Brain Surgery

Learning you may need brain surgery causes a range of emotions that make it hard to focus on the details and make decisions. As you navigate this journey, you can depend on the respected team at Coast Neurosurgical Associates. They’re all board-certified neurosurgeons with extensive experience and surgical skill. They also understand your stress, treat you with compassion, talk with you about your options, and provide ongoing support before, during, and after your surgery. If you have questions or need to consult a brain surgery expert, call the office in Long Beach, California, or request an appointment online today.

When would I need brain surgery?

Coast Neurosurgical Associates performs emergency brain surgery for life-threatening conditions such as a brain hemorrhage (hemorrhagic stroke), hematoma (collection of clotted blood), or a large brain aneurysm.

You may need surgery for many other brain conditions, but if it’s not an emergency, the team provides every appropriate nonsurgical treatment before recommending brain surgery.

What conditions may require brain surgery?

Coast Neurosurgical Associates surgeons have years of experience performing brain surgery for conditions such as:

• Epilepsy
• Hydrocephalus
• Brain aneurysms
• Arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
• Hemorrhagic stroke (brain hemorrhage)
• Brain trauma (traumatic brain injuries)
• Subdural hematomas
• Chiari malformations
• Cranial nerve disorders
• Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders
• Meningiomas and other brain tumors
• Pituitary gland tumors
• Trigeminal neuralgia

The team treats these conditions (and others that aren’t on this list) with several types of brain surgery.

How is brain surgery performed?

Coast Neurosurgical Associates specializes in minimally invasive brain surgery. Minimally invasive procedures are known by various names, including microsurgery, keyhole surgery, and endoscopic brain surgery.

Microsurgery refers to all minimally invasive techniques. The team performs precise surgery through a very small opening in your skull (keyhole opening) or, in some cases, by accessing the brain through the back of your nose.

Minimally invasive techniques are safe and effective thanks to technological advances. For example, high-powered operating microscopes and endoscopes provide magnified views of the brain. The microscope stays outside your brain, while your neurosurgeon guides a slim endoscope through your nose.

Coast Neurosurgical Associates surgeons perform surgery with exceptional accuracy using computer-assisted neuro-navigation. Neuro-navigation guides your procedure by producing real-time imaging of the brain during surgery.

They also use Fluorescein, a dye that reveals the location of tumors, giving them the ability to perform pinpoint surgery while preventing damage to healthy tissues.

What brain surgery techniques do neurosurgeons use?

You may need one of several surgical techniques, depending on the brain condition being treated and its size and location in your brain. A few examples include:

• Resection (cutting out a tumor or a small area causing seizures)
• Radiosurgery (radiation beams destroy tumors or arteriovenous malformations)
• Shunting, clipping, and inserting coils (to treat a brain aneurysm)
• Deep brain stimulation (to treat movement disorders)
• Shunt insertion (to treat hydrocephalus or an aneurysm)
• High-intensity ultrasound (to treat tumors, epilepsy, and strokes)

Call Coast Neurosurgical Associates or book an appointment online today to learn more about brain surgery and your treatment options.