Oulu Clinic for Neurosurgery

<body> <p> </p>  <p align="right"><a href="../klinikka/index.html" target="_top">Suomeksi <img src="../images/FIN-flag.gif" align="middle" border="0" WIDTH="32" HEIGHT="32"></a></p> <p> </p> <table border="0" width="151" align="right" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="100%"><img SRC="../images/Neurosurgery.gif" alt="Oulu Clinic For Neurosurgery" align="right" border="0" WIDTH="151" HEIGHT="150"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><br> <a href="../klinikka/25v/index.html" target="_top"><img src="../images/25years.gif" alt="25 Years" border="0" WIDTH="151" HEIGHT="34"></a></td> </tr> </table> <p><font SIZE="+1"><b>Neurosurgical staff:</b></font> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong><a HREF="http://cc.oulu.fi/~jkoivuk/" target="_top">John Koivukangas</a></strong>, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Head <br> <strong>Esa Heikkinen</strong>, M.D., Ph.D, Docent <br> <strong>Matti Heiskari</strong>, M.D., Ph.D<br> <strong>Tatu Koskelainen</strong>, M.D.<br> <strong>Timo Kumpulainen</strong>, M.D., Ph.D, Docent <br> <strong>Hannu Rönty</strong>, M.D., Ph.D <br> <strong>Veijo Ukkola</strong>, M.D. </p> <p>Neurosurgical residents: <br> <br> <strong>Tuomo Erola</strong>, M.D.<br> <strong>Juho Tuominen</strong>, M.D.<br> </p> <p>Clinical internships: 2 </p> <p>International fellowships available by arrangement.</p> <p><b><font SIZE="+1">Clinical Associates:</font></b> </p> <p>Antero Juolasmaa, staff neuropsychologist <br> Ville Jäntti, clinical neurophysiology<br> Kyösti Laitakari, ENT surgery<br> Vilho Myllylä, neurology<br> Asko Niemelä, general hospital psychiatry <br> Timo Niinimäki, orthopedic surgery <br> Hannu Pernu, craniofacial surgery <br> Eero Ilkko, neuroradiology<br> Tapio Pirilä, ENT surgery<br> Topi Siniluoto, endovascular procedures<br> Willy Serlo, pediatric surgery<br> <br> The Oulu Clinic for Neurosurgery provides comprehensive modern tertiary health care. It serves the regional neurosurgical needs of the northern half of Finland with an immediate catchment cohort of about 800,000 inhabitants. At the same time, it offers highly specialized care nationally and internationally for the following diseases: </p> <p><u><em>Parkinson´s disease</em></u>: stereotactic treatment of tremor <br> <u><em>Low-grade gliomas</em></u>: image-guided surgery for tumors in critical brain areas <br> <u><em>Epilepsy</em></u>: surgery for brain lesions <br> <u><em>Degenerative spinal disease</em></u>: advanced surgery and instrumentation of spinal diseases and mini-invasive lumbar herniation surgery <br> <u><em>Pain</em></u>: Neuromodulation therapy</p> <p>The Clinic has been one of the leading research centers in the world for clinical application of real-time intraoperative ultrasound imaging, neuronavigation, and most recently, interventional MRI. The Clinic has a long tradition as a national center for functional neurosurgery (Parkinson´s disease, epilepsy and pain). It has therefore been natural that the Clinic has participated in the work of the International Society for Technological Assessment in Health Care, the National Science Academy (USA) sponsored conference on measuring health state (Menlo Park 1988) and  technology assessment studies at the Universities of Oulu, York, Minnesota and Harvard.<br> <br> <b><font SIZE="+1">Key quality statements:<br> <br> </font></b>Benchmarking of patient satisfaction against a STAKES (National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health) study of surgical clinics in Finland showed favorable results for the Oulu Clinic of Neurosurgery, especially in the appraisal of physician and nurse professional skills. The Clinic charges and fees are minimized using Activity-based costing (ABC). Finally, the Clinic is a leader in outcomes assessment research.</p> <p><b>Key quality indicators:<br> <br> </b>The overall rate of surgical infection for elective surgery is under 2%.<br> <br> <b><font SIZE="+1">Ethical statement:<br> <br> </font></b>The Oulu Clinic for Neurosurgery is committed to the proposition that each individual is entitled to the best possible health care, and that alternative methods of treatment need to be scientifically assessed before social priority setting. Thus, clinical service is based on clinical excellence, with a commitment to evidence-based medicine. In research, the Clinic follows the guidelines of the Ethical Committee of the University of Oulu, and for collaboration with industry, University of Oulu and modified ORTTA guidelines (University of Minnesota).<br> <br> <b><font SIZE="+1">Patient Care:<br> <br> </font></b>The Neurosurgical Ward has 25 beds, including intensive observation unit <br> Intensive Care Unit <br> Pediatric hospital service <br> Outpatient service <br> Neurosurgical operating rooms (3) <br> Teleconsultation service</p> <p>The neurosurgical operating rooms: <ul type="circle"> <li>The main operating room OR 12</li> <li>The stereotactic operating room OR 13 </li> <li>The interventional MRI operating room</li> </ul> <p>There is a stress on surgical expertise assisted by cutting edge technology, much of it originally developed or applied at the Department: <ul type="circle"> <li>Intraoperative ultrasound </li> <li>CUSA</li> <li>CO<sub>2</sub>/Nd-YAG laser </li> <li>Neuroendoscopy </li> <li>Laitinen stereotactic system </li> <li>Leksell stereotactic system (<a href="http://www.elekta.com" target="rbottom">Elekta AB</a>, Sweden)</li> <li>Neuronavigational devices: Leksell Index System and <a href="http://www.marconimed.fi" target="rbottom">Marconi Medical Systems</a> (Finland) neuronavigator</li> <li><a target="_top" href="../nru/imri/">Interventional MRI</a> (Marconi Medical Systems 0.23T) since August 1998</li> </ul> <p><br> <br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p align="right"><a HREF="mailto:webmaster@nks.oulu.fi" target="rbottom"><img SRC="../images/WebMaster.gif" BORDER="0" ALIGN="ABSCENTER" alt="Webmaster" WIDTH="122" HEIGHT="24"></a><br> Last Updated 15 March 2001 </p>  </body>