Brain Surgery/Minimally Invasive Brain Surgery

Facing brain surgery can feel scary, but you’re not alone.

Our expert neurosurgery team ensures that you understand and are comfortable with every step of your journey.

Our approach to brain surgery

The prospect of brain surgery can feel understandably overwhelming. Our neurosurgical team takes a deliberate, patient-centered approach to your care. We make sure to carefully explain your brain imaging results and give thoughtful, expertly-informed recommendations about your next steps.

We take a multidisciplinary team approach, working with our colleagues in neuro oncology, radiation, medical oncology and pathology. This ensures that you get the best care from specialized, fellowship-trained doctors. Our tumor board meets regularly to reach a consensus about an optimal treatment strategy for you and our other patients.

We offer several types of brain surgery:

Open brain surgery

A craniotomy involves temporarily removing a section of the skull. This allows your surgeon to remove a brain tumor or repair other conditions like aneurysm, blood clot or swelling. We may also perform a craniotomy to get a sample of brain tissue for a biopsy.

Minimally invasive brain surgery

We can destroy many brain tumors now without open surgery. We first determine the best approach by mapping your tumor’s specific location using MRI or CT scans. 

A nostril (endonasal endoscopic) surgery involves threading a thin tube (an endoscope) through your nose to operate. This approach allows your surgeon to access areas we can’t reach with traditional open surgery.

Laser ablation

In medicine, to ablate means to destroy a small area of diseased tissue using extreme heat or cold. Technological advances now allow our neurosurgeons to reach deep lesions in the brain through a pinhole-sized opening in the skull. A laser device directs heat at the tumor, destroying it without damaging surrounding tissue.

During the procedure, your surgeon connects the laser to the MRI scanner, allowing a live, precise view of the tumor. This allows us to monitor the effect of the ablation and direct heat only to the targeted area.

How to work with us

There are diverse pathways to work with one of our neurosurgical teams in the UCI Health Neurosurgery Program. Like many people, you may not know if you have a brain tumor. If you come to the emergency room with a seizure or debilitating headache, you could be referred to us.

Or you may go to your primary care physicians with symptoms.

If your doctor or neurologist takes a brain scan that reveals a tumor, they may send you to us. We also receive referrals from beyond Orange County, including Inland Empire, San Diego, Los Angeles and other states. 

To treat brain tumors successfully, speed and skill are equally important. We’ll get you in for an appointment quickly, then expedite the process further to make sure you’re treated in a timely way. 

What is the most common brain surgery?

One of the most common brain surgeries is a craniotomy. It can either be planned in advance or performed as an emergency procedure.

Who is a candidate for minimally invasive approaches?

You could be a candidate for minimally invasive approaches if your tumor or brain condition is in an accessible area. That includes the skull base, areas near your optic nerves or in your frontal or temporal lobes.

The type of tumor you have can also be a deciding factor. If you have one of these tumor types, we can remove it with the endonasal endoscopic technique:

• Chordomas
• Craniopharyngiomas
• Midline meningiomas
• Olfactory neuroblastomas
• Pituitary adenomas
• Sinus carcinomas

Large, difficult tumors may still require conventional open surgery. Minimally invasive approaches require specialized instrumentation and much surgical planning. They are not appropriate for all brain tumors or lesions.

How long is a hospital stay after brain surgery?

After open or traditional surgery, you can expect to stay in the hospital for about ten days. If you have endoscopic surgery, your hospital stay might be one to two days. 

How long is the recovery after brain surgery?

Recovery after brain surgery can be a few weeks after a minimally invasive technique. For a craniotomy it might be from eight to 12 weeks.

Benefits of brain surgery

In many cases, brain surgery will save your life. Sometimes the results of brain surgery prolong and improve your quality of life. 

Neurosurgeons remove brain tumors. They also repair or improve many other neurological conditions including epilepsy, aneurysm, stroke, swelling, fluid buildup and infections. 

In addition, minimally invasive techniques reduce complications, minimize infection, promote more rapid healing and a less painful recovery.

What to expect

To prepare for brain surgery, you can expect to have an in-depth consultation with your neurosurgeon. You’ll discuss your medical history, your concerns and get your questions answered about risks and recovery time. 

You may have pre-operative tests like additional MRI or CT scans, blood tests and a neurological exam. Your surgeon may direct you to stop taking certain medications and give you instructions to prepare for surgery.

What happens after my brain surgery?

After your brain surgery, you’ll recover in the ICU where we will monitor your progress. Our providers will help manage any post-operative pain or discomfort with medication. You will eventually need to come in for follow up imaging scans.

If needed, we may refer you for physical, occupational or speech therapies to speed your recovery. Each case is unique—after surgery you may also need radiation, chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

Why choose UCI Health for brain surgery?

One of our great strengths is skull base surgery, an immensely complex specialty because of your brain’s anatomy

The floor of your brain rests in the base of your skull. That’s home to your cranial nerves, your brain stem, and a bundle of vasculature all densely packed into a tight space. Removing a pituitary tumor, for example, is a tailored, precise process. 

Our experts use minimally invasive surgical techniques to navigate these delicate structures with pinpoint accuracy. This specialty also highlights the success of our multidisciplinary approach. Besides our neurosurgeons’ expert skill set, skull base procedures can require ENT doctors, plastic surgeons, and potentially, endocrinologists.

We have a world-renowned neurovascular team

They have a depth of experience performing endovascular treatments, embolization, repairing aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and cavernous malformations.

We care for you as a whole patient after your surgery is done

Another benefit of our multidisciplinary team approach is that we can plug you into additional streams of care. After surgery, you may need a combination of radiation, chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy. We assemble the right team to move you forward in your healing journey. 

As the only academic medical center in Orange County, our clinical trials are a standout

At any given time, we conduct over a hundred clinical trials just in neurology alone. We do groundbreaking research in brain tumors such as glioblastoma and meningioma, and in movement and memory disorders. If there is an appropriate clinical trial and you qualify, you may get access to treatments that are not yet widely available.

The knowledge, skill set and experience of our neurosurgical teams is superb

Our doctors are specialists, often with additional fellowship training. Many of our physicians have not only a very high volume of clinical experience, but they are also researchers and medical school faculty. These dedicated, compassionate experts place you at the center of their practice.