Pedro Augusto Sousa Rodrigues, a fifth-year resident at Division of Neurosurgery at School of Medical Sciences (SMS) of University of Campinas (Unicamp) took a research fellowship in endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery and neuroanatomy at Stanford University, California, USA. In the last year of residency, all residents have a period to do other activities in different hospitals.

Endonasal endoscopic skull base surgery allows the neurosurgeon to access deep lesions near to important vessels and nerves . In the last years, it has gained strength and prominence in neurosurgery. Stanford University has one of the best structures for this type of procedure.

During his time at the university, he observed several surgeries, open approaches or endoscopic, such as pituitary tumors, clivus chordomas, vestibular schwannomas, and meningeomas. He was oriented by one of the most important neurosurgeon in the world: Dr. Juan Fernandez-Miranda.

In addition, he could dissect cadavers in the neuroanatomy laboratory, performing the main open and endoscopic endonasal approaches at the base of the skull. He focused his studies on the clinoid space, describing its anatomy and variability.

Pedro told us: “Stanford University, located in one of the largest technology centers in USA, the Silicon Valley, gave me an incredible experience. I met a lot of neurosurgeons of different parts of the world and learnt advanced endoscopy techniques with one of the best neurosurgeons nowadays. The knowledge acquired in the laboratory was very important in my training as a neurosurgeon. Thank you Dr. Juan Fernandez-Miranda for this opportunity”.