ENDOVASCULAR NEUROSURGERY

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ENDOVASCULAR NEUROSURGERY

Which diseases can be treated
with this method?

Endovascular Neurosurgery is mainly used to treat Vascular Diseases of the Brain and the Spinal Cord which may cause brain hemorrhage, ischemic brain attack, paraplegia or tetraplegia. These diseases are:

Aneurysms

ArterioVenous Malformations (AVMs)

ArterioVenous Fistulas (AVFs)

Stenoses (narrowings) of Arteries

Artery Thrombosis (Clotting) in Ischemic Stroke (Brain Attack)

Artery Spasm in Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (Brain Hemorrhage)

Spinal arteriovenous malformations

and can present with some of the following symptoms:

Sudden severe headache
Sudden loss of consciousness
Loss or deterioration of vision
Loss of ability to move or feel one side of the face
Loss of ability to move or feel one side of the body
Loss of ability to move or feel the legs
Loss of ability to move or feel the arms and legs

Endovascular Neurosurgery is also a considerable aid in the management of some Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors

. In additon, it is very helpful in the management of some tumors of the face and neck which belong to the fields of ENT Surgery and Maxillofacial Surgery. All of these tumors are very vascular, which means they have many arteries supplying blood to them. These arteries can be embolized (blocked) and reduce the blood supply to the tumor. The result will be that the tumor will shrink and its removal during operation will be easier and safer because of minimal blood loss for the patient.
These tumors include:

Meningiomas

Hemangioblastomas

Paragangliomas (Glomus Tumors)

Neurofibromas (Schwannomas)

Juvenile Nasopharyngeal Angiofibromas (JNAs)

Endovascular Neurosurgery is increasingly applied in a variety of other problems.
These are the following:
Stopping a severe and life threatening bleeding

from the arteries of the nose or from a malignant tumor of the face.
Determining the adequacy of the remaining blood supply to the brain (Baloon Occlusion Test)

in cases where one of the main arteries has to be sacrificed (closed) and actually closing this artery (Permanent Baloon Occlusion)

Determining the function and usefulness (WADA test)

of a small part of the brain before deciding to remove it because it causes very severe epileptic seizures resistant to drug therapy.
Taking blood samples from the exact location in the brain where some hormones are produced to determine the cause of some endocrinologic diseases

like Cushing's syndrome

and Acromegaly

Delivering Chemotherapy

drugs directly into the vessels which feed some malignant tumors.

Stopping Hemorrhage

Baloon Occlusion Test (BOT)

Permanent Baloon Occlusion (PBO)

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Page maintained by: Vasilis Katsaridis, MD