Our Services / General Neurosurgery

What is general neurosurgery?

General neurosurgery is a specialty within medicine that focuses on diagnosing, evaluating, and treating conditions affecting your central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). This includes the structures supporting your nervous system, such as the:

• Peripheral nerves
• Skull
• Spinal vertebrae
• Spinal discs
• Blood vessels
• Protective membranes
• Soft tissues

Neurosurgery and neurology are two closely related disciplines. The difference is that neurologists don't perform surgery, which is the specialty of a neurosurgeon.

What conditions does general neurosurgery treat?

The surgeons at Advanced Neurosurgery can treat a wide variety of conditions, including:

• Sciatica
• Herniated discs
• Spinal arthritis
• Radiculopathy (nerve compression)
• Degenerative disc disease
• Scoliosis
• Stroke
• Brain aneurysms and hemorrhages
• Brain, skull, spine, spinal cord, and nerve tumors 
• Congenital brain disorders
• Epilepsy
• Parkinson's disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Spinal trauma
• Spine and brain infections

Unless your condition requires urgent surgery, Advanced Neurosurgery providers first try nonsurgical treatments such as physical therapy, medications, and injectables. Only when other options prove unsuccessful do they recommend surgery.

What techniques are used in general neurosurgery?

If it's in your best interests, the surgical team at Advanced Neurosurgery uses minimally invasive spine surgery and other tissue-preserving techniques to perform general neurosurgery procedures.

These techniques avoid the need to make large incisions in your body by using tubular retractors (to ease muscles aside rather than cutting them) and endoscopic methods. An endoscope is a flexible instrument that has a tiny light and camera at its tip.

Inserting the endoscope into a small incision gives your Advanced Neurosurgery surgeon a clear view of the surgery site that they can use to guide them. 

General neurosurgery also relies on advanced imaging and other diagnostic tools, so neurosurgeons are highly skilled in the use of technologies such as:

• Computed tomography (CT) scans
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Positron emission tomography (PET)
• Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
• Electroencephalograms (EEG)

If minimally invasive surgery isn't possible, Advanced Neurosurgery surgeons are equally skilled in performing open surgery. Their expertise also extends to microsurgery, endovascular surgery, and radiosurgery.

If you require the services of experts in general neurosurgery, look no further than Advanced Neurosurgery's board-certified, fellowship-trained neurosurgeons. Call today to schedule a consultation or use the online form to book an appointment.