Craniotomy

A craniotomy is a surgical operation in which a bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain. Craniotomies are often critical operations, performed on patients who are suffering from brain lesions or traumatic brain injury (TBI), and can also allow doctors to surgically implant deep brain stimulators for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and cerebellar tremor. A craniotomy is a surgical operation in which a bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain. Craniotomies are often critical operations, performed on patients who are suffering from brain lesions or traumatic brain injury (TBI), and can also allow doctors to surgically implant deep brain stimulators for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and cerebellar tremor. The procedure is also widely used in neuroscience for extracellular recording, brain imaging, and for neurological manipulations such as electrical stimulation and chemical titration. The procedures are used for accessing brain tissue that must be removed, as well. Craniotomy is distinguished from craniectomy (in which the skull flap is not immediately replaced, allowing the brain to swell, thus reducing intracranial pressure) and from trepanation, the creation of a burr hole through the cranium in to the dura mater. Human craniotomy is usually performed under general anesthesia but can be also done with the patient awake using a local anaesthetic; the procedure, typically, does not involve significant discomfort for the patient. In general, a craniotomy will be preceded by an MRI scan which provides an image of the brain that the surgeon uses to plan the precise location for bone removal and the appropriate angle of access to the relevant brain areas. The amount of skull that needs to be removed depends on the type of surgery being performed. The bone flap is mostly removed with the help of a cranial drill and a craniotome, then replaced using titanium plates and screws or another form of fixation (wire, suture, etc.) after completion of the surgical procedure. In the event the host bone does not accept its replacement an artificial piece of skull, often made of PEEK, is substituted. (The PEEK appliance is routinely modeled by a CNC machine capable of accepting a high resolution MRI computer file in order to provide a very close fit, in an effort to minimize fitment issues, and therefore minimizing the duration of the cranial surgery.) Bacterial meningitis or viral meningitis occurs in about 0.8 to 1.5% of individuals undergoing craniotomy. Postcraniotomy pain is frequent and moderate to severe in nature. This pain has been controlled through the use of scalp infiltrations, nerve scalp blocks, parecoxib, and morphine, morphine being the most effective in providing analgesia. According to the Journal of Neurosurgery, Infections in patients undergoing craniotomy: risk factors associated with post-craniotomy meningitis, their clinical studies indicated that 'the risk for meningitis was independently associated with perioperative steroid use and ventricular drainage'.