Dr Muruga Kumar

Neurosurgeon, Sime Darby Medical Centre, Malaysia

Dr Muruga Kumar came highly recommended to me by another doctor. This guy is good, very good, I was told.

Neurosurgery is super complex. Neurosurgeons, spend the better part of 15 years training and poking around the central nervous system to see what makes us tick...or have ticks. Over the past 15 years, neurosurgery has been greatly impacted by advances in diagnostics and radio-surgery that help neurosurgeons pinpoint and treat tumors in the brain.

When I met Dr Kumar he was in his scrubs looking at a wall full of MRI scans; just like you see on TV. We chatted about his training and his key areas of focus -- brain tumor surgery and upper cervical spine surgery. But he really lit up when we started talking about brain tumor surgery.

Dr Kumar was the first doctor in SE Asia to use the BrainLab system, which helps surgeons plan the treatment of cancerous tumors in the brain using radio-therapy. He is also at the forefront of using inter-operative monitoring systems, like intra-operative ultrasound, that gives him real time feedback as he operates on a patient.

Neurosurgery, he explains, has advanced from guessing, cutting and hoping to planning, targeting and knowing. According to Dr Kumar, the goal in neurosurgery is not just removing the tumor, but maintaining full functionality. He spent time showing me the evolution of neurosurgery and where it's going next. Much of this went entirely over my head, but the passion the man has for his specialty was clear to see.

For more information, check out Dr Kumar's profile on Medeguide

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