of the most advanced and colourful cities in the Asian Australasian region. The first neurosurgeon to settle in Hong Kong was Hsiang-Lai Wen (Fig. 3) . Wen, who was born in Indonesia, had ''completed his neurosurgical training at the University of Pennsylvania under the tutelage of Francis Grant in 1956 00 . 9 He settled in Hong Kong at Queen Mary Hospital in 1956. However, in 1959, he moved to the Tung-Wah group of hospitals and later settled at the Kwong Wah Hospital, where I visited him in 1975.

The second neurosurgeon in Hong Kong was the Edinburghtrained Peter Wu, who settled at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 1964. As with Hsiang-Lai Wen, he was not given very much support. He moved to private practice. Surprisingly, it was not until 1984 that a neurosurgical unit and training program were established at the Chinese University Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong led by Wai-Sang Poon, who was appointed professor in 1997. While the Queen Mary Hospital Department of Surgery was the major Hong Kong training centre with an international reputation, it had been difficult to establish a neurosurgical training unit in that hospital over the previous years.

Still, Hsiang-Lai Wen, as President, hosted the Congress in Hong Kong from 20 to 26 November, 1983. The meeting was held at the Excelsior Hotel. The scientific program included outstanding papers from Theodore Rasmussen (Montreal, Canada) on surgery for epilepsy, while the growing interest in spinal surgery was highlighted by Ralph Cloward's (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA) presentations. The registrants included a large number of surgeons from the United Kingdom led by John Gillingham from Edinburgh. One of the memorable social events at this meeting was the reception hosted by Gillingham. He had headed the Department of Surgical Neurology in Edinburgh following the retirement of Norman Dott in the early 1960s. Gillingham followed the Scottish tradition of training professionals and distributing them to all parts of the world, but particularly the Asian Australasian region. While 

In the early 1980s, the Japanese neurosurgeons, headed by Shozo Ishii, had been encouraging Australian neurosurgeons to bid for the World Congress. Then, in a tight vote in Hong Kong at the executive meeting on 29 November 1983, Brisbane was selected for the seventh Congress in 1987.

The theme of the program was ''The Practice, The Profession, The Future''. The President of the Congress was Geoffrey Toakley (Fig. 4) . The meeting was held in conjunction with the annual scientific meeting of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, who hosted the meeting. Geoff Toakley was supported by myself as Secretary, Michael Weidmann as Treasurer and Glen Merry as Chairman of the Scientific Meeting. There were more than 300 neurosurgeons attending the meeting and there were 291 scientific papers. The meeting was held from 4 to 9 October 1987 at the Sheraton Hotel in Brisbane.

One particular facet of the meeting was the first attendance of the World President of the WFNS, Kemp Clark from Dallas, Texas, USA. He was a gracious and generous representative of the world body, which was beginning to pay more attention to the continental group. The Douglas Miller Lecture at the meeting was presented by the Past President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and a close friend of Douglas Miller, Douglas Tracy.

The President of the College at the time, Durham Smith, also attended. The Ken Jamieson Lecture was presented by Keiji Sano, from Tokyo, on, ''Three Surgical Approaches to Tumours of the Pineal Region''. Peter Asher from Graz, Austria, introduced us to the growing state-of-the-art in laser surgery. The visitors were welcomed at the Brisbane City Hall, while there was an attractive and informal Australian evening at the Australian Wool Shed, Brisbane, at which the Japanese surgeon, Takanori Fukushima, proved that he was not only a master surgeon but a master drummer. One of the real strengths of the meeting headed by Geoffrey Toakley was that the Queensland neurosurgeons were brought together in a very tight bond that continues to this day.

Surprisingly, Seoul, the capital of South Korea, was a city of churches and temples and a city still wary of its northern neighbours. The organisers were determined to present a meeting of world standards and this was held at the Grand Seoul Parnas, Inter-Continental Hotel, from 6 to 11 October, 1991. The President of AASNS was Kil Soo Choi and the Chairman of the Scientific Committee was Kyu Chung Lee (Fig. 5) . The meeting was well attended with 250 delegates. The Douglas Miller Lecture was presented by the renowned New York micro-neurosurgeon, Donald Malis. There were additional presentations by Albert Rhoton (Gainsville, USA), Majid Samii (Hamburg, Germany) and Mark Rosenblum (Detroit, USA). Again at this meeting, the increasing relevance of the continental Society was indicated by the presence of the President, of the WFNS, Lindsay Symon, from Queen Square, London.

One of the outcomes of this meeting was the establishment of a regular newsletter that was to be edited by Gopal Baratham and Balaji Sadasivan from Singapore.

Taipei, Taiwan, is a classical Chinese city with significant influences from Japan and the United States. It includes one of the great museums of the world, The National Palace Museum, with its fine jade and porcelain exhibition. So, from 5 to 10 November, 1995, the Neurological Society of Taiwan, ROC, hosted this Congress of our Society.

