Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has performed its first emergency brain aneurysm clipping, part of a joint Ghana and United Kingdom (UK) neurovascular mission addressing a long standing shortage of specialized care for young Ghanaian patients.
Consultant neurosurgeon Dr Hadi M Abdulla told the Asaase Breakfast Show the procedure, carried out on a patient within 72 hours of suffering a brain bleed, formed part of the ongoing mission and would likely stand out as its highlight.
He said most of the patients operated on during the week were under 30, a pattern he described as concerning since aneurysms are typically diagnosed at older ages in many other countries. He said the exact cause remains unclear, though genetic and environmental factors could both be contributing, and stressed that the condition often goes undetected until it ruptures. “Nobody knows they have an aneurysm until it ruptures,” he said.
The milestone reflects how limited specialized cerebrovascular care has historically been in the country. A 2023 account published in the journal Neurosurgery, describing an earlier international mission to Korle Bu, noted an operating theatre without a dedicated operating microscope at the time, coils for endovascular treatment priced beyond the reach of most patients, and only one neurointerventionalist practicing nationwide. Ghana’s main teaching hospital neuroscience unit has previously been described by its own staff as a single unit, housed in one block, effectively serving the whole country and, at times, much of West Africa.
The current procedure forms part of a broader collaboration between Korle Bu and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust aimed at transferring specialist neurovascular skills to Ghanaian surgeons and building local treatment capacity. Dr Abdulla, who trained in the UK, said he started the partnership after identifying the need to expose Ghanaian neurosurgeons to advanced aneurysm surgery.
He said he was optimistic the program would help establish a permanent neurovascular service in Ghana capable of diagnosing and treating complex brain vascular conditions locally, rather than relying on periodic international missions.
