Specialties & Services

Neurosurgery

When you choose our specialists, you benefit from a team approach to neurosurgery care. Experienced, skilled physicians and nurses collaborate to develop and provide the most appropriate treatment plan for you. We use leading-edge surgical techniques and offer you access to the latest technologies and treatments for the full range of neurological disorders.

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Why choose us for neurosurgery care?

BJC HealthCare works with WashU Medicine Physicians, BJC Medical Group, and providers across the region to deliver extraordinary care. Our team uses state-of-the-art tools and techniques, many of which have been developed by our board-certified surgeons to treat a full range of neurological disorders impacting your brain, spine, and nerves. Your care is in the hands of experts who continually stay at the top of their field.

We offer:

  • Multispecialty care: Our neurosurgeons work in a multispecialty team that includes neurologists, neuroradiologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and a dedicated neuroanesthesia team. These experts work together to bring you effective, advanced treatment.
  • Dedicated neurosurgery suites: Our hospitals contain dedicated neurosurgery operating rooms, including ones for trauma surgery. We also offer a 20-bed neuro-intensive care unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital that is one of the largest and most sophisticated in the United States. This means that after your surgery, you receive care from specialized physicians, nurses, and staff.
  • Advanced technology: Your neurosurgeon uses the latest technology, including intraoperative MRI, Gamma Knife®, and the Monteris AutoLITT MRI-guided laser probe.
  • Groundbreaking expertise: Our neurosurgeons performed the world's first magnetic surgery, known as the Magnetic Surgery System (MSS). The MSS is a safer way of manipulating surgical tools within the brain. We can use this technique to find and remove brain tumors while keeping nearby structures and tissues unharmed.
  • Minimally invasive surgery: Depending on your diagnosis, you may be a candidate for minimally invasive neurosurgery. These techniques are less invasive and more effective, with faster recovery times.

What is neurosurgery?

Neurosurgery deals with problems in the central and peripheral nervous systems. This includes the brain, spine, and nerves.

A doctor who focuses their work on this is called a neurosurgeon or neurological surgeon. These doctors can help treat many kinds of issues, including pain. They can treat issues through surgery and in other ways. Some of the things they can treat are:

  • Problems with blood vessels in the brain and spinal cord.

  • Issues with the pituitary gland, such as prolactinomas.

  • Tumors in the brain, like gliomas, meningiomas, and others.

  • Problems with, or infection in, the spinal cord and spine.

  • Issues with nerves, like carpal tunnel or trapped ulnar nerve.

  • Problems with the autonomic nervous system, which controls things like sweating.

  • Movement disorders, like Parkinson's disease.

  • Pain disorders, like trigeminal neuralgia.

  • Injuries to the brain or spine, both recent and older ones.

  • Some types of epilepsy.

  • Problems with the fluid around the brain and spine.

  • Conditions after an injury, like post-concussion syndrome.

  • Disorders that affect how you function, like Tourette syndrome and depression.

  • Inherited diseases that affect the nervous system.

  • Problems in children and teens, like issues with the skull, spine, or blood vessels.

  • Serious issues in the ICU, like brain swelling and coma.

Search for a neurosurgery specialist

Our highly trained team of specialists offers advanced treatments as well as compassionate, personalized care.

Neurosurgery procedures we perform

Neurosurgeons perform procedures to treat the brain, spine, and nerves. Neurosurgery procedures and techniques we offer include:

Awake craniotomy

 We remove a portion of the skull to access your brain and remove the tumor. You stay awake to ensure we do not affect any critical areas of the brain during the operation.

Cavitron

 This ultrasonic surgical aspirator disintegrates and draws out brain tumors.

Cortical mapping

 This technique shows the neurosurgeon where essential functions are located in the brain, so that they can avoid operating on those areas. Cortical mapping also identifies which area of the brain is causing seizures.

Deep brain stimulation

 If other treatments don't control symptoms, we may offer deep brain stimulation (DBS), in which we implant a small device that sends electrical pulses to your brain.

Gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery

 We use precise, focused radiation beams to shrink and destroy tumors. This advanced procedure doesn't require any incisions.

Intraoperative angiography

 We may use blood vessel X-rays during neurosurgery to enhance outcomes for aneurysms or arteriovenous malformations.

Surgical navigation

 Our surgeons use specialized computers to plan exactly where to operate in the brain.

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