Understanding Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery

Through minimally invasive neurosurgery, your neurosurgeon can treat your condition with smaller incisions than traditional open brain or spine surgery.

This type of surgery:

• Has less of an impact on your soft tissue and muscles, which may allow them to heal faster.
• May cause less pain and scarring.
• Can lead to a shorter hospital stay and faster recovery.
• Can cause less damage to the tissue around your brain or spine.

Minimally invasive neurosurgery may help treat brain and spine issues, including:

• Brain and spine tumors
• Spinal conditions
• Movement disorders
• Epilepsy
• Stroke/cerebrovascular disease

Your neurosurgeon can talk to you about whether you could benefit from minimally invasive neurosurgery.

In traditional open neurosurgery, neurosurgeons need to make large incisions. In some cases, neurosurgeons need to do an open surgery to provide you the best outcome. In other cases, your neurosurgeon can offer a minimally invasive approach.

With minimally invasive neurosurgery, neurosurgeons make a few small openings rather than one large one. They use special equipment to guide the surgery, such as cameras, microscopes, exoscopes and endoscopes. They can also enter the body through the nose or eye socket to minimize scarring.

At Northwestern Medicine, we use minimally invasive surgery when we expect it will give you results that are similar to — or better than — conventional open surgery. No matter which type of surgery your care team recommends, we will tailor your treatment plan to deliver the best possible outcome.