Young neurosurgeon from Sancti Spíritus is already writing his own story

At just 34 years old, Dr. Carlos Aquino Pedraza, from Sancti Spíritus, is already part of the small group of neurosurgeons capable of performing one of the most complex procedures in medicine: brain aneurysm surgery, where every decision can mean the difference between life and death.

The challenges have come quickly, and this year the neurosurgery department at the Camilo Cienfuegos Provincial General Hospital has successfully completed four complex vascular and skull base procedures, an experience that the young specialist summarizes as follows:

“The third one, the other patient who has already been discharged, was a straight aneurysm that required five hours of surgery. It had a very nice, very manageable anatomy. But the last one, a complex anatomy with variations in the arterial formation at the base of the skull and even many perforating arteries around the aneurysm, was only 3 millimeters in diameter. These are the kinds of things we’ve had to deal with.” “These are very complex diagnostic entities, with very difficult anatomies, and as a young neurosurgeon, it’s a tremendous joy to have been able to face them.”

Today, this first-degree specialist in neurosurgery understands that in the operating room there is no room for error because, when faced with a cerebral aneurysm, scientific knowledge, acquired experience, and the necessary composure to act under extreme pressure converge.