Bay Regional Medical Center
Neurosciences New Area of Advance for Bay Regional Medical Center
Hospital Focuses on Bringing Back Brain, Spinal Cord Injured Patients
December 30, 2007
By: Dave Rogers
Physicians at Bay Regional Medical Center (BRMC) are focusing on neurosciences.
Bay Neurosurgeons Ravindra Goyal, M.D., Srinivas Chakravarthi, M.D., Siva Sriharan, M.D., and Anita North, M.D., report advances in treating diseases, disorders and injuries to the brain, spinal cord and surrounding tissues.
BRMC has been recognized by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) as a Primary Stroke Center. The hospital was awarded a Certificate of Distinction recognizing that primary stroke centers make exceptional efforts to foster better outcomes for stroke care.
Alice Gerard, president and CEO of BRMC, said: "Our goal is not only to provide care to Bay County residents, but to reach out to other communities and offer our guidance, experience and assistance to their hospitals and physicians as well, so that every patient has the best chance for optimal treatment and recovery."
BRMC manages one of only 19 certified stroke programs in the state.
William R. Bowen recently was elected chairman of the board of directors of BRMC. Mark M. Jaffe is vice chair, Mrs. Gerard, president and CEO, Gary E. Bosco, secretary, and Brian A. Kay, treasurer.
Today's medical science and technology and physician expertise are making it possible to return some brain and spinal cord injured patients back from the brink of lifetime disability.
The physician group notes that the brain and spinal cord are interconnected, and deliver electrical impulses that drive body function.
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They further explain that the brain accounts for only 2 percent of the average person's body weight, but uses 25 percent of all oxygen breathed to continue communications with a hundred billion neurons that allow us to breathe, our heart to beat, blood to flow, speech and hearing to occur, and creativity to be expressed.
The adult spinal cord is about two feet long, a complex organ possessing intelligence of its own, according to the physicians. It's through this thin ribbon of nervous tissue, with a circumference about the same as our little finger, that our lives are maintained.
It is in these complex organs that Bay's growing neurosciences department excels.
Dr. Goyal says he treated patients with head and trauma injuries before turning to neurosurgery.
"I found the brain to be the most fascinating part of the body, the most logical and revealing in telling stories," he said. "It's fascinating that when I listen to a patient, they tell me what's wrong, and I know what needs to be done."
Srinivas Chakravarthi, M.D., once operated on a young woman with seven brain aneurysms, all the result of a hemorrhage. Each aneurysm was clipped, and a stroke prevented.
Dr. Chakravarthi says: "If a health system like Bay offers excellent neurosurgery, patients will come. Bay Neurosurgical Associates has extensive experience in surgical repairs to the brain and spine. Bay offers superior neurologists, intensive nursing care, emergency response to trauma, and post-surgical rehab."
Siva Sriharan, M.D., says Bay neurosurgeons can handle almost everything in neurosurgical and spinal surgery.
"Ethical issues are actually the hardest part of any neurosurgical or spinal procedure. We have the best technology, but questions arise. A young person with a brain tumor -- we should absolutely be aggressive with this patient. But what about an 86 year-old patient with an inoperable spinal tumor and other medical problems? Do you put this patient through high-risk surgery, or encourage them to live life fully each day?"
Anita North, M.D., a highly accomplished neurosurgeon, is an intuitive, respectful listener to patients, perhaps in part, because she was once a patient herself. She knows how serious accidents and unforeseen health crises can change a person's life.
"Bay Neurosurgery Associates is evolving," said Dr. North. "Between the four of us and our individual skill sets, there isn't any neurosurgical care we can't offer within mid-Michigan and beyond. We work as a collaborative practice. If I see a patient I think would benefit from the expertise of one of my colleagues, I don't hesitate to refer that patient."
Common neurosurgical procedures include:
Skull-base surgery, disk surgery on back and neck, removing brain and spinal tumors, craniotomies, trauma surgery to the head or spinal cord, aneurysms, stroke, chronic pain and kyphoplasty.
More detail on these physicians and various procedures is available by clicking on specific references in a similar article on the hospital website, www.baymed.org.