Neurosurgery

As a career:

• Surgical specialty that involves the surgical management and rehabilitation of any disorder affecting the brain, spinal cord, and any involved nerves and vasculature.
• Education includes an undergraduated degree, four years of graduate school at medical school to obtain and M.D. or D.O. degree, a specialty residency program usually lasting seven years, sometimes followed by a three year fellowship
• Pay is at the top of all physicians and surgeons with an annual income of about $660,664

Common conditions treated:

• malformations, disc herniation, spinal stenosis, any head trauma including skull fractures, infections, tumors, aneurysms, stroke, epilepsy, cancer, congenital malformations, psychiatric disorders, movement disorders, carpal tunnel, carotid artery stenosis

Risks involved:

• Paralysis, brain damage, infection, psychosis, death
• Generally, before any surgery is performed, tests are conducted via CAT, MRI, PET imaging systems

Here is a CAT scan of a brain tumor, which is apparent in the upper right region of the image:

The Hippocampus

The hippocampus is located in the temporal lobe and is part of the limbic system. One of its major roles includes intercepting olfactory stimuli, and therefore playing a part in smell related memories. Memory is predominantly linked to the hippocampus, so this part of the brain is fully functioning when learning is taking place. There is also a theory that the hippocampus plays a role in spatial organization and navigation. Since this area of the brain is heavily linked with memory, it has been found that as diseases like Alzheimer’s progresses, the hippocampus deteriorates. The hippocampus can also be damaged by insufficient oxygen and epilepsy. Severe damage of this region commonly results in amnesia. The most common symptoms of hippocampal damage are hyperactivity and memory loss.

The Spinal Cord

In the image above, you can see the entire spinal cord of the human body leading up to the base of the brain at the brainstem. Through the nerves in the spinal cord, the brain receives all of its nutrition and sensory information from the central nervous system.

One of the most important parts of the spinal cord and brainstem is the reticular formation. The reticular formation is a group of neural networks that functions in maintaining sleeping cycles, cardiovascular activity, pain, certain motor control, and habituation. Damage to the spinal cord will usually result in paralysis.

Congenital Brain Defects

Congenital disorders involve the developing fetus. The human brain starts developing shortly after conception. Growth, formation, and migrating nerve cells and neurons all contribute to the development of the brain and the surrounding regions. Any interruption of this rapid process can lead to brain malformation. The causes of these interruptions can be inherited genetics, spontaneous mutations, and teratogens (any outside substance that is harmful to a developing fetus).

Here is a video about an infant with congenital defects. Preventing these disorders mainly include good maternal nutrition and absention of drugs and alcohol.

Brain Diseases: A Cerebral Hemorrhage

A hemorrhage, also called a stroke, is when the brain tissue itself bleeds out. It accounts for 20% of all brain diseases and is two times as prevalent in black patients. A hemorrhage is a serious medical condition as it gradually increases pressure inside the cranium:


In this picture, the arrow is pointing to the area of the cerebral hemorrhage. The brain tissue starts to bleed due to either head trauma or spontaneously from high blood pressure. If the condition is left untreated, it can lead to a coma or death. To learn more about the causes, symptoms, and treatments, read about what WebMD says about brain hemorrhages.

Brain Aneurysm

A brain aneurysm happens when the walls of the arteries in the base of the brain become weak and expand and rupture:



In the image above, you can see the artery that the condition is affecting. Medical attention is needed for all three types of the condition, but statistics show that more than half of people who have a ruptured aneurism will die before they even reach the hospital.

The causes of the condition are usually high blood pressure or head trauma. Here is a story of a man who survived a deadly brain aneurism.

Hey! I'm Talking To You!

Believe it or not, your brain controls the words that come out of your mouth and it processes everything that you hear. Here are the two areas of the brain that are related to language and speech perception:



Broca's area - Linked to speech production; maintains language output. Damage can lead to Broca's Aphasia.

Wernicke's area - Involved in the understanding of written and spoken language. Damage can lead to Wernicke's Aphasia.

Addictions

Have you ever wondered what a drug addiction does to your brain? There is much more to it than seen with the naked eye. An addiction is characterized the body's suspended manufacturing of a hormone or neurotransmitter that is being flooded in to the brain by a outside source. For example, dopamine is a produced naturally in the human brain, and when drugs with excess dopamine are being consumed regularly, the body will stop producing its natural supply of it. When the natural supply is stopped along with quitting the drug, the brain is left without any dopamine.

Click here to read about what utexas.edu further explains on dopamine addictions.

What Is Alzheimer's?

Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia. The disease is characterized by the gradual loss of cognitive skills and some functional impairment. It is diagnosed mostly in older adults of ages 65 and up, and can lead to a condition where a patient would be completely dependent on a caregiver. Alzheimer's is mainly caused by reduced amounts of neurotransmitters in the brain, which will cause memory loss. Below is a comparison of two brains:

The image on the left portrays a healthy brain, fully developed with no disorders or diseases. In the image on the right, you can see that the lobes of the cerebral cortex have shrunken, and the once small ventricles between the lobes have become much larger. This depicts the brain of a human with Alzheimer's disease.

