Noel Aypa

MD, DPBA, FPSA,EDRA

Dr. Noel S. Aypa took his Premed in the University of Santo Tomas College ( UST ) with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Biology. He then went on to fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor at the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery . He finished his internship at the Capitol Medical Center, a tertiary private institution .
After graduating with a diploma as Doctor of Medicine given by the Philippine Medical Association, he worked as a Medical Officer in HealthCheck Inc., an HMO Company for 2 years.
Further need for specialization prompted his return to UST as a resident trainee in Anesthesiology at the Santo Tomas University Hospital from 1999-2003. It was here that he was first exposed to peripheral nerve blocks through the use of landmark techniques and nerve stimulation by then practising Regional Anesthesiologist Dr. Wilfredo Alarcon trained at the Queen Mary Hospital in Hongkong. He was conferred as Diplomate in Anaesthesiology by the Philippine Board of Anaesthesia in 2004. Aside from his private practice, Dr. Aypa rendered his services as member of committees such as the Residency Training Committee ( Neurosurgery Anaesthesia Subgroup ), Research and Scientific Paper Committee, Journal Club Committee, and other committees that focused on teaching Anesthesia Residents-in-Training.
He became an Active Staff of the Department of Anaesthesiology of the Makati Medical Center ( MMC ) at the start of 2006 where he joined in as member of the Residency Training Committee of MMC from 2008-2011 and was promoted as Residency Training Officer from October 2011 to 2014. He then moved on as Vice-Chair for Training from 2015 up to the present time. He is appointed head of the Regional Anaesthesia / Peripheral nerve Blocks Subsection of Makati Medical Centre from 2015 up to the present. Realising the wealth of cases being rendered to by Regional Anesthetists in MMC he headed the establishment of fellowship training in RA which started July of 2020.
During his stint as practicing active consultant in MMC with basic knowledge on peripheral nerve blocks using landmark and nerve stimulation techniques. Enthusiastic for more knowledge on the subspecialty led him to attend workshops headed by Dr. Manoj Kumar Karmakar at the Prince of Wales / Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2009 that left a lasting impression on him as he considers this the turning point of his career in Regional Anesthesia. For the next 3 subsequent years , he started attending Dr. Karmakar’s Workshop as well as other workshops sponsored by the European Society of Regional Anesthesia ( ESRA ) whilst putting into practice what he learned in his institution in a time where there were few institutions providing in-depth training in RA. Pretty soon, there was an incremental increase in the number of cases in his institution that caters and benefitted from RA as anesthetic technique. He joined fellow enthusiasts and practitioners sharing common ground in RA practice through the constant exchange of ideas. Moving forward in RA led him to a challenging milestone in his career as he successfully passed and was granted a European Diploma on Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine ( EDRA ) given by the European Society of Regional Anesthesia ( ESRA ).
Dr. Aypa’s continued his immersion in other aspects of medicine that uses Ultrasonography. As he attended various muskuloskeletal ultrasonography lectures and workshops in Hong Kong and the US which led him to acquire certification from the Alliance For Physician Certification and Advancement ( APCA ) and The Point of Care Ultrasound ( POCUS ) Certification Academy for certificates in POCUS Fundamentals and Muskuloskeletal Soft Tissue (MSK ST ) . At times, he obliges as Lecturer and Facilitator of POCUS Workshops in MMC teaching Emergency Room Physicians of RA-nerve blocks.ng on through his career, His interest in Airway Ultrasonography directed his path to teaching Airway Ultrasound in his hospital as well ask other local institutions in the country. It also as gave him the opportunity to teach 3D airway ultrasound and TAP Blocks at Bali in Indonesia. He lecture and facilitated POCUS Workshop on Ultrasound of the Upper Airways in 2019 at the UST Hospital.
Like any other anesthetists, he wanted to deliver better acute post-operative pain control, participating and teaching in round table discussions as well as being fortunate to be Chairman and Facilitator of the Pain Management Connect Workshop 2017 sponsored by Pfizer Asia as Co-Facilitated by Prof. Stefan Schug of Australia ( a world renowned pain specialist ) in 2017.
As his experience grew, he became a constant fixture in lectures and workshops in RA as sponsored by the Philippine Society Of Anesthesiologists and institutions interested in the subject all over the country. He headed the past postgraduate courses and workshops in RA in MMC. Of particular importance then was being Workshop Faculty in the first Live Demo of RA via Live Streaming from Makati Medical Centre to the PSA Annual Convention in Manila in 2012. He was an Associate Faculty and Workshop Facilitator, New York Society of Regional Anaesthesia (NYSORA) Asia in 2013 also in Manila. He was the Convenor and Overall Head of the First 3 Day Multicenter Workshop on Ultrasound Guided Peripheral Nerve Blocks” for Makati Medical Center - St. Luke's Quezon City - Rizal Medical Center in 2016.He was a Workshop Facilitator / Lecturer - ESRA International European Society of Regional Anesthesia Cadaver Workshop for Ultrasound Guided Regional Anaesthesia for EDRA Certification in 2018 in Bangkok,Thailand. His latest involvement are facilitation workshops in “ PECs 1 and 2, Serratus Plane Block “ and “ Quadratus Lumborum, TAP Blocks, Rectus Sheath Block”, at the 51st PSA Annual Convention and ISURA Manila in 2019. The pandemic forced educators like him to the comfort of the tech savvy zoom lectures, the latest of which are speakerships in “ Peripheral Nerve Blocks Relevant to the Global Pandemic: Blocks for the Upper Extremity and Breast Surgeries “ and Blocks for the Lower Extremity and Update on the New Long Acting Local Anesthetics” Through a Digital Dialog by the Philippine Society of Anesthesiologists cooperating industry sponsors.
Dr. Noel Aypa also has his share/ contributions to research and case presentations in his career. His first research on Nalbuphine against pruritus got published in the Santo Tomas journal of medicine in 2000.
His collaboration with his resident produced an interesting cases presented abroad such as the use of ultrasound in the retrieval of a knotted epidural ( 3rd Place in the Annual SOAP residents Paper Presentation 2013 ), presented in the ESRA Poster Presentation, Seville Spain in 2014. Research on Levobupivacaine and its Venodilatation Effect in the Upper Extremity after brachial plexus block and case study on Erector Spinae Block with catheter placement for chronic pain relief from shoulder disarticulation were both presented as EPoster in the 37th ESRA 2018 in Dublin,Ireland. Another paper in PACU pain scoring in 2019 managed to be accepted to be presented in the 17th WFS World Congress of Anesthesiologists 2021 in Prague. His latest on “ Clavipectoral Plane Block With Sedation For A Successful Surgical Anesthesia In A Midshaft Clavicle Fracture: A Case Report “ was presented at the 19th Annual Pain Medicine Meeting E-Poster Competition ASRA Pain November 2020.
His reserach paper on Pericapsular Nerve Block ( PENG Block ) for positioning patients for hip surgery went on finalist in PSA-ISURA Research Paper Contest in 2019 as well as his “Clavipectoral Block: A Case Report “presented ( 29th PSA Interesting Case Competition ).
Dr. Noel Aypa is a member of the following interrelated societies namely, the European Society of Regional Anesthesia ( ESRA ), The Society of Ultrasound in Anaesthesia UK - American Society of Regional Anesthesia and the Society of Ultrasound in Medical Education ( SUSME ).