Advanced Neurological Care

CommonSpirit Health delivers access to some of the nation’s leading neurologists and neurosurgeons, offering comprehensive care for a broad range of neurological conditions and brain disorders, giving hope to people who experience stroke, brain tumor, ruptured brain aneurysm, and more.

Experience that matters

Barrow Neurological Institute, located at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, features some of the United States’ top minds in neurology, neurosurgery, neurorehabilitation, clinical neuropsychology, and neuroradiology—all backed by specially trained nurses—ensuring that patients receive the best care medical science has to offer through a multidisciplinary, comprehensive approach.

St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona is recognized by the U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s best hospitals for rehabilitative care.

The Neuroscience Institute at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, Texas is home to nationally and internationally renowned neurologists, neurosurgeons, and other specialists. Through their collaboration and translation of scientific discoveries to patient care, researchers bring innovative treatments from lab to bedside faster than ever.

U.S. News & World Report has recognized Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center as one of the nation’s best hospitals for several neurological specialties.

First in CyberKnife®

Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center’s neurological team is a recognized leader in advancing the standard of care and performing many firsts, including the first treatment of intracranial tumors in a clinical setting using CyberKnife®, a pain-free alternative to surgery, in Houston, Texas.

Comprehensive services

Using breakthrough research and a collaborative approach, we offer the latest advancements in neurological medicine to treat such conditions as:

  • Alzheimer’s, dementia, and cognitive disorders
  • Brain and spine tumors
  • Cerebrovascular disorders
  • Concussions and head trauma
  • Epilepsy and seizure disorders
  • Face pain, migraines, and headaches
  • Nerve disorders
  • Movement disorders
  • Spinal cord disorders and trauma

Advanced Innovation

Baylor St. Luke’s neurologists and neurosurgeons continue to develop new and advanced therapies. Building a brain computer to restore vision to the blind and revolutionizing benign pituitary tumor removal are just two such projects elevating the standard of neurological care, while offering such leading-edge treatment options as:

  • Alzheimer’s treatment—first in more than a decade through Leqembi (FDA approved in 2023)
  • Brain and skull base tumor neurosurgery
  • Cerebrovascular neurosurgery
  • Deep brain stimulation
  • Endovascular surgery
  • Epilepsy neurosurgery
  • Microvascular decompression
  • Minimally invasive surgery
  • NeuroPace® RNS system for epilepsy and seizures
  • Neurosurgery for movement disorders
  • Open microsurgery
  • Pituitary tumor neurosurgery
  • Spine neurosurgery
  • Stereotactic (Cyberknife and Gamma Knife) radiosurgery

Argentina woman travels to Barrow for spinal cavernoma surgery

Eleven days after submitting her daughter’s medical information to Barrow neurosurgeons through their Second Opinion Program, Teresa de Stefano of Argentina received what she called “magic words” from Dr. Michael Lawton. He believed he could safely access and completely remove her daughter’s cavernous malformation from her spinal cord.

“We never thought that a neurosurgeon of Dr. Lawton’s prestige would answer the second opinion,” de Stefano said.

A neurologist in Buenos Aires diagnosed then 28-year-old Ines de Achaval with the rare vascular abnormality in May 2018. It was located in the thoracic region, or the mid-back, from levels T5 to T7.

As a lawyer, de Achaval spends many hours sitting in front of a computer, so she didn’t think her back pain was anything unusual at first. Even the onset of leg weakness didn’t concern her too much. She hadn’t been sleeping well due to the back pain and was probably fatigued, she thought.

But she couldn’t dismiss the abnormal sensations in her leg, like stepping into a hot shower and feeling cold water instead.

“It was crazy, at 28, to live with that time bomb.”

Four doctors in Buenos Aires told her that while they would normally recommend surgery for a symptomatic spinal cavernoma, removing her lesion would be too risky; it was too big and too difficult to access. A hospital in the United States agreed. But one doctor in Argentina said the opposite: it was too risky to leave it alone.

The mother of one of de Achaval’s friends is a doctor and started reading about cavernous malformations in PubMed, a database for biomedical literature. She came across Dr. Lawton’s name. “Dr. Lawton seemed like the person with the most experience internationally in performing this kind of surgery, and I knew he had operated on many cases so that gave me reassurance,” de Achaval said.

De Stefano sent her daughter’s medical records and imaging through the secure Second Opinion portal in June. “It was user friendly, transparent, and simple,” she said. After hearing back from Dr. Lawton, de Achaval scheduled her surgery and traveled to Phoenix with her husband, parents, and mother-in-law. She met Dr. Lawton on Aug. 20, and he successfully removed her spinal cavernoma the next day. She woke up from surgery with paralysis in her left leg, but Dr. Lawton felt confident that it would be temporary. “A couple days later, I started moving it again slowly, muscle by muscle,” she said.

De Achaval began neuro-rehabilitation at Barrow to regain leg strength and function. She was ready to return home to Buenos Aires three weeks after the surgery.

“It is so gratifying when patients who are told that their lesions are inoperable find Barrow and have successful surgery here,” Dr. Lawton said. “Not only does their experience lead to the cure they were after, but it becomes this emotional swing that is so positive for all of us.”

Brain infection diagnosed in Ecuador and treated at Baylor St. Luke’s within 48 hours

“My life is completely normal and I don’t have any pain so I am very happy. I am perfect. Great. No problem!”
– Francisco Laso

Francisco Laso, a mechanical engineer living in Quito, Ecuador, might not be alive today had he not obtained a virtual second opinion from noted Baylor St. Luke’s neurosurgeon Ganesh Rao. Francisco underwent sinus surgery in his home country and developed a serious bacterial infection. After just one week, the infection spread to his brain. Francisco’s son is a physician (a pulmonologist), and referred him to Baylor St. Luke’s international medical ambassador in Ecuador, Dr. Nelson Maldonado, who facilitated a review with Dr. Rao, who is also the chairman of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Rao remotely reviewed Francisco’s MRI, recognized the urgency and scheduled surgery immediately. The patient flew from Quito to Houston that night and underwent an eight-hour surgery the next day.

“If the abscess continued to grow, it could really cause neurological problems, headaches, seizures, and it can disseminate throughout the brain and into the spinal fluid, which could be fatal,” Dr. Rao said. “Francisco flew to Houston on a moment’s notice and our team got him to surgery quickly.”

Dr. Rao performed a craniotomy, opening the skull, exposing the brain to remove the abscess and ruling out the presence of other bacteria or organisms that might also need to be treated with antibiotics. He relied on a multidisciplinary team that included neurological, infectious disease and intensive care specialists.

Francisco tolerated the surgery well and recovered quickly with physical therapy. Six weeks afterward, he was back at work, living his life as if nothing happened. “My life is completely normal and I don’t have any pain so I am very happy. I am perfect. Great. No problem!”

Francisco was pleased with the efficiency of the international program. “There was not a lot of paperwork, and I was quickly taken into the intensive care unit once I arrived,” Francisco recalled. “I was really surprised with the agility with which the international team took care of me.”

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