Jesús Lafuente, president of the European Society of Neurosurgery and the Catalan Society of Neurosurgery, joins the RAED
Jesús Lafuente, president of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies and the Catalan Society of Neurosurgery, entered as a corresponding academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED) during a ceremony that was held on October 4 in the main hall of Spanish labour Promotion of National Work building. The recipient read the admission speech “De la neurocirugía mística de la antigüedad, a los retos que afronta en el siglo XXI. Los cambios de paradigma según la evolución de la neurocirugía en el tiempo” (From the mystical neurosurgery of antiquity, to the challenges it faces in the 21st century. The paradigm changes according to the evolution of neurosurgery over time). Full academician Luis Carrière responded on behalf of the Royal Corporation.
The new academician carries out a complete journey through the meaning given to the brain by different cultures throughout history and by the sense of the interventions they have carried out on it, from trepanations with a mystical or initiatory character to current ones involving neurosurgery techniques. Although Lafuente goes further and raises the challenges of these practices in the 21st century, from improving the quality of care to adaptation to new technologies, updating procedures, data management, communication channels and the future of the neurosurgery in the third world.
“Since time immemorial neurosurgical procedures have been practiced that have led us, after thousands of years of evolution, research, training and adaptation, to the current situation, where by the demands of society, which has greater access to information and that is more knowledgeable about their pathologies, risks, treatments and expert specialists in defined areas, expect a safer treatment and a better quality of life”, the scholar acknowledges. “There are many challenges in neurosurgery of the 21st century and it all aims to improve the results of our patients”, he concludes.
Lafuente is part of the multidisciplinary team of the Vertebral Column Institute of Quirón Hospital in Barcelona. In the Congress of the European Society of Cervical Column Research held in 2003 he won the Mario Boni prize for the best research work. He is the author of more than 20 specialized publications and several chapters in eight books on spinal pathology.
