The very first lecture on the advantages of ultrasound for the conduct of PNB was delivered by Dr Penafrancia Cano during the 41st Annual Convention of the Philippine Society Anesthesiologists.
History of The Manila Academy of Regional Anesthesia (MARA)
Before the advent of the Ultrasound, landmark and nerve stimulation were the primary modality that were practiced as a guide in the performance of peripheral nerve blocks (PNB). The use of the ultrasound in the identification of nerves, visualization of the needle and the introduction of the local anesthetic near the nerve was first explored by anesthesiologists at the University of Vienna in the mid-1990s. A decade later, regional anesthesiologists from the University of Toronto began to embrace this technology, further demonstrating its utility and describing in detail the sonoanatomy of the nerves in the upper and lower extremities.
In the Philippines, the use of the nerve stimulator and the ultrasound as a dual guidance in the performance of regional anesthesia was started to be embraced in the later half of the year 2000s.
Nov 26, 2008
Jan 31, 2009
The very first structured, one whole day, ultrasound guided peripheral nerve block course and workshop in the Philippines was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in EDSA, Mandaluyong. It was hosted by GE with Dr Penafrancia Cano, as the Convenor and Program Director and Ms Cindy Chayoung Kim, a Malaysian who was the GE ultrasound education leader, as speakers and workshop facilitators.
Nov 11-14 2009
The University of the Philippines (UP), Department of Anesthesiology organized the very first ultrasound guided regional anesthesia (RA) workshop where the blocks were performed among patients in the operating room. This was in collaboration with the faculty of the Department of Anesthesiology of Alexandra Hospital of Singapore headed by Dr Joselo Macachor, a Filiipino Anesthesiologist practicing in Singapore. The only local faculty in the workshop was Dr. Penafrancia C. Cano, the Section Chief of Orthopedic Anesthesia of the UP. She was also the program director of this pioneering activity., The 3-day activity also included a series of lectures and scanning on live models
Nov 19, 2009
The Philippine Society of Anesthesiologist (PSA) included for the very first time the Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia (RA) and nerve stimulation hands on workshop in the Scientific Program. The program director was Dr. Penafrancia Cano. Since then, Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia Workshops have been included in the Annual Convention of PSA.
Jun 25, 2010
The 2nd Ultrasound Guided RA lecture series and workshop was organized by the UP-PGH Department of Anesthesiology, held at the Metropolitan Club The speakers were Dr. Manoj Karmakar a very distinguished regional anesthesiologist of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Dr.Penafrancia Cano who was also the convenor and the head of scientific program.
Jun 26, 2010
Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia Workshop was arranged at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City. The speakers were Dr Manoj Karmakar and Dr Penafrancia Cano who was also the scientific chair Of the activity.
Dec 2010
Dr Penafrancia Cano was featured in the New York School of Regional Anesthesia (NYSORA) Newsletter
Feb 2011
A meeting was held to organize the group called Regional Anesthesia- Asia (RA-Asia). It is comprised by a group of experts in RA in Asia. The aim is to propagate the practice of regional anesthesia in the Asian region. Each country is represented and the one chosen to represent the Philippines is Dr Penafrancia Cano. The other pioneering members present during the meeting held at the Manila Hotel were Dr Petchara Surandatiti (Thailand), Dr Shahridan Fathil (Malaysia), Dr Philippe Macaire (Dubai) and Dr Manoj Karmakar (Hong Kong), the head of RA-Asia.
Oct 2011
St Luke's Medical Center of Quezon City conducted an Advance Ultrasound Guided RA Workshop on upper and lower extremity blocks. The local speakers, and facilitators included among others Dr Mae Anne Tabberrah, the Program Director, Dr Penafrancia Cano and Dr Noel Aypa . The invited foreign speaker was Dr. Manoj Karmakar of Hong Kong
2012
The very first RA- Asia Conference was held at the Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand with Dr Penafrancia Cano, as a speaker representing the Philippines
Nov 2012
During the 44th PSA Annual Convention, Dr Tabberrah, Dr Montemayor, Dr Aypa and Dr Cano were facilitators in the RA workshop.
