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

When a doctor needs to do neurosurgery, they first look at pictures of your brain to see where the problem is. These pictures help the doctor understand how your brain is structured and where important parts are located.

The doctor then carefully plans where to make a cut in your brain. They use special tools to make the cut, and they work very slowly and carefully to avoid hurting any important parts of the brain.

Even though everyone’s brain is different, neurosurgeons have studied the brain and know a lot about how it works. They use this knowledge to make sure they only cut the parts of the brain that need to be fixed and leave the other parts alone.

Sometimes, they might even wake you up during the surgery so they can ask you to do things like move your fingers or speak. This helps them make sure they are not cutting any important parts of the brain.