Saint Mary’s Neuroscience Tumor Program
Overview
Diagnostic imaging
Advanced Treatments
Surgical Expertise
Complementary Therapies
Saint Mary’s offers a comprehensive system of care for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with brain and spinal tumors. With the addition of two neurosurgeons in 2004, the Neurosurgery Program at Saint Mary’s Health Care in Grand Rapids, MI, now provides complex procedures that were once only offered outside the region.
Neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons work closely with medical oncologists and radiation oncologists from The Lacks Cancer Center at Saint Mary’s – a multidisciplinary approach that offers you the most effective treatment options.
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State-of-the-art diagnosis
Neurological specialists at Saint Mary’s rely on today’s most advanced technology to detect the presence of tumors. State-of-the-art diagnostic equipment offers patients and physicians a wide range of options for making the best diagnosis, including:
- CT scans
- MRI scans
- Angiograms (arteriogram)
- Myelograms
- Nuclear medicine bone scans
- Ultrasound
- PET scans
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Advanced treatments for tumors
For patients with tumors, a variety of treatment options may be recommended. These include:
- Surgery
- Craniotomy with traditional surgical removal of tumor
- Laser surgery with stereotactic localization
- Stereotactic radiosurgery*
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation Therapy
- Conventional radiation therapy
- Fractionated Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
- Stereotactic radio therapy*
*Saint Mary’s is the only hospital in West Michigan equipped to perform both stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radio therapy. While radiosurgery is completed in one treatment session, radio therapy has a course of multiple treatments. In both cases:
- An MRI or CT scan creates images of the tumor’s precise location
- Physicians use additional computers to determine the dose of radiation as well as the sizes and angles of the radiation beams
- Narrow beams of radiation are precisely aimed at the tumor from different angles
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Surgical expertise
Saint Mary’s tumor program took a major leap forward in 2004 with the addition of two talented neurosurgeons: Jürgen Lüders, M.D., and Steve Klafeta, M.D.
Dr. Lüders completed his residency in neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic. He is a 1998 graduate of the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He also trained at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland, and completed his undergraduate work at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Klafeta is a 1998 graduate of the Loyola-Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago. He completed his residency in Neurological Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. He earned a B.S. from Illinois Benedictine College in Lisle, Illinois in 1994.
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Integrating complementary therapies
In conjunction with The Wege Institute for Health & Learning at Saint Mary’s, the Neurosurgery Program actively integrates complementary therapies into patients’ overall treatment program. These therapies help tumor patients obtain healing benefits for mind, spirit and body.
We augment traditional medical treatment with several complementary therapies. Among the complementary therapies that have been found to benefit patients with tumors are acupuncture, manual therapy, and music therapy.
You can learn more about how complementary therapies facilitate healing and provide profound benefits to patients with neurological disorders at.
Learn more about brain tumors .
Learn more about spine tumors.
For more information, or to schedule a consultation, please
call us at 616-752-5050, or toll-free at 877-702-5050.
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