After more than 4,000 operations on the brain and spinal cord at the MedLife Polisano hospital in Sibiu alone, after numerous training courses at renowned university centers in Spain, France and Germany, after several first surgical operations performed in Romania, and after giving back the chance for life to patients who he operated, neurosurgeon Claudio Mattei remains fascinated by the inexplicable connection between the brain as an organ and our mind, thoughts, feelings and soul.

The passion for neurosurgery, discovered in the second year of the medical faculty thanks to Professor Ludovic Seres-Sturm, was so great that in the first years when he practiced in a public hospital, he and other colleagues purchased surgical instruments to perform.

Later, he had the opportunity to undergo specialization in famous foreign hospitals: Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge Barcelona (Spain), Hopitaux Civils de Colmar (France) and Bad Berka Zentralklinik (Germany). From these centers, he received not only innovative surgical techniques, but also a healthy mentality regarding relations with patients. He brought all of them home and uses them in the hospital where he works.

Lesson from abroad: treat patients like family

“It’s important to leave, but it’s even more important to come back,” says Dr. Claudio Matei. “The medicine you encounter abroad, the technological equipment, the training – all these aspects are important to bring home. I believe that you are the best performer in the system under which you were trained.”

Among the most important aspects he brought home, Dr. Matei mentions treating patients “like members of our family.”

Brain surgery while the patient is awake

Perhaps the most effective surgical interventions performed by Dr. Claudio Mattei and his team at MedLife Hospital Polisano are those in which the patient is awake and communicates with the surgeons during the operation. These are extremely complex interventions aimed at the resection of brain tumors located in distinct areas or functional surgical interventions such as Parkinson’s and epilepsy surgery.

“An eloquent area means an important area involved in a complex cognitive act, such as a language area, a motor area, a visual area. Then the patient must be awake to take care of the relevant area during the surgical resection,” explains Dr. Matei.

It is important to prepare the patient for such an intervention. “We call the patient a few days before the intervention to conduct a basic psychological assessment, as well as to explain in detail what is involved. The first part of the operation is performed with the patient under general anesthesia, he will be awake during the operation, and in order not to stress and cooperate with us as much as possible during the operation, we show him before the operation. an environment in which it will also awaken the characters who will be part of this operation.”

The success of neurosurgery is ensured by good interaction between the patient and the entire team of doctors: neurosurgeon, neuroanesthesiologist, neurophysiologist and neuropsychologist.

About the “temptation to believe that you are God”

The brain is the most delicate organ, and the mission of a neurosurgeon is often to give a new chance for life to patients in critical situations. In these cases, it is very important that the doctor maintains a connection with the Divine and at the same time does not believe that he is God, says Dr. Claudio Matei: “When you work with the most delicate organ, sometimes you tend to put yourself above everything, but always life shows you that you are not God, and something happens that brings you down to earth.”

However, he is convinced that, as one of his mentors said, “you never enter an operation alone, but go hand in hand with God. There are moments when you feel that you are being helped from behind.”

“A good doctor should not remain only a technocrat”

The closeness to the patient and the connection he maintains with each of those he operates on even after discharge proves that for Dr. Matei, being a good doctor does not mean just being a good professional in the operating room. “A good doctor should not remain only a technocrat. It is absolutely necessary to interact with the patient in such a way that the patient trusts him, that the patient understands that they are in the same boat, in the same direction, and success depends on both of them.”

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The article is part of the “You know a good doctor” campaign, a MedLife initiative that aims to portray the doctors who make Romania good every day, building a better tomorrow. In Romania, there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands of good doctors who, in addition to talent, vocation, experience, intuition and skills, are first of all PEOPLE. MedLife doctors are not only good professionals, but also good people who care and love people. Doctors for whom taking care of their health is more than a profession, it is a vocation.

Article supported by MedLife