brain surgery
The Magnetic Resonance Center of the University Children's Hospital Zurich has achieved a world first break through in MR-guided, non-invasive neurosurgery. Ten patients have been successfully treated by means of transcranial high-intensity focused ultrasound. This fully non-invasive procedure opens new horizons for neurosurgery and the treatment of different neurological brain disorders.
MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Norma Wooley checked into Loyola University Hospital on a recent Monday morning for brain surgery to repair a life-threatening aneurysm.
She went home on Tuesday, cured of the slurred speech, drooping face and worst headache of her life.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Doctors may be able to tailor a specialized form of brain surgery to more closely match the needs of Parkinson patients, according to results from the first large-scale effort to compare the two current target areas of deep brain stimulation surgery, or DBS.
Choosing to have aggressive brain surgery after suffering a severe stroke generally improves the patients' lives and allows them to live longer, according to research by neurologists at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Patients who undergo brain surgery to treat aneurysms are at risk for permanent brain damage, but a protective cooling system is now being tested to reduce or eliminate this risk.
The ChillerStrip System, designed by Seacoast Technologies, Inc., works by cooling the brain tissue in the area of the surgery, thereby reducing the metabolism of the brain. The brain consumes 20 percent of the body's oxygen needs and requires 15 percent of the cardiac output of the heart to function properly. But because the brain is contained within the fixed space of the skull, the normal swelling action of tissue during surgery or after an injury can prove irreversible or fatal.
A neurosurgical team at University Hospitals of Cleveland has, for the first time in North America, applied a new surgical approach to the treatment of Tourette syndrome, resulting in the immediate and nearly complete resolution of symptoms for the patient, who has suffered from this neurologic disorder since he was a child. "We were genuinely amazed at the patient's response," says Robert J. Maciunas, MD, neurosurgeon at UHC and professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He has used the technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and tremor, and was impressed with this patient's dramatic reaction: the disappearance of the jerking motions, muscle tics and grunting associated with his Tourette's.
