Conditions & Treatments

Developed by neurosurgeons, this resource provides patients and their families trustworthy information on a wide range of neurosurgical conditions and diseases. Learn about disease and injury risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis and both surgical and nonsurgical treatment options.

Select the treatment or condition you are interested in for more detailed information.

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Dystonia

By:
  • Alex P. Michael, MDDivision of Neurosurgery, Neuroscience Institute Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Last updated: April 15, 2024
Dystonia is a very complex, highly variable neurological movement disorder characterized by involuntary muscle contractions. As many as 250,000 people in the United States have dystonia, making it the third most common movement disorder behind essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. It is a condition that knows no age, ethnic or racial boundaries – it can affect young children to older adults of all races and ethnicities.
Patient Content

Epilepsy

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Last updated: April 15, 2024
Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain characterized by repeated seizures. A seizure is usually defined as a sudden alteration of behavior due to a temporary change in the electrical functioning of the brain.
Patient Content

Epilepsy Surgery: Vagus Nerve Stimulation

By:
Last updated: June 26, 2024
The vagus nerve is one of the cranial nerves that originates in the brain and is part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary body functions. The nerve begins at the brainstem and passes through the neck, traveling to the chest and abdomen. It is responsible for regulating the functions of internal organs. Specifically, it is involved in motor functions in […]
Patient Content

Epilepsy: Neuromodulation

By:
  • Julie G. Pilitsis, MD, PhDChair, Neuroscience & Experimental Therapeutics Professor, Neurosurgery and Neuroscience & Experimental Therapeutics Albany Medical College
  • Olga KhazenResearch Coordinator- Neuroscience & Experimental Therapeutics Albany Medical College
Last updated: April 15, 2024
Over the last decade, multiple surgical options have become available for patients with epilepsy that does not respond to medication.
Patient Content

Glioblastoma Multiforme

By:
  • Jigisha P Thakkar, MD
  • Pier Paolo Peruzzi, MD, PhD, FAANS
  • Vikram C Prabhu, MD, FAANS
Last updated: April 15, 2024
Glioblastoma (GBM), also referred to as a grade IV astrocytoma, is a fast-growing and aggressive brain tumor. It invades the nearby brain tissue, but generally does not spread to distant organs.
Patient Content

Gunshot Wound Head Trauma

By:
  • Silky Chotai, MD
  • Khoi D. Than, MD, FAANS
Last updated: April 15, 2024
Gunshot wounds to the head have become a leading cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in many urban areas in the U.S. due, in part, to a surge in gang violence and overall homicide rates.
Patient Content

Herniated Disc

By:
  • AANS
Last updated: March 28, 2024
A herniated disc (also called bulged, slipped or ruptured) is a fragment of the disc nucleus that is pushed out of the annulus, into the spinal canal through a tear or rupture in the annulus.
Patient Content

How Neurosurgeons Treat Chronic Pain

By:
  • AANS
Last updated: April 29, 2024
Pain is the body's mechanism of self-preservation. It acts as a warning to indicate that harm or damage is happening, or is about to happen, to tissues in our bodies.
Patient Content

Hydrocephalus

By:
  • Lawrence M. Shuer, MD, FAANS
  • Rut Thakkar
Last updated: June 26, 2024
Hydrocephalus is a condition in which excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up within the fluid-containing cavities or ventricles of the brain.
Patient Content

Intracerebral Hemorrhage

By:
  • Neel T. Patel, MDis a neurosurgery resident at the Penn State College of Medicine at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Penn.
  • Scott D. Simon, MD, FAANSis an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Penn State College of Medicine at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Penn. He specializes in cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery and his research interests include cerebrovascular device design and retro-viral delivered gene therapy for neural regeneration.
Last updated: April 8, 2024
Intracerebral hemorrhage (bleeding into the brain tissue) is the second most common cause of stroke (15-30% of strokes) and the most deadly.