Neurosurgery

Neurosurgeons specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders that affect any portion of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system. 

Treatment encompasses both non-operative management (e.g. prevention, diagnosis – including image interpretation – and treatments such as, but not limited to, neurocritical intensive care and rehabilitation) and operative management with its associated image use and interpretation (e.g. endovascular surgery, functional and restorative surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, and spinal fusion – including its instrumentation).

In conjunction with HSHS St. John’s Hospital and Springfield Memorial Hospital, state-of-the-art computer image guidance devices and intra-operative imaging systems are available for procedures. The entire spectrum of neurosurgical procedures is performed in Springfield. This includes brain surgery for tumors and movement disorders.

These systems allow for more accurate and less invasive procedures for neurosurgical diseases of the brain (including tumors, Parkinson’s disease, hydrocephalus, epilepsy and others) and spine (including herniated discs, spinal stenosis, compression fractures, congenital disorders and others). These systems are used in minimally invasive spinal surgery (MISS) for degenerative and congenital disorders (such as Chiari Malformations) and traumatic injuries. These techniques provide improved patient outcomes with shorter hospital stays and shorter recovery times.