Our voices are created by the vibration of two folds of mucus membrane housed within a cartilaginous box called the larynx. When air is expelled through the lungs these tightly stretched membranes, commonly known as the vocal cords, vibrate. By...
Surgery of the spine encompasses a range of specific procedures on the bony spine, spinal disc, spinal cord or spinal nerves where each is designed to correct a certain pathology or condition. All spinal surgeries are complex and extremely...
Degenerative disk disease can produce pain and other functional deficits. The disease produces small defects in the outer wall of the intervertebral disk. When the disk is pressurized by the force of the vertebrae, these defects allow softer...
The thyroid is a hormone-producing gland located in the front of the neck. The surgical removal of the thyroid gland may be necessary with conditions such as hyperthyroidism or thyroid cancer. While this may be effective in treating a thyroid...
Degenerative cervical disc disease, also known as spondylosis often results in disc herniation. Herniation can cause compression on spinal roots and the spinal cord, resulting in pain and other symptoms. When discectomy surgery is required, part...
Parathyroid surgery is a fairly common procedure. Undergoing a parathyroidectomy, the removal of the parathyroids, is usually a decision made by the patient and surgeon after enduring severe symptoms related to hyperparathyroidism (excess...
Thyroid surgery involves making an incision in the base of the neck in order to access the thyroid gland. Important anatomical structures in the neck that the surgeon should avoid include the trachea, the esophagus, the carotid artery, the jugular...
The carotid arteries are the two main arteries that travel to the brain on either side of the neck. The blood supply to the brain comes primarily from these two arteries. When a carotid artery becomes blocked with atherosclerotic plaque, a...
Surgical removal of the thyroid gland may be necessary in cases where hyperthyroidism fails to respond to more conservative treatments, such as radioactive iodine or antithyroid medication. Hyperthyroidism is a condition wherein the gland produces...
The thyroid gland is responsible for controlling body metabolism, which regulates mood, weight, mental energy and physical energy, according to Medline Plus. Graves' disease is an autoimmune disease that targets the thyroid gland, stimulating it...
Thymus carcinoma, or thymus cancer, is an uncommon tumor that usually has a bad prognosis for the patient. It is difficult to differentiate the tumor from being primarily derived from the thymus or from being a metastases from another cancer...
Neck surgery may be necessary if a patient experienced trauma or has another serious medical problem, such as severe osteoarthritis, narrow blood vessels or thyroid problems. Neck surgery is concerning because there are many delicate structures in...
Surgery of the spine is performed for a wide variety of reasons, such as correcting bony alignments, tumor removal, disc resection and spinal cord decompression. All surgical procedures have risks involved with surgery in general, such as...
