First brain surgery performed in the Solomon Islands

Four doctors and a nurse from Macquarie University Hospital (MUH) have taken part in a groundbreaking medical mission to the Solomon Islands to perform the country’s first ever brain surgery.

The National Referral Hospital (NRH) in Honiara acquired its first CT scanner in 2022, and quickly identified a number of patients in need of neurosurgical interventions.

However, the Pacific nation had no neurosurgeons.

Nepean Hospital Senior Anaesthetist, Dr Narko Tutuo, is originally from the Solomon Islands and has organised a number of medical missions to his home country. Hearing of the situation, he and Dr Matthew Tait, Nepean’s Head of Neurosurgery and a senior lecturer at Macquarie Medical School, contacted the NRH to offer their help.

Soon after, the pair formed Aelan Neurosurgery Team, made up of 18 specialist doctors, anaesthetists, and nurses, including MUH Professor of Neurosurgery Dr Antonio Di Ieva, MUH fellows Dr Eric Suero Molina and Dr Kevin Agyemang, and MUH neurosurgery scrub nurse Ms Soo Jin Min.

The team’s arrival made front-page news in Honiara, and they spent a week assessing patients and performing 13 complex procedures on nine people under challenging conditions.

Dr Tait says seeing the referrals in the clinic on the first day was deeply affecting.

“We could not offer surgery for everyone, because in some cases, the patient’s condition had already caused irreversible damage,” he says.

“I was torn between being excited at doing my best to help the patients that we could treat, and sadness at seeing the people with benign, treatable diseases whose lives have been ruined through lack of treatment.

“One example was a six-year-old girl with untreated hydrocephalus. She was profoundly disabled but possibly would have been able to develop normally if she had received a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt earlier in life – as she surely would have in Australia.

“The dedication, compassion and effectiveness of the local healthcare team despite the lack of healthcare facilities, funding and resources is incredible.”

For Professor Antonio Di Ieva, this was both his first overseas surgical mission and his first trip to the Solomon Islands, and he says was an unforgettable experience.

“We came to the realisation that people there are suffering and dying from conditions that are curable in Australia, like non‑malignant brain tumours, and even infections,” he says.

“One of the patients we treated was a 47-year-old man who had a very large skull-base tumour that while histologically benign, would have eventually killed him due to hydrocephalus.

“He had reached the stage where he could no longer walk, had gone deaf, and had double vision.

“We removed the tumour using multiple advanced techniques, including endoscopic-assisted micro‑neurosurgery, and were very pleased to see him make a remarkably prompt functional recovery.

“Our mission has been and will continue to be making conditions like this curable in the Solomons. I am very much looking forward to returning for future visits.”

Aelan Neurosurgery Team plans to return in March 2024, but their goal is even more ambitious than sending medical staff to Honiara to conduct regular clinics.

Dr Tait and Dr Tutuo are in the process of setting the team up as an NGO and are working towards becoming a registered charity.

They are currently developing a memorandum of understanding with the NRH to establish a regular neurosurgery service at the hospital. They also intend to set up a training program for local surgeons, with the hope of seeing a self-sufficient neurosurgery team established in Honiara within five years.

The Solomons mission was supported by the Australian Government, and medical companies including BK Medical, Brainlab, Medtronic, Baxter, B Braun, Zeiss, and Stryker.

If you would like to be involved in Aelan Neurosurgery Team’s work, please email Dr Matthew Tait at: matthew.tait@aelanneuroteam.com.

You can also contact us about this story at communications@mq.edu.au.