What is neurosurgery?
Simply defined as surgery of the nervous system, neurosurgery developed as a surgical specialty during the late 1800s. Dr. Victor Horsley in England, Sir William MacEwen in Scotland and Dr. Harvey Cushing in the United States are generally accepted as the founders of neurological surgery.
Today, neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of the entire nervous system, composed of brain, spinal cord and spinal columns and the nerves that travel to the hands, legs, arms, face and other parts of the body.
Neurosurgeons are responsible for all types of surgery on the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. Removal of tumors in the brain and spinal cord, repair of damaged or abnormal blood vessels (such as aneurysms or arteriovenous malformations), treatment of herniated discs in the spine, spinal stabilization, surgery for movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, epilepsy surgery, and procedures to relieve chronic pain are among the many types of operations performed by modern neurosurgeons.
They treat problems with which people are born (congenital) and those caused by degeneration of the bones and nervous system. Neurosurgeons can treat pinched nerves in the neck, low back pain, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome as well as sports injuries of the head and spine. Repairing and reducing the damage caused by trauma to the head and spine is also a major area of neurosurgery.
The field of neurosurgery encompasses both adults and children.
All of this has been made possible by advances in imaging procedures, development of the operating microscope, application of computer technology to procedures such as stereotactic neurosurgery, improvements in monitoring techniques, and advances in pharmacology (such as the development of antibiotics).
Neurosurgeons train long and hard because of the complexity of the nervous system and the techniques used. Neurosurgeons must graduate from an accredited medical school, complete a six-month to one-year surgical internship program and then finish a five to seven-year accredited neurosurgical residency program.