Areas of expertise

This is the center of the practice and the subject of Dr. Dawood's doctoral thesis, Endoscopic Management of Degenerative and Discogenic Diseases of the Dorsal and Lumbar Spine, completed at Ain Shams University in 2006.

The work covers microendoscopic discectomy (MED) and the full range of minimally invasive discectomy and fixation techniques. He published one of the early Egyptian series on microendoscopic lumbar discectomy in 2007 and later ran a randomized controlled trial comparing microendoscopic with microscopic discectomy in lumbar disc herniation, presented at the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies interim meeting in Brazil in 2011.

Training in this area has continued throughout his career: endoscopic spinal procedures with Professor Ali Fahir Özer at the American Hospital, Koç University, Istanbul in 2005; endoscopic transforaminal discectomy and minimally invasive spine surgery in Bangalore under Dr. Girish Datar in 2016; and the Advanced MIS Instructional Course at the Johnson & Johnson Institute in Norderstedt, Germany in 2018.

Management of degenerative and discogenic disease of the spine, with particular emphasis on complex reconstructive surgery and instrumented fixation across the cervical, dorsal and lumbar spine.

His published work in this area covers anterior cervical discectomy and fusion using stand-alone anchored spacers, a comparative study of anchored spacers against stand-alone cages in two-level anterior cervical discectomy, and short-segment posterior instrumentation with an intermediate screw compared against long-segment instrumentation in thoracolumbar fracture. He has also published on the clinical validity of the nerve root sedimentation sign in lumbar spinal stenosis and on interspinous spacer outcomes in degenerative lumbar canal stenosis.

Foundational training came from a 2005 clinical fellowship in spine surgery at Ege University, Izmir, under Professor Mehmet Zileli, and from the Aegean Spine Review cadaveric courses run in conjunction with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, at which he later served as laboratory faculty.

Treatment of painful neurosurgical conditions, principally trigeminal neuralgia, using radiofrequency techniques.

Dr. Dawood has published on percutaneous radiofrequency rhizotomy for recurrent trigeminal neuralgia following failed microvascular decompression, and on facet joint injection compared against radiofrequency facet neurotomy in lumbar facet joint arthropathy. He presented long-term results of microvascular decompression in trigeminal neuralgia at the Pan Arab Neurosurgical Societies meeting in Riyadh in 2008, and results of radiofrequency ablation in refractory cases at the British Neurosurgical Society meeting in Sheffield in 2013.

Related training includes a Medtronic course in nerve stimulator and intrathecal pump insertion in 2008, and hands-on training in pain procedures at the Delhi Pain Institute in 2017.

Resection of brain and spinal tumors of varied location, and stereotactic brain biopsy where tissue diagnosis is required without open resection.

Skull base and cranial technique were developed through his Master of Surgery thesis on surgical approaches to lesions of the cavernous sinus, the Professor Albert L. Rhoton Jr. microneurosurgical course held at Ain Shams University in 2005, and the WFNS Skull Base Committee conference in Alexandria in 2004.

Surgical management of head injuries of all severities, developed over more than two decades of emergency and trauma practice — including three years as Head of the Emergency Department at Dr. Bakhsh Hospital in Jeddah.

He co-authored a prospective cohort study of depressed skull fractures overlying the dural venous sinuses, published in Turkish Neurosurgery in 2019, which examined the indications for surgical against non-surgical management in a group of thirty-four patients. He also chaired the scientific committee of the first polytrauma conference held in Al Ahsa in 2012.

Decompression and repair of nerve injuries. His review of 243 patients who underwent open carpal tunnel release was published in the Pan Arab Journal of Neurosurgery in 2007.