Chicago, Illinois is home to 120 practicing neurosurgeons who have offices in 4 counties and 25 zip codes, including zip codes 60612, 60611, 60640, 60614, 60637, 60657, 60608, 60610, 60622, 60631, 60675, 60688, 60805, 60690, 60689, 60686, 60674, 60661, 60647, 60634, 60623, 60616, 60602, 60601, and 60515.

According to 2005 Census estimates, Chicago has a population of 2,842,518, which gives it a specialist to resident ratio of 1 neurosurgeon for every 23,687 residents.

Most people think that Chicago, because of its size and popularity, is Illinois’ capital city, but that distinction belongs to Springfield, home of the Abraham Lincoln Museum. Illinois has hundreds of museums, numerous yearly art and ethnic festivals, a lakeshore bordering Lake Michigan, and the many national forests and parks that offers visitors camping, horseback riding, biking, kayaking, and fishing. Chicago is home to the Sears Tower, the Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Adler Planetarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, and other cultural opportunities and restaurants in the Navy Pier area.

According to 2005 Census estimates, Illinois has a population of 12,763,371. Of this population, 3,172,677 are under the age of 18 and 1,523,937 are at or above the age of 65.

Description

Neurosurgery is surgery of the nervous system. A neurological surgeon, or neurosurgeon, is a specialist who is trained in surgery of the nervous system, and can perform surgery on the brain, spinal cord, or other parts of the nervous system. This specialist is sometimes called a brain surgeon. The neurosurgeon also works with patients to diagnose, evaluate, and treat diseases or disorders of the nervous system, and aids in critical care of patients before, during and after surgery.

Diseases / Illnesses Treated

Physicians in this specialty treat patients suffering from numerous diseases and illnesses, but some of the most common are spondylolisthesis, spinal stenosis, spinal injury, herniated disc, brain tumors, stroke, spinal cord tumors, scoliosis, epilepsy, spinal infection, spinal discectomy, spinal deformity, brain tumor, coma, seizure, alzheimer's disease, cerebral palsy, meningitis, multiple sclerosis, and parkinson's disease.

Procedures Performed

Once properly diagnosed, practitioners can perform numerous procedures on patients including disc disease / surgery, back / spine surgery , invasive disc surgery, kyphosis surgery, laminectomy, deep brain stimulation, endoscopic surgery, craniotomy, stereotactic radiosurgery, microsurgery, endoscopic management, cordotomy, transphenoidal surgery, and radiation implants.

Tests Performed

To diagnose patients with possible illnesses and diseases, specialists will often perform one of many tests including  mri scan of the brain, mri scan of the spine, cat scan of the brain, ct scan of the brain, magnetic resonance imaging (mri), computed axial tomography (ct or cat scan), myelogram, spinal tap, lumbar puncture (lp), electromyography (emg), cerebral angiogram, electroencephalography, electronystagmography (eng), nerve conduction velocity (ncv), spinal puncture, positron emission tomography (pet scan), myelography, ocular pressures, evoked potentials studies, and myogram.