The Neurosurgery team at the Ayer Neuroscience Institute offers expert, compassionate care for the full scope of neurological conditions, using state-of-the-art technology and advanced procedures to give patients the best possible outcomes.
Ours is a collaborative approach to care, and we cultivate strong relationships with our patients, their families, referring providers, and colleagues as we work together to help the patient from diagnosis to treatment and transition to home and rehab.
These are some of the conditions we treat specifically with surgery at Ayer:
- Brain aneurysm. Weakness in the wall of an artery in the brain can cause it to burst, leading to bleeding in and around the brain.
- Brain tumors.
- Brain and spinal arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Abnormal formations of blood vessels can cause the blood to flow directly into your veins without passing through the capillaries. In the brain and spine, this can cause bleeds in the brain, seizures, stroke and headaches.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Pressure on the median nerve in the wrist from swelling, typically after repeating the same hand movement over and over, causes numbness, tingling, weakness and other problems in the hand. This can also be caused by pregnancy, hypothyroidism or rheumatoid arthritis.
- Chiari malformation. In this condition, brain tissue bulges through an opening in the skull into the spinal canal, putting pressure on parts of the brain and spinal cord.
- Hydrocephalus. Also called “water on the brain,” this is when fluid builds up in the ventricles deep within the brain where cerebrospinal fluid normally flows to bathe the brain and spinal column. This excess fluid puts pressure on the brain and can cause brain damage.
- Moyamoya. A progressive blockage of the carotid arteries, primarily in children, this disease is characterized by formation of collateral arteries from the base of the skull which can cause an increase in cell or tissue growth. It can lead to stroke, seizures, headaches or other neurological symptoms.
- Peripheral nerve tumors. These tumors – which affect the nerves controlling how you feel pain and temperature, sense of touch and muscle strength – might compress the nerve directly or grow inside the nerve. This can make the nervous system misidentify the nerve as foreign and attack it.
- Pituitary and skull base tumors. Also called a pituitary neoplasm, this growth of abnormal cells forms in the tissue of the pituitary gland, a pea-sized organ in the center of the brain that makes and controls hormones.
- Speech and language disorders that result from particular conditions.
- Spine tumors. These are growths of abnormal cells forming in the spine or spinal canal. They can be cancerous and can cause such symptoms as back pain, loss of pain or temperature sensitivity and difficulty walking.