Brain Hemorrhage Surgery - Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Whilst most clinical procedures are carried out satisfactorily by healthcare professionals there are times when things go wrong. Serious damage, with life threatening consequences, can occur as a result of negligent actions, poor skills, or delayed treatment for a brain hemorrhage. Where this occurs due to medical malpractice our brain hemorrhage lawyers can help you to obtain compensation for any damage that you or a loved one may have suffered. Our brain hemorrhage surgery medical malpractice lawyers charge no legal fees unless your claim is settled satisfactorily and you obtain a payment of damages. If you would like advice at no cost from a specialist medical malpractice lawyer without further obligation just contact our offices.
Brain Hemorrhage Surgery
Surgical procedures relating to the brain is a branch of medicine described as 'neurosurgery'. There are several techniques used to repair a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
A traumatic brain injury usually results from the sufferer sustaining a brain hemorrhage (a burst blood vessel leaking into the brain cavity) or brain aneurysm (a weakness in the wall of a blood vessel).
The level of invasiveness a neurosurgeon chooses to use for any given situation depends largely on the degree of urgency in the patient’s condition.
These procedures are listed from the least to the most invasive type of brain surgery :
- Endovascular Coiling
- Endoscopic Craniotomy
- Craniotomy
Endovascular Coiling
Endovascular coiling is the least invasive surgical treatment and is utilized when the medical diagnosis is an unruptured aneurysm. The procedure is medically termed as 'coil embolisation' or 'endovascular coiling'.
It uses real-time X-ray machinery entitled 'fluoroscopic imaging' to navigate through the inside of the patient's arterial system. Although this procedure is carried in an operating theater, it is not considered surgery as the body is not opened.
A thin plastic tube called a 'catheter' is inserted into the artery in the inner leg, fed through the arterial system, through the heart and up into the brain to the exact location of the aneurysm - usually a berry-sized distension in an artery wall. Very small platinum coils are passed through the catheter and introduced into the distension, creating a barrier to the blood flowing past and, at the same time, strengthening the weak artery wall.
Endoscopic Craniotomy
An endoscopic craniotomy is a surgical operation and is viewed as the most minimally invasive type of brain surgery. It is accomplished by inserting a delicate, narrow instrument called an 'endoscope' (a fine tube with a camera and light on the end) through small 'keyholes' made through the skull without removing an entire bone flap.
The neurosurgeon is able to explore the area in real time and closely examine the situation before taking appropriate action to remedy the problem. Small tools are skilfully manipulated through these small holes to perform actions such as repair of broken blood vessels, destroying blood clots and siphoning off excess liquid blood.
Craniotomy
A craniotomy is performed in emergency situations when urgent action needs to be taken. Although it is the most invasive type of brain surgery, it also gives the neurosurgeon the opportunity to work quickly and provides more options than the other less invasive forms of surgery.
A craniotomy entails a neurosurgeon creating a hole in the skull. This can be achieved using the guidance of computer imaging MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and/or CT (computed tomography). The head is often placed in a frame to hold the position perfectly still.
Whether the craniotomy involves computer imaging or not, the procedure remains the same:
- The scalp above the hemorrhage or aneurysm is cut in a flap and secured away from the now exposed skull. The neurosurgeon makes a hole in the skull (named a bone flap) and carries out one of several potentially life-saving procedures :
- Relieving pressure on the brain.
- Removing excess liquid and/or congealed blood from the brain.
- Performing surgical clipping to tie off a blood vessel which is leaking (hemorrhaging) or bulged outwards (aneurysm).
- Unless the operation was performed due to brain swelling or removal of a tumor, the bone flap is replaced and secured with wires and small metal plates screwed into place.
- The scalp is sewn back into place.
The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here