Neurosurgery in Saudi Arabia: Navigating Through Future Pathways and Students' Perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Neurosurgery is a surgical discipline that demands comprehensive knowledge in other specialties. It is regarded as one of the most competitive specialties. However, there is a new trend toward considering life-style friendly specialties. Therefore, this study aims to assess the neurosurgery perception and identify potential factors influencing such attitudes. METHODS: An observational, survey-based study was conducted on medical students at the College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. An online-based questionnaire was administered to the participants. It consisted of 2 main parts: the first part collected demographic data, while the second part included 20 Likert scale-based questions. Pearson's χ2 test was utilized, with statistical significance set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 305 medical students from various academic years participated in the questionnaire survey, with nearly an equal gender distribution. Remarkably, a significant majority (76.72%) expressed uncertainty or disagreement regarding the adequacy of neurosurgery education during their medical studies. While a substantial portion of participants (69.5%) found neurosurgery intriguing, almost half (47.87%) indicated that they would not pursue it as their future specialty. The consideration of neurosurgery as a career path showed statistically significant differences in relation to both gender and academic year (P = 0.009 and P < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes how gender and academic year affect choosing neurosurgery as a career but notes limitations like self-reporting bias and a single-institution scope, which may affect generalizability. Future research might consider national summer training programs to engage more students in neurosurgery.

Management of Very Late Pancreatic Metastasis of Renal Cell Carcinoma 8 Years After Radical Nephrectomy: A Report of a Rare Case.

BACKGROUND The most common primary malignant neoplasm of the kidneys in adults is renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which originates inside the renal cortex and accounts for 80-85% of all primary renal neoplasms. RCCs can spread to many organs, including the liver, lungs, bones, and brain. Disease is quiescent until the late stages of disease in the vast majority of patients. CASE REPORT We report a case of 63-year-old woman who presented to her surveillance check-up after a right radical nephrectomy 8 years ago. Computed tomography of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis (CT-CAP) revealed a hypervascular mass in the body of the pancreas measuring 1 cm, consistent with metastatic appearance. Therefore, the tumor board decision was to proceed with spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy. The final histopathology result showed metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC) with negative resection margins. The patient currently is under regular follow-up. The latest CT-CAP was done at 1 year postoperatively, which showed no evidence of recurrence or metastasis. CONCLUSIONS Patients with RCCs can develop asymptomatic metastatic lesions years after complete oncological resection of the primary tumor. Furthermore, metastatic RCCs can be misdiagnosed as other primary tumors. Hence, a meticulous long-term follow-up is essential to ensure that recurrence or a new distant metastasis is not missed. RCCs are known for their poor response to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. However, the new targeted therapies have shown a good response rate. Nevertheless, complete oncological resection of the pancreatic metastasis remains the best treatment modality and is associated with a 5-year survival rate of 75%.