There is no cure, and treatment medications for the condition are usually unsuccessful. The condition can worsen as a person grows older. You can find out more about this disease here.

I See You!

When you look at something, do you ever think that your brain processes everything that is happening infront of your eyes... in the back of your head? That's right, the occipital lobe, located in the back of your head, regulates vision. When your eyes are at work, sensory information travels through your eyeball, to the optic nerve at the rear of the eye, through the brain to the occipital lobe where the information is processed.

Here is a great video to show you exactly how vision works.

Your Head In Layers

Without the brain, the human body would not function. Here are the layers of your head that protect your main control center:





Periosteum: thick and fibrous membrane that covers the surface area of all bones with the exception of their extremities; contains fat cells and elastic fibers and is filled with nerves and blood vessels
Skull: serves as the brain’s primary form of protection
Dura mater: outermost, toughest membrane of the brain that also covers the spinal cord; responsible for containing the cerebrospinal fluid
Arachnoid mater: middle, delicate membrane; surrounds the brain and spinal cord but does not line the brain down to its folds
Pia mater: thin and delicate most inner layers; covers the entire brain; supplies blood to the cortex
Grey matter (cerebral cortex): consists of cell bodies, glial cells, and capillaries; functions to send sensory or motor stimuli to the central nervous system to cause the appropriate response

Here's To Concussions

I'm sure we have all had times, maybe recently or in your younger days, where we fell and hit our heads off of something pretty hard. Concussions are more than just a bump on the head. Here are some facts about a concussed head:


When the head strikes a hard object, the brain is pressured on the side of impact as you can see the red shaded region of the brain in the image above.

General info
· Also known as mid traumatic brain injury
· Function may be interrupted but no structural damage occurs
· Occurs when there is great enough acceleration to cause the brain to bounce against the skull (often sports related from blows or shaking)
· can be accompanied with loss of consciousness
Types:
· Simple: normal function is regained after about a week
· Complex: symptoms persist and function is affected for a longer term
Symptoms:
· Dizziness, disorientation, headache, nausea, irritability, slow to respond, poor concentration, slurred speech, loss of consciousness, seizure
Treatment:
· Time and rest

The Hypothalamus And Hormones

The hypothalamus serves the purpose of linking the nervous system and endocrine system via the pituitary gland. When acting on the posterior pituitary, the hypothalamus contains neurons that control the release of vasopressin (an antidiuretic hormone). Through the anterior pituitary, the hypothalamus has control over secretion of TSH and ACTH (protective hormones), stomach reflexes, blood pressure, maternal feeding, immunity, and temperature. The hypothalamus is most responsive to day length by sensing light (cicardian rhythms), smells or pheromones, steroids, and stimuli from the heart, stomach, and reproductive system.

Stressed Out?

When one perceives great levels of stress, it can render negative effects in the brain. Your brain is only capable of dealing with stress in periods of 30 seconds or less. During this time it can respond by emitting hormones like adrenaline and increasing heart rate in order to cope with the situation (fight or flight response). If prolonged stress occurs, cognition and memory are impaired. Stress can also lead to poor motor functioning, inability to sleep, and ineffective emotional stability. The major parts of the brain that react to stressors are the hypothalamus and the pituitary. Stress has also been found to cause a decrease in brain cells. Under stress, you release a greater amount of cortisol, which can literally excite a brain cell to death.

Learn more about the effects of stress in this video.

Insomnia

Having trouble sleeping? Do you wake up frequently during the night? You may have insomnia. If you do not already know, insomnia is psychiatric disorder characterized by the difficulty of falling asleep or the inability to stay asleep long enough for your body to cycle through all four stages of sleep. The disorder can range from acute to chronic, and can greatly affect daily life and brain functioning.

When you enter sleep, your body is in a nearly unconscious state, with suspended sensory and motor activity. The main fact about sleep is that it allows your body to rejuvenate both physically and mentally--as long as you have an optimal eight hours or sleep per day.

Here are some symptoms of insomnia:

• Difficulty falling asleep
• Waking up frequently during the night
• Difficulty returning to sleep
• Waking up too early in the morning
• Irritability
• Daytime sleepiness
• Difficulty concentrating

There are several causes for insomnia, with stress being one of the most prevalent. Treatment can be sought through medication or cognitive behavior therapy.

How Does Your Brain Communicate?

Now that you know of the different parts and functions of the human brain, it is time to learn about how these parts communicate with each other to help your body perform and survive. A neurotransmitter is a chemical of the brain which sends and receives signals between the billions of neurons present in the brain:



In the above picture, the small red dots you see are the neurotransmitters. They are traveling through the synaptic gap between the axon (top) of the sending neuron and the dendrite (bottom) of the receiving neuron. This is how your brain communicates. These chemicals carry messages, or charges, to trigger actions and reactions in your brain.