How does neurosurgery work? How does the surgeon identify which parts of the brain are okay to cut and which one’s arent’t? Isn’t everyone’s brain structured differently?

Question

With other surgeries I guess it’s possible for the surgeon to identify the different tissues, nerves, and blood vessels through an X-ray or CT scan and plan the surgery accordingly

But with the brain, doesn’t everything look like a big blob of brain tissue? How can the surgeon tell what part of the brain performs what function and what’s safe to cut so that he can access the tumor? How would he avoid a Phineas Gage type outcome?

In: 33

Answer 1

I’ve often wondered this. I have a shunt installed and I am curious about how the NS would insert the catheter. Presumably he had to go through brain matter – or are there “gaps” that can be used? (My shunt is 32 years and I no longer see a specialist to ask him these questions).