Ochsner Lafayette General Neuroscience Center

Ochsner Lafayette General Neuroscience Center's care team provides a smooth transition from initial consultation and diagnosis to pre-surgery preparation, inpatient recovery and outpatient rehabilitation. Ochsner Lafayette General Neuroscience Center focuses on neurology, neurosurgery, sleep medicine and deep brain stimulation.

Ochsner Lafayette General Neuroscience Center, located within Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center, offers a variety of specialized services that include:

• Acupuncture – A therapy that uses very thin needles placed at specific points on the body to ease pain and support the body's natural healing.
• Baclofen pumps – An implanted pump that delivers a muscle relaxer directly to the spinal fluid to reduce severe stiffness and spasms.
• Botox injections – Targeted injections that relax overactive muscles to relieve conditions such as chronic migraines, muscle stiffness and spasms.
• Deep brain stimulation – A treatment that uses a small implanted device to send gentle electrical signals to the brain, helping control movement problems caused by conditions like Parkinson's disease and tremors.
• Epidural steroid injections – Injections that place anti-inflammatory medicine near the spinal nerves to reduce swelling and relieve back, neck or leg pain.
• Electromyography – A test that measures the electrical activity in muscles and nerves to help diagnose the cause of weakness, numbness or pain.
• Kyphoplasty – A minimally invasive procedure that repairs and stabilizes a fractured spine bone to relieve pain and restore height.
• Nerve blocks – An injection of medicine around a specific nerve or group of nerves to interrupt pain signals and provide relief.
• Spinal cord stimulation – A treatment that uses a small implanted device to send mild electrical pulses to the spinal cord, helping mask chronic pain in the back, arms or legs.
• Vagus nerve stimulation – A treatment that uses an implanted device to send regular electrical signals to the vagus nerve, helping reduce seizures and manage certain hard-to-treat conditions.

Using Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center's experienced team of subspecialists and state-of-the-art technologies, a variety of neurological conditions are treated that include:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – A disease that slowly weakens the nerves controlling your muscles, which affects movement, speech and breathing over time.
• Aneurysm – A weak, bulging spot in the wall of a blood vessel, which must be carefully monitored when in the brain.
• Cervicalgia – The medical term for neck pain, which can come from muscle strain, poor posture, injury or wear and tear on the spine.
• Dementia – A condition that causes ongoing loss of memory, thinking and reasoning that affects daily life.
• Epilepsy – A condition that causes repeated seizures because of unusual electrical activity in the brain.
• Headaches and migraines – Head pain that can range from mild to severe and may come with other symptoms.
• Multiple sclerosis – A disease in which the immune system attacks the protective covering around nerves, which can affect movement, balance, vision and other functions.
• Parkinson's disease – A condition that affects movement and can cause tremors, stiffness and slower motion.
• Polyneuropathy – Damage to many nerves at once, often in the hands and feet, which can cause numbness, tingling, weakness or pain.
• Radiculopathy – A pinched or irritated nerve near the spine that can cause pain, numbness or weakness that spreads into the arms or legs.
• Strokes – A medical emergency that happens when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or a blood vessel bursts.
• Transient ischemic attack – A brief interruption of blood flow to the brain, sometimes called a mini-stroke.

Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center provides physical medicine and rehabilitation services to aid those who undergo surgery. There is a dedicated rehabilitation floor that features physical, occupational and speech therapies. This program is focused on helping patients become as independent as quickly and safely as possible to return home.

What is neurology?

Neurology is the study of disorders and diseases that affect the brain and nervous system.

What are neurological disorders? 

Neurological disorders usually cannot be diagnosed with just one test, so they require full examination of the patient’s medical history, physical characteristics, lab tests and daily functions to pinpoint possible underlying conditions.

What is neurosurgery?   

Neurosurgery is the practice of surgery to correct physical issues with the brain or nervous system.

What is stereotactic radiosurgery? 

Stereotactic radiosurgery is a type of radiation treatment that does not require any cuts or incisions. Despite the word surgery in its name, no cutting is involved. Instead, it uses highly focused beams of radiation aimed at a precise spot in the brain.

Doctors use this treatment for brain tumors, abnormal growths and other conditions affecting the brain. The radiation beams are aimed carefully at the problem area, working to avoid as much of the healthy tissue around it as possible. This careful targeting is designed to focus the treatment where it is needed most.

What is neuroendovascular care?   

Neuroendovascular care is a specialized area of neurosurgery that treats problems with the blood vessels in the brain and spinal cord. These problems can include aneurysms, strokes and arteriovenous malformations — which are abnormal clusters of blood vessels that form in the brain or spinal cord.
Instead of opening the skull, specialists use thin, flexible tubes to travel through the blood vessels and reach the problem area. Imaging technology guides the procedure along the way. Because the doctor works through the blood vessels rather than making a large opening, this approach is generally less invasive than traditional surgery.