Nobuyuki Sakai MD, PhD

Dr. Sakai is Director of Neurosurgery at the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital and Director of Neuroendovascular Therapy at the Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation. Dr. Sakai received his medical degree from Kansai Medical University in 1984, where he served as an assistant professor until 1991 when he left for the United States to work as a researcher in the University of California Los Angeles. After returning to Japan, he served as an assistant professor at the Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine and head physician at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center before joining the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital in 2001.

Dr. Sakai has performed 6,000 catheter-assisted neuroendovascular procedures (without craniotomy), including 2,000 cerebral aneurysm embolization, 350 cerebral arteriovenous malformation embolization, 400 dural arteriovenous fistula embolization, and 1,200 carotid artery stent replacement procedures. He also has experience with more than 1,000 craniotomies & clipping of cerebral aneurysms. Due to the remarkable speed, precision, and stability in these procedures, patients who are difficult to treat come from all over Japan to benefit from his vastly-experienced skills. Many doctors also visit to observe and learn from his procedures. Dr. Sakai is also active in giving public lectures on correct knowledge about stroke in plain words.

Dr. Sakai also serves on the board or as a counselor or specialist at 15 medical societies including the Japan Neurosurgical Society, the Japanese Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the Japanese Stroke Society, the Japanese Society of Endovascular intervention, the Japanese Society of Cerebral Blood Flow, and Metabolism, the Japanese Society for Neuroendovascular Therapy.