BUCHAREST, Romania -- Dr. Leon Danaila , 85, (also known as 'The Brain Sculptor', is a Romanian neurosurgeon,Academician (and a prolific author and senator) who had performed more than 40,200 surgical interventions, out of which 21,779 using the operation microscope, 729 through the use of laser and 18421 classic, without microscope and without laser, thus setting the new world record for the Most Neurosurgical Operations Performed , according to the Academy Of World Records.

The 82-year-old surgeon is still working in Romania because "many younger doctors from the country are being recruited to work in Britain", the BBC reports.

Dr. Leon Dănăilă , MD, worked for three years as a general practitioner with the sanitary district of Comănești and Dărmănești, in Bacău County. In 1961 he was appointed resident neurosurgeon at the Neurosurgery Clinic of Bucharest, where he has remained. He completed his specialty residency in 1966 and became a Doctor of Medicine - PhD - in 1973.

In 1981 he was named a Senior Physician, 2nd degree, and became head of the Vascular Neurosurgery Department VII. In 1991, he was named Professor of Neurosurgery at the Bucharest Faculty of Medicine and Professor of Psychoneurology at the Titu Maiorescu University of Bucharest.

Dr. Leon Dănăilă serves on the teaching board of the Faculty of Medicine at Bucharest , appointed in 1992.

He has also been head of the Neurosurgery Department of that institution since 1996, in addition to President of the Romanian Neurosurgery Society since 1997.

In 1980, Dănăilă was granted a Fulbright Scholarship , enabling him to work at the neurosurgery clinic of the University Hospital of New York. In July 1981 he traveled to the Netherlands for specialized studies in vascular neurosurgery and attended the Burdenke Neurosurgery Institute in Moscow.

Following his travels, Dr. Leon Dănăilă was able to perform the most complex of neurosurgical operations, including occlusion of aneurysm of the arterial vertebro-basilar system, ablation of the third ventricle tumors, surgical management of skull base tumors, carotidian and middle cerebral endarterectomy, and extra- and intracranial anastomosis.

He also succeeded in reducing operation mortality from operations to percentages comparable with those reported by the world's most reputable neurosurgical clinics. Thus the surgical mortality rate in Bucharest fell from 50% to 2-6% for acoustic nerve neuroma and from 49% to 3% for intracerebral aneurysm cases. These reductions were aided by the endowment of the operating field with a surgical microscope and laser.

Academy Of World Records'
Lifetime Achievement Awards

Most neurosurgical operations performed: Dr. Leon Danaila