Program Topics: From the Residency Program Director Program Objectives About Brown University & Medical School Neurosurgery The Hospitals Hospital Facilities Program Overview Educational Program Research Opportunities Libraries Supervision Evaluating Residents Workload and Call Schedule Compensation Support Services and Personnel Applications For More Information

Hospital Facilities

Rhode Island Hospital

All adult neurosurgery and neurology beds, including a 10-bed Intensive Neurosurgical Care Unit, occupy one floor of Rhode Island Hospital, facilitating care delivery. The neurosurgery department uses two to three adult neurosurgical operating rooms at the hospital. These rooms contain:

• an intraoperative ultrasound;


• a Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator;


• a CO2 laser;


• neuro-endoscopes;


• three Zeiss microscopes;


• CT and MRI-guided stereotactic equipment, including two BrainLAB frameless stereotactic systems for intraoperative navigation as well as intraoperative radiation therapy equipment; and


• wide-screen/plasma-screen monitors for teaching, video editing, and documentation.

The hospital’s facilities also include:

• a surgical intensive care unit;


• a medical intensive care unit;


• a trauma intensive care unit;


• a cardiac intensive care unit;


• a neurodiagnostic imaging suite, staffed for 24-hour CT and MRI service, with two Siemens 1.5 T MRI scanners with state-of-the-art capabilities and three spiral CT scanners, one of which has 16-detector capability; and


• an invasive neuroradiology suite.

The hospital’s New England Gamma Knife Center, open since 1992, was one of the first gamma knife centers in the United States. Under Director and Chief Georg Norén, M.D., Ph.D., it has offered hope to patients with previously untreatable lesions.

The Leksell Gamma Knife emits 201 finely focused gamma rays that converge with high accuracy on a single point, sparing nearby tissue. With little patient discomfort, it treats a number of pathological and functional conditions, including:

• arteriovenous malformations,


• meningiomas,


• acoustic neuromas,


• other deep-seated intracranial tumors,


• metastatic brain tumors, and


• obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Hasbro Children’s Hospital

Hasbro’s four pediatric operating suites include one specially equipped for pediatric neurosurgery. The hospital is set up for long-term monitoring of epilepsy patients and for brain mapping to guide epilepsy surgery. A pediatric ICU helps care for postoperative patients after craniotomy and intraspinal surgery. Full pediatric support services are provided and are state of the art.