Having a brain surgery doesn’t have to mean anything because it is a term for multiple procedures which include correcting structural issues in the brain. It’s always good to be informed about this so you can understand people that have gone through it or you will like to learn more for the medical school. Based on the area of the brain and the condition, neurosurgeons will determine which type of surgery is going to be done.
We live in a time where technology is so advanced that for some procedures you even don’t have to make any operations on the head, you only have to be near it. But, because we are talking about the brain, every process can be complicated. Long Island bloodless brain surgery wouldn’t be available if we didn’t have so advanced technology. The most important thing is to find the problem as soon as possible
and start working on it..
Why Is Brain Surgery Done?
It’s obvious that you will do surgery when you have a certain problem but you should know what the cause can be. It can be anything from injury, disease, a birth defect and other issues. Something that you probably heard of and which is a big percentage of the surgeries is the brain tumor. It usually doesn’t happen to younger people, which is also the case with strokes.
Some of the injuries may include skull fracture and pressure after head injury. Other reasons include unwanted fluid in the brain, Parkinson’s disease, nerve damage, abscesses, epilepsy, blood clots, bleeding, an aneurysm and abnormal blood vessels. Some of them don’t even require surgery but to make sure something worse doesn’t happen, doctors decide to operate.
Bloodless Surgery
Like the name says, bloodless surgery is an advanced way of making a procedure on the brain without using any traditional instruments. It’s a gamma knife which uses beams of radiation and attacks the location of the disease in the brain. It’s so precise that the tissue around won’t get damaged. The name can be confusing because there isn’t a knife involved. After the surgery, you don’t need to go through recovery.
The problem with it is the cost. Many clinics can’t afford around 20-ton machine. The benefits of having it are big because the success rate is over 90%. It looks like a large scanner where you position your head in a helmet which scans the area where the procedure is going to happen. Depending on the disease, it can last between 1 and 6 hours. A great thing is that the patient is awake during the procedure so if you are a doctor you can see the reaction. Unfortunately, it isn’t suited for everyone. The tumor needs to be at a certain size and away from vital areas. Read more on this page.
Craniotomy
The bone flap is the hole that needs to be made in the skull in order to do a craniotomy. The incision is small and it is made at the area where the brain needs to be treated. With this operation, the surgeon can remove abnormal brain tissue, drain fluid or blood from an infection, clip off an aneurysm and remove tumors. After the procedure, to secure the bone flap, surgeons use wire, sutures or plates. Craniectomy is when the hole is left open because brain swelling may happen because of the tumors or infections.
Read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniotomy
Minimally Invasive Endonasal Endoscopic and Neuroendoscopy
Many people don’t know that Endonasal Endoscopic is a procedure where a tumor can be removed through your sinuses or nose’s holes. The advantage of this surgery is that they don’t need to create an incision. They use the telescopic device and endoscope to start the process. A lot of surgeons decide to use this procedure because it is very effective in removing tumors on the pituitary gland.
If you can’t access the tumor by using Endonasal procedure then Neuroendoscopy is the way to go. They need to make a small hole or a few of them in order to access the brain. The holes are dime-sized but still, it is a very common procedure. Even if they need to make holes in the skull, this method is less invasive.
