Functional Neurosurgery

Functional neurosurgery procedures are designed to reduce or eliminate spasticity, tremors or chronic pain, thereby improving the patient's ability to function and regain a more independent lifestyle.

To treat these patients, Allegheny General neurosurgeons use the latest surgical and medical techniques, including:

Deep brain stimulation - The hospital's neurosurgeons were the first in the region to use the deep brain stimulator to treat patients with essential tremor and tremor resulting from some forms of Parkinson's disease. This therapy involves the placement of electrodes deep within the brain. The electrodes are then connected to an implantable device that can generate various amounts of electrical current to the exact areas of the brain responsible for the tremors. Using a hand-held magnet, the patient can turn on the device, which is implanted in his upper chest, and the electrical current blocks the signals in the brain that cause the tremor.

Pailidotomy - To treat akinetic rigidity (which is often seen in patients with Parkinson's disease or who have experienced a stroke), surgeons place a lesion, a controlled destruction of the brain tissue, in the globus pallidus region of the brain.

Thalamotomy - This procedure involves the placement of a lesion in the thalamus for relief of hypertonic tremors that affect patients with Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, essential tremor or post-traumatic tremor.

Implantable drug infusion Implantable pumps that deliver medication directly into the spinal column are used to administer morphine for pain control or baclofen, an antispasmodic medication that replaces a chemical that normally allows muscle relaxation.

Spinal cord stimulators - Surgeons can relieve some types of chronic pain by electrically stimulating the spinal cord through the use of an implanted pulse generator.

A program initiated in 2001 is exploring the frontiers of treating functionally debilitating, intractable angina from otherwise surgically or medically incorrectable ischemic heart disease using an implantable spinal cord stimulator. Recently, AGH performed the first such implantation in Pennsylvania - and one of the first in the country.

	At Allegheny General, specialists in neurosurgery, neurology, anesthesiology, pain management and physical medicine have joined to bring the latest medical advances to people who are debilitated by spasticity and movement disorders. The Spasticity and Movement Disorder Center is designed to provide thorough, coordinated care to patients with increased muscle tone and abnormal body move-ments resulting from Parkinson's disease, tremors, spasticity, stroke, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, dystonia, cerebral palsy and other medical causes. Medical treatments available through the center include standard and recently approved medications. Additional experimental and investigational medications are also available for patients who do not respond to conventional medical therapies. And, new surgical treatments are being used when patients cannot be adequately helped by medication alone. To provide educational and emotional support to patients with Parkinson's disease and their families, Allegheny General hosts the American Parkinson Disease Information and Referral Center. One of 50 such centers nationwide funded by the American Parkinson Disease Association, Inc., the center is a convenient and comprehensive source of information about local support groups, educational materials and area physicians who treat Parkinson's disease.

Last Updated: December 03, 2007