The Neurosurgery Program at SIU delivers state of the art neurosurgical care in Springfield, Illinois. The Division consists of board certified neurosurgeons with expertise in all areas of neurosurgery: cranial, spinal, and peripheral nerves.

Neurological surgery constitutes a medical discipline and surgical specialty that provides care for adult and pediatric patients in the treatment of pain or pathological processes that may modify the function or activity of the central nervous system (e.g. brain, hypophysis, and spinal cord), the peripheral nervous system (e.g. cranial, spinal, and peripheral nerves), the autonomic nervous system, the supporting structures of these systems (e.g. meninges, skull & skull base, and vertebral column), and their vascular supply (e.g. intracranial, extracranial, and spinal vasculature).

Treatment encompasses both non-operative management (e.g. prevention, diagnosis – including image interpretation – and treatments such as, but not limited to, neurocritical intensive care and rehabilitation) and operative management with its associated image use and interpretation (e.g.endovascular surgery, functional and restorative surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, and spinal fusion – including its instrumentation.

In conjunction with both St. John’s Hospital and Memorial Medical Centers, state of the art computer image guidance devices and intra-operative imaging systems are available.  The entire spectrum of neurosurgical procedures is performed here in Springfield.  This includes brain surgery for tumors and movement disorders.

These systems allow for more accurate and less invasive procedures for neurosurgical diseases of the brain (including tumors, Parkinson’s disease, hydrocephalus, epilepsy and others) and spine (including herniated discs, spinal stenosis, compression fractures, congenital disorders and others). These systems also are used in minimally invasive spinal surgery (MISS) for degenerative and congenital disorders (such as Chiari Malformations) as well as for traumatic injuries.

The neurosurgical clinic is located in a patient friendly environment where patient education is emphasized so that patients understand their options for conservative (non-surgical) treatment versus their surgical options.