Kopfarbeit

Unusual insights into the daily life of neurosurgery and the human brain: A world-renowned brain surgeon shares extraordinary cases and his daily routine in the operating room. This fascinating non-fiction book explores the topics of brain surgery and neuroscience. Prof. Dr. Peter Vajkoczy is the director of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Berlin Charité. He cares for up to one hundred patients from around the world across his three wards and performs up to five or six surgeries a day with his team—mostly dealing with strokes, brain tumors, bypasses, and spinal disorders. These surgeries are physically demanding, often excruciatingly long, and highly complex. Everything takes place in the micro realm: the surgeon sees what he is doing only through a microscope with up to forty times magnification and stitches with threads that have a diameter of just a few hundredths of a millimeter. Although it is often claimed that Prof. Vajkoczy and his team perform miracles, it is primarily the routine collaboration of years-trained specialists, cutting-edge technology, and the willingness to explore new paths to enable healing. However, none of this guarantees that the desired outcome will be achieved. If something goes wrong, there is a significant risk that patients may be left with severe disabilities or, in the worst case, not survive at all. Prof. Vajkoczy and his team walk a fine line every day, with every operation, no matter how manageable it may seem. In sincere openness, Prof. Vajkoczy shares how he and his team cope with this challenge, how the most difficult surgeries are planned and executed, what drives him as a neurosurgeon, and what he feels when he fails—and when his plan succeeds.