A neurosurgeon is a medical doctor who specializes in the treatment and diagnosis of certain diseases of the nervous system. The main areas of interest of the neurosurgeon are the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and the vascular system that supplies blood to these parts of the body.
A neurosurgeon deals with diseases that occur within the nervous system. Most often, he is referred to those patients in whom pharmacological treatment did not work and a surgery should be performed.
Diseases that the neurosurgeon deals with are, for example, cervical, lumbar or thoracic-lumbar discopathy, acute and chronic pain as well as spinal injuries and spinal cord injuries, brain tumors and neoplastic changes in the spine, neoplastic diseases in the brain and vessels cerebral vascular diseases, hydrocephalus, peripheral nerve damage, cerebrospinal hernias, hemangiomas, intracranial hemorrhages and intracranial hypertension. Disturbing symptoms that should make us visit a neurosurgeon include: headache and dizziness, numbness or tingling in the limbs, discopathy of the spine, frequent fainting. One should also visit a neurosurgeon when there are visual disturbances of unknown cause, problems with concentration and memory, limb paresis and hearing problems not conditioned by diseases of the auditory canals. Usually, the patient goes to the neurosurgeon after visiting the family doctor or a doctor of other specialty, for example an orthopedist. If there is a suspicion that the complaints of the patient may be caused by changes in the nervous system, the doctor orders a neurosurgical consultation.
Before deciding on the form of treatment, a neurosurgeon orders tests such as computed tomography, ultrasound examinations, X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging, which help to recognize diseases of the nervous system and their degree of advancement.
The most detailed and technically advanced test that a neurosurgeon can order is emission tomography, which allows you to analyze lesions at the cellular level. This type of examination allows detecting disturbing changes at a very early stage of their development. Another lesser-known test your neurosurgeon may order is magnetoencephalography. It involves imaging the electrical activity of the brain by registering the magnetic field generated by the brain. In addition to these tests, the neurosurgeon may also recommend tests such as blood counts, urine tests, biochemical tests, cerebrospinal fluid tests, and endocrine tests. Based on the results of the tests, the neurosurgeon selects the patient for surgery or implements pharmacological treatment. All previously performed tests should be brought to the first visit to the neurosurgeon. On their basis and on the basis of an interview, the neurosurgeon initially assesses the patient’s condition and orders further diagnostics.
Neurosurgery is essentially invasive treatment when pharmacotherapy proves to be ineffective or inadequate. The methods used by the neurosurgeon in the treatment of diseases within the nervous system are divided into minimally invasive and more invasive.
The minimally invasive ones include, for example: endoscopic removal of a disc herniation, percutaneous laser decompression of the intervertebral disc, micro discectomy of the cervical or lumbar spine, stabilization of the vertebrae with a flexible implant and percutaneous cementation of the spine body. These types of procedures do not require extensive surgery and are usually performed under local anesthesia. More serious and invasive surgeries performed by a neurosurgeon include excision of brain tumors or neoplastic lesions within the spinal canal, removal of intracranial hematomas, hydrocephalus surgeries, skull fracture surgeries, operations involving traumatic injuries of the skull integuments, surgeries of brain aneurysms, cervical disc surgery or lumbar disc of the spine and peripheral nerve surgeries after injuries, neoplastic lesions and performed to remove pressure on the spinal cord. After the surgical treatment, the neurosurgeon may additionally order pharmacotherapy.