2013
The New York School of Regional Anesthesia (NYSORA) held a 2- day NYSORA Asia Conference in Manila. Dr Admir Hadzic, the Founder and President of NYSORA was the program director. The program co-directors were Dr Grace Herbosa, who was then the President of PSA and Dr Penafrancia Cano, the Chief of the Division of RA of UP-PGH. The facilitators included Dr Nathalia Montemayor Dr Mae Anne Tabberrah and Dr Noel Aypa.
Sept 2014
Dr Penafrancia Cano was able to covet the European Diploma of Regional Anesthesia (EDRA) from the European Society of Regional Anesthesia (ESRA) in Seville, Spain. She is the FIRST Filipino to garner such a distinction!
Jun 24-25, 2015
The 4th Regional Anesthesia (RA) Asia was held in Manila which was hosted by the Department of Anesthesiology of the University of the Philippines- Philippine General Hospital in association with the PSA. The scientific and organizing committee was headed by Dr Penafrancia Cano, who is one of the co-founders of the academic organization.
2016
The Regional Anesthesia fellowship program of the Department of Anesthesiology of The Medical City was initiated by Dr Nathalia Montemayor who became the Head of the Section of Regional Anesthesia. This is the very first fellowship training program of RA in the country.
Nov 2016
A multicenter workshop on Ultrasound Guided Peripheral Nerve Blocks which was participated by 3 hospitals namely, Makati Medical Center, St Luke's Quezon City and Rizal Medical Center was held. The activity was headed by the program and scientific chair, Dr Noel Aypa. This was the first multi- hospital activity to be organized in the country. Dr Mae Anne Tabberrah was a member of the organizing committee and she was one of the facilitators.
2017
The Division of Regional Anesthesia of the University of the Philippines- Philippine General Hospital was established. Two years later, in 2019, the Regional Anesthesia fellowship program was started. These were through the efforts of Dr Penafrancia Cano who became the head of the Division and the head of the Fellowship Training program.
2018
The core group of anesthesiologists who were at the forefront of the propagation of nerve stimulator and ultrasound guided regional anesthesia in the Philippines decided to form the Manila Academy of Regional Anesthesia (MARA) with the aim of further advancing the safe conduct of ultrasound in RA.
Sept 2019
Dr Noel Aypa is the second Filipino to attain the much desired European Diploma of Regional Anesthesia (EDRA) from the ESRA in Bilbao, Spain.
Nov 2019
T51st PSA Annual Convention which was organized in association with the International Symposium of Ultrasound for Regional Anesthesia (ISURA) on November 2019. The other co-founders of MARA namely Dr Montemayor, Dr Aypa and Dr Tabberrah served as workshop team leaders and faciitators during the event. Dr Penafrancia Cano served as the assistant chair of the ISURA scientific committee that was headed by Dr Vincent Chan and Dr Philip Peng, the founders of the said organization. The other three co-founders of MARA served as workshop team leaders and facilitators during the event.
2020
Covid hit the World but it did not deter the core faculty from continuing its thrust of promoting the practice of RA. MARA pioneered the delivery of monthly RA webinars inviting prominent regional anesthesiologists as speakers.
The Subsection of Regional Anesthesia and the RA fellowship program of the Department of Anesthesiology of Makati Medical Center was created. This was through the work of Dr Noel Aypa, the head of the subsection and the RA fellowship training program.
2021
Another pioneering academic activity of MARA was the conduct of journal club every two months that was participated by Regional Anesthesiologists practicing in different teaching hospitals in the Philippines.
2024
The Fellowship program in Regional Anesthesia of St Luke's Quezon City was started and this was spearheaded by Dr Mae Anne Tabberrah, one of the co-founders of MARA. She is currently the Head of the Division of RA.
