Blog Archive

One of the common clinical scenarios I encounter as a neurosurgeon is a patient who has persistent and severe pain in the back or the legs after a previous surgery on the spine. This is sometimes referred to as “failed back surgery syndrome,” and it occurs in about...

As we get age, plaque builds up in our blood vessels. This is caused by smoking and other lifestyle choices like poor diet. One of the most common places for this to develop is at the carotid bifurcation. Normally, our carotid artery comes off of our chest and up on...

The normal anatomy of our head starts with the hair and scalp on the outside, the bony skull below, and then the brain on the inside. Between the skull and the brain there is a thin layer, called the dura. The dura acts like a bag that encases and protects the brain....

Surgery for brain tumors involves general anesthesia which means the patient is completely asleep for the entire procedure. In some cases, the patient will be woken up during the surgery for monitoring the area of the brain that is being operated on. If the surgeon...

An aneurysm is a small balloon that forms on a weakening wall of a blood vessel. It is estimated that about 2 to 4% of the world’s population have cerebral aneurysms. Cerebral aneurysm diagnoses are becoming more common as they are found when the patient is imaged for...