Dr. Salim Kanaan

MSc., MD Neurological Surgery, Neurological Oncology, Fellow of American College of Surgeons (FACS)

Consultant Neurosurgery

Work Experience

• Dr. Salim Kanaan has over 27 years of work experience in the field of Neurosurgery with special emphasis on brain and spine tumors. He has been vastly exposed to all central nervous system, pathologies and diagnostic modalities and has mastered all surgical approaches and techniques related to brain and spine surgery.
• He practiced modern neurosurgery in several tertiary care medical centers and university hospitals in Lebanon, where he founded and chaired the Neurosurgery departments and introduced modern neurosurgical approaches, mostly in brain and spine tumors, and mastered intra-operative monitoring technology.
• Dr. Salim served in Al-Ahsa Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as Neurosurgery Consultant and Chairman of department, where he practiced modern neurosurgery and gained wide experience.
• He then moved to work as a Consultant and Head of the Neurosurgery at Zulekha Hospital - Dubai. There, he revived the neurosurgery department and established a high level practice including major and complicated brain and spine surgeries supported by intra-operative monitoring techniques.
• Dr. Salim graduated from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, with a Master of Science (Physiology) and Doctor of Medicine. He completed his residency in Neurological Surgery at the American University of Beirut – Medical Centre, with wide exposure to all diseases that involve the central and peripheral nervous systems.
• He obtained his clinical fellowship in Neurosurgical Oncology from the University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston – Texas, including surgery of brain and spine tumors, under the supervision of world-leading neurosurgeons in the field of Neuro-oncology, headed by Professor Raymond Sawaya.

Languages Spoken

• English
• Arabic

Special Interests

Access to all kinds of brain tumors in adults and children:

• Multiple approaches
• Convexity and skull base
• Different gates and corridors
• Complete and near complete tumor resections
• Function preservation
• Saving normal brain structures
• Detailed analysis of modern brain imaging
• Intra-operative image monitoring techniques
• Use of intra-operative neuro-navigation and MRI
• Intra-operative cortical stimulation and mapping
• Awake craniotomy
• Micro-neurosurgical techniques

Surgery on intra-cranial hemorrhages

• Traumatic epidural, subdural and intra-cerebral bleeding
• Spontaneous hypertensive intra-cerebral bleeding
• Subarachnoid bleeding and aneurysm clipping
• Arterio-venous malformations
• Compressive ischemic strokes

Surgery on spine and spinal cord:

• Detailed analysis of modern spine imaging
• Anterior cervical micro-discectomy
• Decompressive cervical laminectomy
• Anterior and posterior cervical spine instrumentation
• Lumbar micro-discectomy
• Decompressive lumbar laminectomy
• Lumbar spine instrumentation
• Micro-resection of spinal cord tumors
• Resection of primary and metastatic spine tumors
• Intra-operative neuro-monitoring

Research / Publications

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Intradural and Extradural Spinal Echinococcosis. Mohieddine Fahl, MD; Fuad S. Haddad, MD; Salim Kanaan, MD; Ibrahim Husheimi, MD; Tony Aziz, MD. CLINICAL IMAGING, Volume 18, Issue 3, July-September 1994, 179-183
• Somatosensory Evoked Potentials for Cortical Mapping in Patients with Paracentral tumors. Ian McCutcheon, MD; Salim Kanaan, MD; Suresh Sankhla, MD; Barlett A. Moore, MD; Franco DeMonte, MD; Raymond Sawaya, MD. NEUROSURGERY, Volume 43, Issue 3, September 1998, page 687.
• Thoracic Spinal Intradural Arachnoid Cyst: Report of Two Cases and Review of Literature. Faisal Abou-Fakhr, MD; Salim V. Kanaan, MD; Fadi M. Youness, MD; Mukbil Hourani, MD; Maurice Haddad, MD. EUROPEAN RADIOLOGY, 12(4): 877-82, May 2002