MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Mossel Bay now has its own neurosurgeon.
The position was advertised by Life Bay View Private Hospital and Dr Herman van Heerden applied for it and was successful.
The Mossel Bay Advertiser conducted an interview with Dr Van Heerden:
A: I arrived in August and started work in September. I came from Bloemfontein.
A: I studied for 15 years, first of all for six years at the Medical University of South Africa in Pretoria North. I did a Bachelor in Medicine and a Bachelor in Surgery. I then did two years of internship and a year of community service in Somerset West. After that I specialised at the University of the Free State.
A: It's really challenging and delicate work. It's about extending people's lives and giving them quality of life.
Q: Many people seem to have brain tumours these days. Why is that? Is it because of cellphones?
A: There is no conclusive evidence that cellphones cause cancer. Most brain tumours are a metastasis from other cancer tumours in the body. Brain tumours are more prevalent owing to cancer patients' longevity these days, because of advanced chemo- and radiotherapy. They are presenting with brain tumours more these days because of metastasis, whereas because chemo- and radiotherapy was not as good before, people succumbed to their primary cancer.
A: It is about giving the patient decent quality of life. Usually a brain tumour causes weakness, so if you can remove it, you can extend the patient's life by a year or 18 months. Of all medical fields, neurosurgery is definitely the one showing the most promise in improving patients' lives. It is also the field in which the most studies are being done. A recent development is deep brain stimulation: an electrode is placed in a specific part of the brain to help people with Parkinson's disease. We hope to start with that in the next few months here, to extend patients' lives and improve their functionality.
A: Yes, it's called the Brainlab Cranial Navigation System. We borrow the equipment from Cape Town, but are in the process of securing our own equipment. It's a mobile computer with a large screen. The patient's MRI scan is fed into the computer, which has infrared sensors. An instrument picks up information from the sensors and one can see precisely on the screen where the tumour is that should be removed. The technology comes from the States.
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