McMaster Minimally Invasive
Skull Base Course
Event Overview
The McMaster MIS Skull Base Course has been ongoing annually since 2007. The target audience consists of senior residents in Neurosurgery and ENT. This course welcomes a smaller number of attendees and has a high staff to learner ratio, with the majority of time allotted to hands-on experience. This course gives residents the opportunity to practice highly specific, highly skilled techniques on cadavers, collaborate with experts and colleagues in the field and gain hands-on experience they would not typically receive. The course is chaired by Dr. Kesh Reddy and Dr. Doron Sommer. The local faculty includes Dr. Almunder Algird, skull base neurosurgeon, as well as ENT surgeons Dr. Justin Khetani, and Dr. Sarah Khalife. We bring in guest faculty for the course each year. A consistent and strong supporter of this course has been Dr. Amin Kassam, a world leader and pioneer in endoscopic transsphenoidal approaches to the skull base.
Initially having 5 work stations, the course has grown to now have 9 cadaveric specimens available. We aim to pair a neurosurgeon and ENT surgeon at each station, to allow for collaboration typically seen in the field of skull base surgery. More junior residents are also free to attend the course and listen/observe. They are sometimes given hands-on opportunities as time and resources allow. This non- for-profit course is offered free of charge to McMaster residents and select invited residents and fellows from Universities nationwide. Kind support is provided annually by Stryker and Storz along with other groups such as The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Join us for our next course September 12-14, 2025!
Learning Objectives
At the end of this learning activity the learners will be able to:
- Thoroughly identify anatomy of the skull base
- Describe the indications, steps, benefits and challenges of various skull base procedures (a highly specific surgical area)
- Demonstrate, through hands-on workshops, skull base surgical techniques
- Develop interpersonal skills/collaborative connections with other residents, professors and guest speakers

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Events.
McMaster MIS Skull Base Course
The Minimally Invasive Skull Base Course has been ongoing annually since 2007. The target audience consists of senior residents in Neurosurgery and ENT.
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McMaster Transorbital Course
New in 2025, the Transorbital Course will welcome international faculty for a 3-day course exploring the transorbital approach using cadaveric specimens. The target audience will include junior staff and fellows.
Publications
Intraventricular Metastatic Melanomas: Two Case Reports
M Alhantoobi, A Algird, JQ Lu, J Provias, K Reddy | Neurosurgery Cases and Reviews, 2022 Read full article here
Image-Guided versus Freehand Ventricular Drain Insertion: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
M Aljoghaiman, B Bergen, R Takroni, B Wang, P Eangles, F Farrokhyar, S Sharma | World Neurosurgery, 2022 Read full article here
Transorbital Neuroendoscopy Surgery for the Management of Frontal Sinus Lesions: Case Series
ME Yasuda, A Mastrolonardo, T Nguyen, J Moore, D Sommer, K Reddy | Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B: Skull Base, 2023 Read full article here