As an academic diagnostic and interventional abdominal radiologist at Duke University Hospital with over 20 years of experience with trainee education, I plan to teach the diagnostic and interventional radiology residents at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania.
This will be my third year at Muhimbili National Hospital. This year I will continue to give lectures on imaging of abdomen. Lecture topics will include: bowel, pancreas, spleen, liver, biliary system, kidneys/urinary tract, uterus/ovaries, vascular system. I will also supervise image-guided biopsies and abscess drainages and provide consultation for patient triage and pre-procedure planning.
As in past years, I have routinely asked our support staff to remove items from new sterile prepackaged trays that would be unused and otherwise wasted and save them to take with me back to Tanzania.
Last year, when I returned to Muhimbili, I was surprised by the progress achieved by the Interventional Radiology department in just one year. A brand-new modern interventional procedure room was installed. The patient waiting areas were expanded and freshly painted. The clinical triage and pre-procedure planning area was also improved. I looked forward to seeing their continued progress when I return this year.
This year, Road2IR has extended its Interventional Radiology training program to the Mulago National Hospital in Uganda. I plan to visit this site for a few days before going to Tanzania. I will bring my diagnostic and interventional radiology expertise to this hospital to help train their first cohort of IR Fellows at this location.
While this program most immediately serves the 60 million people living in Tanzania, training IR physicians locally will have a regional impact. One of the 2022 graduates in Tanzania is from Nigeria and has returned there after completion of her training and to start her own program in Nigeria. As such, our goal is to eventually serve the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa.
IR training of faculty and residents will directly impact and improve patient care by increasing access to life-saving or life-changing interventional procedures and therapies. These techniques are best taught by direct hands-on demonstration and supervision. Once these trainees have learned these skills, they can in turn teach them to future generations of radiologists in Tanzania.
During this trip to Africa, there were three groups of people impacted by my trip. Foremost, the patients I treated were the most significantly impacted. One patient had lung cancer and a very large malignant pericardial effusion and malignant pleural effusion. I placed drains in both collections—we removed 600 mL of fluid from around his heart and 500 mL from his pleural space. He immediately improved his breathing. Another patient drove 8 hrs from Arusha to have a breast biopsy. She wasn’t on the schedule but we did her biopsy anyway because she had a large breast mass that needed a tissue diagnosis to start treatment. Another patient had a large liver amebic abscess. We drained 1500 mL from this abscess. He felt immediately better! These are just a few examples of the patients I treated—but the ones I felt I had the most impact on. I also impacted the interventional radiology (IR) residents. For each procedural case, I supervised or showed the trainee how to best approach and perform the procedure. It was great to work with the (IR) residents as they were so bright and enthusiastic to learn and help the patients. The last group of people were the diagnostic radiology (DR) residents. I gave two radiology lectures to them on genitourinary topics. They were very appreciative and attentive during both lectures. I also spoke with one of the DR residents about his plans for the future, particularly regarding his interest in neuroradiology and interventional radiology. I encouraged him to consider IR specialization given its strong need in Tanzania.
