How Functional Neurosurgery Improves Patient Lives

An unusual aspect of functional neurosurgery is that it is a somewhat broad speciality; whilst the types of surgical procedures are remarkably widespread, the focus is on preserving or improving the function of the body.

This sets it apart from oncological neurosurgery, which focuses primarily on cancer treatment, vascular neurosurgery which focuses on aneurysms, and surgery that targets the skull, base of the spine and specific nerves.

Functional neurosurgery is one of the most important, far reaching and rapidly evolving subspecialties, but to understand why, it is important to know what functions the name refers to.

What Exactly Is Functional Neurosurgery?

A functional neurosurgery procedure is one that focuses on modifying how the nervous system functions in order to improve the quality of life for a person undergoing treatment.

This is a particularly broad remit, focused not only on procedures that affect the brain but also those that affect the peripheral nervous system, which affects feeling, motion and automatic regulation of different parts of the body.

It can involve relieving pressure on parts of the brain, severing nerves, removing parts that are causing inadvertent side effects or using medication or stimulation to relieve symptoms or improve other functions.

As it is a broad group of treatments, a multidisciplinary team will closely examine your case using a wide range of tests and imaging equipment in order to develop a treatment plan specific to relieving the particular symptoms you are facing.

Are Stereotactic And Functional Neurosurgery The Same?

Whilst there is a lot of overlap and many treatments that qualify as both stereotactic and functional neurosurgery are sometimes described interchangeably as one or the other, in practice they are quite different, as one focuses on process and the other on goals and outcomes.

Stereotactic neurosurgery is surgery that is undertaken using a stereotactic frame which acts as a type of brain atlas to allow for precise coordination of minimally invasive treatments.

A similar approach is often seen in radiosurgery, which uses a wide number of small beams of radiation which converge upon a central point.

Stereotactic neurosurgery can be a form of functional neurosurgery, such as is the case when treating the pain disorder trigeminal neuralgia using surgery rather than medication.

However, not all stereotactic treatments are functional and vice versa. Many stereotactic treatments focus on treating brain cancer and non-malignant tumours, which may or may not have an effect on overall brain and body function.

Conversely, many functional treatments do not rely on the stereotactic method, something that has increased over the years thanks to the evolution of increasingly advanced and precise surgical technology.

How Can Functional Neurosurgery Improve Quality Of Life?

All neurosurgery is planned with the intention of improving quality of life, but functional neurosurgery focuses primarily on curing neurological disorders, relieving symptoms and assisting the function of the nervous system.

Here are just a few examples.

Epilepsy

Surgery is an option to treat certain types of epilepsy where the cause is an epileptogenic lesion found within the brain, and medication has not helped to reduce seizures significantly enough to improve someone’s quality of life.

According to the Epilepsy Society, 90 per cent of people who undertake epilepsy surgery get some benefit from it, and 70 per cent are seizure-free, many of which remain so for at least a decade following surgery.

Epilepsy can vary significantly in severity but relieving symptoms can be hugely beneficial to quality of life. If you had to stop driving due to an epilepsy diagnosis, you can reapply for your driving license if you have not had any seizures for six months.

Trigeminal Neuralgia

As noted before, it can also be used to treat trigeminal neuralgia, either by carefully severing the nerve that causes facial pain or by using a treatment such as microvascular decompression to protect the nerve from vascular compressions.

Reducing this pain and the anticipation of pain episodes can be hugely beneficial to quality of life and the results of eliminating them have transformed people’s lives.

Movement Disorders and Parkinson’s Disease

As well as this, functional neurosurgery can be used to help alleviate movement disorders such as severe myokymia, Parkinson’s disease and some types of dystonia.

In the case of Parkinson’s disease, the most common treatment is deep brain stimulation, which can considerably reduce symptoms and the need for medication, which can be essential for people who otherwise struggle to tolerate it.

Explore the Queen Square website to learn more about functional neurosurgery and how it can treat chronic pain, epilepsy and facial movement disorders.