The Division of Neurosurgery at Miami Children's Hospital specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and supporting structures (the skull and spine). This comprehensive care includes congenital or developmental disorders (e.g., hydrocephalus, myelodysplasia, Chiari malformations, spinal stenosis, craniofacial syndromes, and calvarial synostosis), traumatic brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerve problems, inflammatory (e.g., brain abscess), vascular (e.g., arteriovenous malformation, aneurysms) and neoplastic processes. Highlighted by the division is the interest and expertise in dealing with pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors, complex hydrocephalus, endoscopic neurosurgery and craniosynostosis, surgical treatment of epilepsy, the surgical treatment of spasticity (selective dorsal rhizotomy/baclofen pumps) and stereotactic surgery. Miami Children's Hospital has, perhaps, the largest experience in surgically treating young children with intractable Epilepsy. These treatments include focal cortical resections and hemispherectomy. These operations are often aided by extra-operative monitoring with subdural electrodes to accurately define the epileptogenic area as well as allow for functional cortical mapping.

Miami Children's Hospital provides an intraoperative neuro-navigational system that allows the neurosurgeon to integrate preoperative imagery with the operative procedure. There are plans for an intraoperative MRI scanner. These and many other advances, including the development of an MRI Functional Imagery Center allow the neurosurgeons to pinpoint brain function and motor skills, thereby greatly improving surgical outcomes.

The accomplishments of the Division of Neurosurgery are the result of the renowned doctors and treatment teams who guide its activities. Doctors Glenn Morrison and John Ragheb are the only neurosurgeons in South Florida to be certified by the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. They are recently joined by Sanjiv Bhatia and David Sandberg, fellowship trained pediatric neurosurgeons.

The neurosurgery team are among a select group of pediatric neurosurgeons representing several children's hospitals nationwide involved in developing novel treatments for hydrocephalus and traumatic brain injury. A project is also underway to study various interventions for intraventricular hemorrhage in neonates. The Divison of Neurosurgery has led the Miami Children's Hospital Brain Institute in developing a vision of the neurosurgical operating room of the future. The surgical imaging suite will have a mobile high field strength MRI to bring anatomic and functional brain imaging in real time into the operating room.

The expertise and success of our neurosurgery team, which is comprised of Doctors Glenn Morrison, John Ragheb, Sanjiv Bhatia and David Sandberg, and the MCH Brain Institute program both ensure that Miami Children's Hospital will remain at the forefront of pediatric neurological surgery -- not only in South Florida, but also around the world.

For more information or to make an appointment, please contact the Miami Children's Hospital Division of Neurosurgery at (305) 662-8386.