Neurosurgery is one of the newest surgical specialties. Many of the great surgeons in the 19th and even 20th century felt that brain operations for tumors were not possible. Considering a brain surgery mortality rate of 50 -70%, this is not surprising. Thanks to advances, including the introduction of medications to reduce the severity of…
Brain Tumor Advances
The treatment of brain tumors has dramatically changed over the past few decades. Although many benign tumors can be treated with surgery alone, it is all too frequent that we encounter malignant tumors that cannot be cured with surgery alone. This is one of the greatest challenges in all of medicine. Diagnosing: The initial goal…
Head Games
Fumble: Have we dropped the ball on concussion? By Gary Dix M.D., MBA, Neurosurgeon Have you seen ‘Concussion’ starring Will Smith? Released late last year, this movie details the NFL’s attempts to invalidate Dr. Bennet Omalu’s findings on concussion and its link to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE, a progressive degenerative disease associated with repeated…