Ching-Chang Hung was President and he was strongly supported by the Honorary President, Chun-Jen Shih (Fig. 6) . The meeting welcomed the President of the WFNS, Armando Basso, from Argentina and the previous President, Lindsay Symon, together with future leaders, Majid Samii and Jacques Brotchi, Brussels. Other important speakers included Ossama Al-Mefty, Birmingham; Harold Hoffman, Toronto; Anthony Raimondi, Chicago; Harold Rekate, Phoenix; and John Tew, Cincinnati. This meeting was attended by twenty-seven neurosurgeons from Australia and New Zealand. Armando Basso gave a detailed lecture on invasive pituitary tumours, while Hiroshi Abe discussed anterior decompression for cervical posterior longitudinal ligament ossification, which was excellent. I presented a plenary lecture on the management of chronic pain. Eight hundred delegates attended the Congress with a significant number from America and Europe. Other speakers at the meeting included Lindsay Symon and Majid Samii.

Social activities included a symphony concert at the National Convention Hall, Taipei, adjacent to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. The pianist played one of the Liszt piano concertos and later there was a Faust Symphony by Liszt. The concluding dinner was a spectacular twelve-course meal for the twelve hundred guests, while there was additional entertainment by Chinese acrobats. The speakers included Ching-Chang Hung, Lindsay Symon and Iftikhar Ali Raja (Fig. 7) .

One of the quiet performers over many years in the Society was Chun-Jen Shih. He quietly guided the whole direction of Taiwan neurosurgery, initially as the senior professor and later as the Director General of Health for the country. He was always a delightful host and a generous supporter of the Society.

As Director General of Health, Chun-Jen Shih had made notable contributions to improvements of the hospital system and he brought in preventative health measures. It is little wonder that one of his trainees, Wen-Ta Chiu, was appointed the Minister of Health in 2011, while in the same year Yong-Kwang Tu was elected as President-elect of the WFNS.

At the conclusion of the meeting in Taipei, Iftikhar Ali Raja was elected President of the next Congress, and Lahore, Pakistan, was chosen as the venue. With the history of Omar Jooma from Karachi having been a foundation member of the Society, it was fitting that Pakistan should host this meeting, held from 7 to 12 November, 1999.

This was one of three consecutive meetings in the continental area that was disrupted by unpredictable circumstances. Three weeks before the tenth Congress, a coup d'état occurred in Pakistan when the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, was deposed by General Pervez Musharraf on 12 October, 1999. Two days later, there was a Proclamation of Emergency and a Presidential Order. The longawaited plans to involve the Executive Council Meeting of the WFNS with the continental Society were again abandoned. The President of the Congress, the late Iftikhar Ali Raja, showed remarkable persuasive skills in encouraging representatives from 29 countries to attend the tenth Congress. He was supported by the organising committee, which included Azim Habib and Ahmad Ali Shah. The Congress proceeded with 402 delegates, including 204 international delegates. There were 161 papers presented over 33 sessions with contributors from 29 countries.

The meeting was held at the Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore, and we enjoyed the classic Mughal 16th Century and colonial British 19th Century architecture nearby.

The social program included an evening at the Kinnaird College for Women, where we were presented with the history of womens' achievements in Pakistan over the previous one hundred years. On the second evening, we were entertained at an open-air concert at the Shalimar Gardens, built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in 1641-2. The concert included a national folk singer who was introduced by a group of talented children with disabilities, all of whom entertained us with great enthusiasm.

The Australasian delegation included Peter Reilly, Neville Knuckey, John Laidlaw, Bruce Hall and myself, who delivered the Douglas Miller Lecture on ''Continuing Professional Education in Neurosurgery in the Next Millennium''.

Issues at the executive level included the ongoing financing of the continental Society and a surcharge to each national body of $10.00 per head was supported. There was the additional complication of the Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons which was directed by Tetsuo Kanno and Yoko Kato from Nagoya, Japan. This body was causing regional complications and a misunderstanding at the level of the WFNS. At this meeting, K. Ganapathy took over as Secretary General of the Society, while the Vice Presidents were Katsuo Hashi from Sapporo and Azim Habib from Lahore. The elected President for the following meeting was Balaji Sadasivan. The international conference delegates were particularly grateful for the gracious hospitality shown towards the visitors by the families of the Pakistani neurosurgeons, who invited them to their homes, and acted as local guides and interpreters on many occasions.

Over the past 150 years the island of Singapore has been transformed from a pirate stronghold to one of the finest city states in the world. It had a remarkable ''can-do'' culture. This was evident in 2003 when plans for the eleventh Congress were disrupted by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic that shook the world and particularly the travel industry. In March 2003, this acute viral epidemic ''took fire'' in Hong Kong and rapidly spread to other centres, including Singapore. Undaunted, the Singapore committee postponed the meeting, which was then held at the Raffles City Convention Centre from 22 to 26 November, 2003.

The late Balaji Sadasivan drew his team together and was supported by Wan-Tew Seow, Chumpon Chan, Yeo Tseng Tsai, Alvin Hong, Tan Teng Kok, Ho Kee Hang, James Khoo and Ong Peck Leong, with honorary advisors Tham Cheok Fai and Gopal Baratham.

