Kopfarbeit

Unusual insights into the daily life of neurosurgery and the human brain: A world-renowned brain surgeon shares extraordinary cases and his everyday experiences in the operating room. This fascinating non-fiction book on the subject of brain surgery and neuroscience is now available in paperback! Prof. Dr. Peter Vajkoczy is the director of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Berlin Charité. He cares for up to a 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 at 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 coordinated interplay of years of trained specialists, state-of-the-art technology, and the willingness to explore new paths to make healing possible. However, none of this guarantees that the desired outcome will be achieved. If something goes wrong, there is a significant risk that patients will be left with severe disabilities or, in the worst case, may not survive at all.

Prof. Vajkoczy and his team walk a fine line, always, every day, with every operation, even when it seems manageable. In sincere openness, Prof. Vajkoczy shares how he and his team cope with this challenge.