Brain & Spine Surgery

URochester Medicine offers the latest and most advanced surgical treatments that aren't available at any other hospital in the Rochester region. Our experts are driven by one goal: helping you get back to the life you love—with better outcomes and a better quality of life.

Types of Brain and Spine Surgeries

• Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) — commonly performed procedure used to treat cervical radiculopathy
  
• Craniectomy — removing a portion of the skull to relieve pressure on the brain.
• Craniotomy — making an opening in the skull to gain access to the brain.
• Deep Brain Stimulation — uses electrical stimulation to treat neurological conditions.
• Discectomy — removing a herniated or degenerative disc in the spine.
• Dorsal Column Stimulation (DCS) — electricity is delivered to the spinal cord through an implanted electrode to help with pain.
• Foraminotomy — enlarging area around compressed nerves in the spine. 
• Kyphoplasty — a balloon is inserted into a fracture in the spine and inflated, the space it creates within the bone is filled with "cement" that then acts as a permanent "cast."
• Laminotomy and laminectomy — removes part of the spinal bone that covers the spinal canal, the lamina.
• Microdiscectomy — uses a special microscope or magnifying instrument to treat a herniated disc through a smaller incision, causing less damage to surrounding tissue.
• Skull Base Surgery — special instruments are inserted through the skull's natural openings (e.g., nose, mouth and above the eyes) to operate rather than accessing the brain through a craniotomy.
• Spinal Decompression — relieves pressure on important structures in the spine.
• Spinal Fusion — procedure that permanently connects two or more vertebrae to stabilize the spine.
• Stereotactic Radiosurgery — a specialized radiation procedure in which the radiation is delivered in one dose.
• Ventriculo-Peritoneal Shunt (VPS) — drains excess fluid from the cavities in the brain, called ventricles.
• Vertebroplasty — involves injecting bone cement into fractured or collapsed vertebra of the spine.

University of Rochester Medicine is a world-class integrated academic health system, which means our experts provide outstanding patient-centered care while conducting breakthrough research. We provide the widest range of orthopaedic, neurosurgery, and neuromedicine care in the Rochester metropolitan area and surrounding region. 

URochester Medicine's Neurology department is a recognized leader in developing superior clinicians and scientists. We hold a national reputation for excellence in residency training in adult and child neurology and numerous subspecialties.

Our Orthopaedic and Physical Performance physicians, nurses and therapists specialize in treating children and adults with every musculoskeletal condition—from everyday sprains and strains to complex restorative surgeries.