Rare honour for KGMU neurosurgeon — Dr Ravi Dev
At a time when maverick KGMU neurosurgeon Ravi Dev finds himself hounded by all and sundry over private practice and is virtually abandoned by his closest of chums, the frail looking doctor has something to take pride in Their Textbook of Operative Neurosurgery by Schmidek, and Sweet, considered to be a bible for medical students pursuing super spètiality course in neurosurgery all over the world, has quoted his research work. The editor of the Textbook, Henry H Schmidek has highlighted the role of the KGMU surgeon in in-vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the diagnosis and management of brain abscesses in his own chapter on Suppurative Intracranial Infections.
The latest edition of the book, which carries this achievement, hit the market in 2007. In the field of medical research, getting acknowledge by same other scientist of international repute is considered to be the highest achievement In his research work carried out in 1998, Dr Dev used Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) to determine the nature of brain tumours without opening the skull. This was a major breakthrough as the tumours can form due to many reasons, These may include infections, pus formation. cancerous growth or Tuberculosis. Through his method, Dr Dev identified the type of tumour and successfully monitored the effect of drug on it. The new method proved to be a boon for patients as the unnecessary surgical part war bypassed. Till then, the only option with the neurosurgeons was to operate the patient, take out the tumour and then go for confirmatory test:
The MIRS is sed for getting clear chemical analysis of the sample using magnetic fields. Dr Dev used this technique get chemical analysis of the brain by putting patient under the machine, The graphs showed in MRS confirmed that certain specific chemicals were behind each cause of tumour “By this method we did not open the skull and still came in know the type of tumour shown in CT Scan: Another major achievement is that we could exactly monitor the effect of drug on the clot without opening the skull, Dr Dev said. When asked about his reaction on being included with world’s greatest names of neurosurgery Dr Dev modestly replied that he was happy and a long road was ahead.
