Radiology in Nepal.

The joys of doing an international visiting professorship are the challenging environment and the enthusiasm of the indigenous students and physicians. Having previously taught radiology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, for 4 months in 1992, I felt prepared for the advanced diseases, limited supplies, broken equipment, and challenging environment that I would encounter in Nepal. The Radiology Outreach Foundation sponsored me (W. E. Brant) for 3 months to teach radiology at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in Kathmandu in the spring of 1995. I was concerned about how effective my teaching would be, how well I could relate to the local conditions of practice, and whether my English-only language skills would be sufficient. My hosts in Nepal proved as eager to teach me as to learn from me. I was captivated by the ability of the TUTH faculty to innovate. Nephrostomy drainage could be accomplished with a feeding tube or refashioned angiography catheter (Fig. 1). Complete aspiration of a hepatic abscess could and should be performed with a single needle at the time of diagnosis because the patient may never be able to return for follow up. One day's film review revealed every manifestation of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), as well as worms in the bile ducts and hydatid cysts in the liver. Without CT scanning, sonography was the prime diagnostic tool. Although my prepared lectures were well received, teaching is best accomplished while the daily film stack and with sonography transducer in hand. English is understood and well spoken by almost all physicians and medical students in Nepal. In this article, we discuss the current practice of radiology in Nepal.