Clinical & Research Excellence in Neurosurgery Programs

Within DCNS, the Division of Neurosurgery provides full neurosurgical services for adults and children, including Level One Trauma support, to the southern half of the province of Alberta, as well as the eastern part of British Columbia (in the Kootenay Region) through the Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) and Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH).  

The level of clinical service delivered by Calgary’s neurosurgical community is comprehensive, and is built around the foundations of excellence, competence, quality, safety, and innovation. The roll-out of the Alternative Relationship Plan for Neurosurgery (in 2001) has fostered a mechanism of timely appropriate transfer of cases to neurosurgical subspecialties and allows for the highest quality of care for each and every patient.  

General neurosurgical services as well as subspecialty care in complex spinal diseases, skull base surgery, paediatrics, peripheral nerve disease, cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery, epilepsy, and functional neurosurgery are provided at the FMC and the ACH sites.  Stereotactic radiosurgery is provided in the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, which houses the innovative Alberta Radiosurgery Centre (ARC), in collaboration with the radiation oncologists.

While leading and encouraging the development of innovation in neurosurgery service in Southern Alberta, divisional members have continued to deliver core neurosurgical services to the patients in the catchment areas.  In 2007, at the FMC site, there were approximately 1800 in-patient admissions to neurosurgery and over 5700 outpatient visits to a neurosurgeon office. Neurosurgeons in the Calgary region performed approximately 2000 procedures in 2007, comprising 1700 procedures in the regular OR, and another 300 procedures in the endovascular, stereotactic radiosurgery ARC unit and ICU settings.

Specific examples that highlight excellence and innovation in clinical care can be accessed via the links on the left menu.

Updated: 2009-04-15