Kenyatta National Hospital

Section of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya;

Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi

Olouch-Olunya D

Qureshi M

Kiboi JG

Budohoski KP, Ngerageza JG, Austard B, Fuller A, Galler R, Haglund M, Lett R, Lieberman IH, Mangat HS, March K, Olouch-Olunya D, Piquer J, Qureshi M, Santos MM, Schöller K, Shabani HK, Trivedi RA, Young P, Zubkov MR, Härtl R, Stieg PE. Neurosurgery in East Africa: Innovations. World Neurosurg. 2018 May;113:436-452. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2018.01.085. Review. PubMed PMID: 29702967.

2: Kaur LP, Munyiri NJ, Dismus WV. Clinical analysis of aqueductal stenosis in patients with hydrocephalus in a Kenyan setting. Pan Afr Med J. 2017 Feb 28;26:106. doi: 10.11604/pamj.2017.26.106.11050. eCollection 2017. PubMed PMID: 28533829; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5429416.

3: Mwita CC, Muthoka J, Maina S, Mulingwa P, Gwer S. Early management of traumatic brain injury in a Tertiary hospital in Central Kenya: A clinical audit. J Neurosci Rural Pract. 2016 Jan-Mar;7(1):97-101. doi: 10.4103/0976-3147.165390. PubMed PMID: 26933354; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4750351.

4: Piquer J, Qureshi MM, Young PH, Dempsey RJ. Neurosurgery Education and Development program to treat hydrocephalus and to develop neurosurgery in Africa using mobile neuroendoscopic training. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2015 Jun;15(6):552-9. doi: 10.3171/2014.10.PEDS14318. Epub 2015 Mar 6. PubMed PMID: 25745948.

5: Kiboi JG, Kitunguu PK, Angwenyi P, Mbuthia F, Sagina LS. Predictors of functional recovery in African patients with traumatic intracranial hematomas. World Neurosurg. 2011 May-Jun;75(5-6):586-91. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2010.05.041. PubMed PMID: 21704911.

6: Qureshi MM, Oluoch-Olunya D. History of neurosurgery in Kenya, East Africa. World Neurosurg. 2010 Apr;73(4):261-3. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2010.02.014. PubMed PMID: 20849774.

7: Mwachaka PM, Obonyo NG, Mutiso BK, Ranketi S, Mwang'ombe N. Ventriculoperitoneal shunt complications: a three-year retrospective study in a Kenyan national teaching and referral hospital. Pediatr Neurosurg. 2010;46(1):1-5. doi: 10.1159/000314050. Epub 2010 May 5. PubMed PMID: 20453556.

8: Okoth PA. Neurological manifestations following partial excision in spinal meningioma: case report. East Afr Med J. 2007 Jan;84(1):44-8. PubMed PMID: 17633585.

9: Wanyoike PK, Qureshi MM. Schistosoma mansoni of the conus medularis: case report. East Afr Med J. 2004 May;81(5):271-3. PubMed PMID: 15508344.

10: Wanyoike PK. Posterior cranial fossa tumours in children at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. East Afr Med J. 2004 May;81(5):258-60. PubMed PMID: 15508341.

11: Mwang'ombe NJ, Omulo T. Ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery and shunt infections in children with non-tumour hydrocephalus at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. East Afr Med J. 2000 Jul;77(7):386-90. PubMed PMID: 12862159.

12: Egziabher TG, Ruminjo JK, Sekadde-Kigondu C. Pain relief using paracervical block in patients undergoing manual vacuum aspiration of uterus. East Afr Med J. 2002 Oct;79(10):530-4. PubMed PMID: 12635758.

Neurosurgery, in one form or another, has a long tradition in Kenya. Early skull trepanations in Kenya were reported by previous studies, which reveal that these procedures have a long tradition, being passed down from generation to generation. Modern neurosurgical development in Kenya has its origins in the late 1940s when the first elective neurosurgical procedures were performed by Dr. J. F. Jarvis, Chief of Head and Neck Surgery at the now Kenyatta National Hospital, when he operated on anterior encephaloceles, and later also performed anterior third ventriculostomy for hydrocephalus. Formal neurosurgery developed from these initial steps, with the arrival of the first trained specialist, Dr. Renato Ruberti, whose pioneering efforts resulted in the founding of the Neurological Society of Kenya (NSK), the Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences (PAANS), and the African Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (AFNS). The last quarter of the 20th century has seen the progress of neurosurgery reach its present respectable levels, with dedicated and well-trained Kenyan neurosurgical specialists focusing not only on its practice but diligently pursuing its development ¹⁾.