Functional Division

The mission of the division of functional neurosurgery is to improve and restore the functionality of patients with non-structural diseases, which include movement disorders, chronic pain and epilepsy.

The division is affiliated with the James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, the UC Epilepsy Center and the Pain Clinic, all located at University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Diseases treated include Parkinson’s, cervical and generalized dystonias, essential tremor, chronic pain syndromes, trigeminal neuralgia and epilepsy.

The division has a long history of treating functional neurologic disorders and utilizing the most advanced techniques and technology. Working as a close-knit, multi-disciplinary team, providers review patients for surgical and medical management. Currently available treatments for movement disorders include deep brain stimulation and ablative procedures.

Procedures for the treatment of chronic pain disorders (cancer, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, back pain and facial pain) include intrathecal pain pumps, spinal cord stimulation, DREZ, percutaneous radiofrequency lesions, vagus nerve stimulation and deep-brain or motor-cortex stimulation. Residents participate in these procedures during the course of their training.

The division also pursues leading-edge research and clinical trials for movement disorders and chronic pain. Investigations include intrathecal zoconotide for chronic pain, posturagraphy laboratory studies of movement disorders and GPi-DBS for dystonic disorders.

The division enjoys partnerships with the Davis Phinney Foundation and the Brian Grant Foundation, both named for former athletes who developed early-onset Parkinson’s disease. The Davis Phinney Foundation, named for the first American cyclist to win a stage of the Tour de France, made its first major grant for Parkinson’s research to UC in 2004.

Neurofunctional Division

The division of neurofunctional surgery offers medical students, residents and fellows the opportunity to participate in the treatment and research of seizure disorders through a multidisciplinary team approach.

Members of the division work collaboratively with experienced epileptologists, electroencephalographers, neuroradiologists, neuropsychologists and social workers.

The Epilepsy Center at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute provides assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients who have experienced medically intractable seizure disorders, with or without brain lesions. A weekly epilepsy conference seeks a consensus of the most appropriate treatment for those who suffer from medically refractory epilepsy.

Residents are initially exposed to seizure disorders while rotating on the neurology service during PGY1. They gain subsequent experience with epilepsy surgery during their midlevel and senior years (PGY4-7).

The most common procedure performed is an anterior temporal lobectomy; other procedures include cortical excision, modified hemispherectomy, corpus callosum section, multiple subpial transections and vagus nerve stimulation.