I'm just dying to ask this mate, how open are European neuroradiologists to training neurologists to become neurointerventionalists? Why are there so few neurologists doing interventions? Are they not interested or are things harder for them than it is in the U.S.? I'm particularly interested in German speaking countries.
It depends on the attitude of each senior INR, but they are generally open.
I've worked a full year in a large italian center with many neurologists accepted.
ESMINT (european society of INR) has not "neuroradiology" in the name and accept neuros and nsg.
I think the two main reasons for the small number of neurologists and neurosurgeons in INR are the following:
1) in western Europe the "health market" (as many markets) is much more regulated than in US; scientific societies are more tightly linked with government authority to regulate who can do what and how: in many countries you have to be a radiologist to work in an angio suite.
2) in UK, France (the country where so many INR techniques developed - Debrun, Djindjian, Merland, Manelfe, Picard, Lasjaunias, Moret), Germany, Switzerland, Spain and northern Italy neuroradiologists are already organized to provide a neurointerventional service in most stroke centers.
For German speaking countries:
in Germany, back in 2015 (!), all the 107 regional stroke centers (and 127 hospital nationwide) already had radiologists with neurointerventional training 24/7 (look for "German Curriculum in Interventional Neuroradiology—How Many Interventionalists are Necessary? Did We Need Support from Other Societies for Stroke Treatment?" - I can't attach the link)
Same in Switzerland (9 stroke centers there).
In Austria IDK.
(if you need more informations, please tell me)
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A spine surgeon with nsg-background is WAY similar to a spine surgeon with ortho-background, just as an interventional neurologist and a neuroIR. Yet, if you are a nsg, it will be VERY difficult for a ortho dept to hire you. Same for neurologist in a neurorad dept (and that's why few neuros enter INR in Europe), or neurorad in nsg, or nsg in neuro and so on.
And what if a neuroIR wants to train in vascular neurology or neurosurgery? ... a radiologist? No way! (even if we talk about people with a deep knowledge of neurovascular anatomy and pathology who admit and treat hundreds of patients with aneurysms or strokes a every year).
After residency, physicians are "branded" and deeply segregated even when they converge to the same fields from different pathways: really stupid to me, as we all are physicians with similar interests and skills.