Acclaimed neurosurgeon Charlie Teo says neurosurgical dogma needs to be challenged, suggesting he was "personally responsible" for pioneering minimally invasive keyhole brain surgery not being widely adopted in Australia because he had not inspired his colleagues and had generated animosity.
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Dr Teo spoke at the Canberra Health Annual Research Meeting about the changing face of neurosurgery, with advancements meaning brain surgery could now be performed through minimally invasive keyhole surgery.
"I'm not going to lie, I've been maligned and criticised widely by my colleagues and they continue to do it. I'm hoping it will eventually change - you can never be a prophet in your own land so I don't expect things to change in my lifetime," he said.
Asked whether he had inspired colleagues with his enthusiasm for keyhole brain surgery, Dr Teo told guests: "I personally have been responsible for, in fact, it not being adopted in Australia because I haven't inspired my colleagues."
"In fact, I've generated a lot of animosity and I think if I had maybe kept quiet, maybe it would have caught on earlier," he said.
In 2007, the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia ran an advert in response to a 60 Minutes interview with Dr Teo, with the society's then-president Eric Guazzo saying the suggestion there was "a reluctance to use or that this type of surgery is not widely available in Australia and New Zealand is erroneous and disparages the professional skill and knowledge available".
Dr Teo said he operated on about 10 brain tumours a week and of those, 90 per cent had "had surgery elsewhere that hasn't been done through a keyhole approach and they haven't managed to get the tumours out".
"The dogma of neurosurgery says that the bigger a craniotomy, the safer the operation. I was taught it, our forefathers were taught, we continue to teach it to residents," he told the conference.
"I would contend that in the last 10, 20 years, there's been a massive change in technology whereby we can now sit back and question that dogma."
Dr Teo said keyhole brain surgery had many benefits, including access to deeper parts of the brain, less pain and suffering and a quicker recovery.
Dr Teo also spoke to Melrose High School students on Friday, also encouraging them "to challenge the dogma", which he said required courage.
"I wanted them to know that in order to make change, you have to challenge the current status quo which is very difficult," Dr Teo said.
Melrose High School year nine student Talei Forrest, 15, said the differences between "traditional" and modern methods of brain surgery were fascinating.