Not surprisingly, registration numbers were down and little over 100 attended, with again no support from the executive of the WFNS. There were plenary sessions on the craniopagus twins who had attracted worldwide attention, stem cells in neurodegenerative diseases of the human brain and the biology of brain tumours. At the time, Balaji Sadasivan was the Minister of Health, and the Minister for Transport, and he presented a magnificent lecture on the effect of SARS in Asia and the Singaporean response to the epidemic. The city state met the challenge with a detailed set of defences. Parliament was conducted by telephone. Doctors and nurses were quarantined to their hospitals. Persons in contact with the original infective source were rapidly traced in Singapore and isolated. Five million thermometers were issued to the people of Singapore and special thermal monitors were placed in all airports. By April 2003, the Singapore government had controlled the epidemic.

Another important presentation at the plenary sessions was from Richard Faull from New Zealand who presented a notable lecture on neurodegenerative disease and the molecular process. There were sessions on cerebrovascular reconstructions and stereotactic surgery for spinal surgeons. In all, there were fourteen symposiums.

The social programs at the meeting included a peaceful evening trip on a junk in the Singapore Harbour and a visit to the night time Singapore Zoo to enjoy the nocturnal feeding habits of the animals.

At the concluding Executive Meeting, Tetsuo Kanno from Nagoya, Japan, was elected as the incoming President with Nagoya as the venue for the twelfth Congress. It was hoped that this would be an opportunity to combine the Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the AASNS. At this Executive Meeting, representatives from fifteen countries attended, including those from Vietnam and the People's Republic of China.

Under the Colombo Plan, Sir Douglas Miller had often visited Singapore with his friend and colleague, Geoffrey Vanderfield, and a close friendship was established with Cheok Fai Tham. C. F. Tham had been trained with Dr Murray Falconer, who returned to Singapore in 1965, but it was not until September 1972 that a Department of Neurosurgery and Neurology was established at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Singapore has now become an important training centre linking to the neurosurgical unit in Perth in particular. 10 

The twelfth Congress of the Society was held in Nagoya, Japan, from 18 to 21 November, 2007, with Tetsuo Kanno as President. With the retirement of Professor Keiji Sano, the direction of Japanese neurosurgery was unclear. The development of the Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeon's financed by the Toyota motor vehicle company and directed by Tetsuo Kanno was proving very attractive to the various neurosurgeons in units throughout Asia lacking facilities and equipment. The meeting proceeded with strong support of international visitors.

This meeting was held at the Taipei International Convention Centre from 1 to 4 December 2011. The President of the Congress was Yong-Kwang Tu. The meeting was attended by over one thousand delegates from thirty-four countries.

The Executive Committee meetings included delegates from fifteen countries. At the meeting, Professor Andrew Kaye was elected as the incoming President, with the Vice-Presidents V. K. Jain from New Delhi, India, and Kazuhiro Hongo from Matsumoto, Japan. The Treasurer will be Dr Basant Misra from Mumbai, India, and the Secretary General will be Wan-Tew Seow from Singapore. The President of the fourteenth Congress will be Kyu-Sung Lee from Seoul, with plans to hold the next meeting on Jeju Island, Korea, in 2015.

At this time, the Society is the largest continental society of neurological surgeons in the world with surgeons in twenty-eight countries and over 20,000 neurosurgeons representing 60% of the world's neurosurgeons looking after 60% of the world population.

The Journal of Clinical Neuroscience was established in 1993 by the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia. The Editor-in-Chief is The Journal now can be accessed electronically as well as in paper print. The Journal is published by Elsevier B.V. In 1999, it was adopted as the official journal of the AASNS, while it is the journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, the Australian and New Zealand Society for Neuropathology and the Taiwan Neurosurgical Society. This Journal has proved to be an important contribution to neurosurgical publications in our region. It follows in the tracks of the significant contributions by Douglas Miller.

One of the overwhelming problems of the AASNS is the lack of funds from meeting to meeting.

Periodic efforts have been made by the executive to collect funds from the national bodies of neurosurgeons involved in the Society. In 1987, following the seventh Congress, the organisers had a profit of $50,000 AUD that was placed in trust for developing an Asian Australasian Travelling Fellowship. There was the object of moving speakers from the continental region to and from Australia. These notable neurosurgical educators have included Michael Weidmann, Kil Soo Choi, Sira Bunyaratavej (Fig. 8) , Norio Nakamura, Jeff Rosenfeld, Sajid Damidapura, Michael Morgan and others. Sira Bunyaratavej, has made notable contributions to neurosurgery in Thailand and he was the President of the Asian Surgical Association.

The AASNS is now the largest continental group within the WFNS. There are increasing exchanges of surgeons and educators in the region, working to ensure high standards of neurosurgery in each country. The Society and its scientific meetings give the members an opportunity to make presentations at these meetings that particularly focus on the medical challenges, the economic difficulties and the poor health budgets. There still remain some countries that are not members of the Society including Myanmar, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and Laos. Now, after forty years, the President-elect of the WFSNS again is a neurosurgeon practising in this region, Yong-Kwang Tu (Fig. 9 ). In addition, the current President of the AASNS, Andrew Kaye ( Fig. 10) , reflects the values and ambitions of some of the early founders -Douglas Miller, and his friend Keiji Sano.

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