Brain & spine treatment and surgery
The power of conservative care
Conservative care takes a nonsurgical approach to addressing your spine, neck or back condition. This is the first step toward managing pain and determining if the condition can be treated without surgery. If conservative care doesn’t provide relief over time, a surgical approach may be recommended.
Start with the right level of care
We can help you find the right place to start or continue your care. This will help you reduce unnecessary doctor visits and get you on the road to recovery sooner. Depending on your condition, you may need one of the following:
Your primary care physician or our team of clinical nurse specialists and navigators can help you determine whether you should see a provider who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation (also known as physiatry). A variety of pain reduction treatments are available depending on your condition. From herniated disc pain to failed back syndrome, our patients receive the most innovative treatments to manage their pain.
Our comprehensive team of board-certified pain management physicians, certified pain management nurses, and advanced practice nurses certified in pain management work closely together to provide the most complete care available. Our physicians can customize treatment plans to include medications, physical therapy and anti-inflammatory injections.
Our team of nurse navigators will help you determine the right provider for your condition. With same day or next day appointments our Advance Practice Clinician will see you and partner with our Primary Care Physician, and our team of pain management physicians, neurologists, physical therapists, and neurosurgeons help get you on the path to feeling better.
One of our board-certified neurosurgeons will work closely with a multidisciplinary team to develop your personalized surgical plan. Our surgical options include the most advanced and minimally invasive procedures available.
Pioneering technology
Our Spine Care Center is home to some of the most advanced technology in the Chicago area and the country, giving you access to diagnostic and treatment options that are faster, safer and less invasive.
Diagnosis: safer imaging with faster results
EOS Imaging System: This leading-edge diagnostics technology delivers extremely detailed, 3-D patient spine photos to our specialists. Benefits include:
- Fast results: Our experts have immediate access to EOS images after a scan, allowing them to make quick decisions regarding your care.
- Ultra-low radiation dose: EOS uses a significantly lower radiation level than a general radiography X-ray, which is especially beneficial for children who need frequent scans, such as those with spinal deformities like scoliosis.
- Comfortable process: EOS scans patients in a standing position, an experience that is more relaxed than those with traditional diagnostic imaging tools.
Leader in Mazor X robotic technology
Advocate is proud to be one of the first health care systems in the United States to implement Mazor X robotic technologies into their practices. Mazor X serves as a guidance system which helps surgeons plan as well as operate on complicated spinal surgeries. While keeping the surgeon fully in control, this technology improves predictability, precision and efficiency.
Treatment: precise minimally invasive surgery
Full range of treatment options: Our trusted neurosurgeons are experts at performing the most advanced procedures, and they will work together to develop your personalized treatment plan. Treatment options include:
- Revision surgery
- Minimally invasive surgery
- Spinal stereotactic radiosurgery
- Robotic assisted spine surgery
- Spinal fusion
- Surgical navigation
- Reconstructive spine surgery
- Spinal radiation
Spine surgery experience & expertise
If your spine or back issues persist after the initial treatment and rehabilitation efforts, your condition may require surgical intervention. Our expert neurosurgeons work closely with your team of multidisciplinary specialists to devise a personalized care plan for your situation.
Most in Illinois: Our board-certified and fellowship-trained surgeons have extensive experience treating the most extreme cases. We perform more complex spine surgeries and instrumented spine procedures each year than any other hospital or health system in Illinois.
Proven excellence: Many of our sites have earned Blue Distinction Center for Spine Surgery recognition from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. If a complex procedure is needed, patients will have peace of mind knowing our surgeons have the experience and skill to handle even the most challenging cases.
When treating spinal conditions, our skilled neurosurgeons treat the entire spine, often with minimally invasive procedures. Advantages include:
- Less anesthesia
- Less blood loss
- Fewer complications
- Less need for pain medications
- Faster recovery
Outpatient discectomy: An outpatient microdiscectomy is a minimally invasive procedure that allows patients to return home the same day and get back to normal activities with over 90-percent success rate.
We offer a full range of advanced and minimally invasive surgical options for spine, back and neck conditions:
- Discectomy
- Laminectomy (decompression surgery)
- Laminoplasty
- Vertebroplasty
- Kyphoplasty
- Corpectomy
- Spinal fusion
- Spinal reconstruction
- Revision of previous failed spinal surgery
- Artificial disc replacement
- Minimally invasive options
- Laser surgery
- Robotic surgery
- Scoliosis surgery
- Spinal trauma and spinal cord injury surgery
- Spinal tumor surgery
- Spinal cord stimulator for pain
- Intra-operative computerized image-guided navigation and imaging
- Stereotactic radiosurgery (TrueBeam)
At Advocate, our neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons have embraced a unique collaboration to address back conditions that require surgery. This results in better patient outcomes and more robust treatment plans for our patients. Using both minimally invasive techniques and traditional procedures, our specialists have the experience to treat virtually any spinal condition.
Meet our neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons.
Multidisciplinary team
From pain management to complex spine surgery, our multidisciplinary team starts with a minimally invasive approach to deliver outstanding results with better recovery times. We seamlessly integrate all of the services you might need, including:
- Neuroradiology
- Interventional radiology
- Pain management (medications and injections)
- Neurology
- EMG testing
- Neurosurgery
- Oncology
- Psychiatric care
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Rehabilitation
- Outcome analysis
Our spine specialists include:
Nonsurgical:
- Pain management specialists
- Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Surgical:
- Neurosurgeons
Is your back and neck pain cause for concern?
Back and neck pain can interrupt even the simplest things in life and can point to a serious problem. Our back and neck pain quiz evaluates your spine function, pain symptoms and risk factors and gives you an idea of what to do next based on your results.
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