KNU School of medicine

Since the Department of Neurosurgery was separated as an independent department in medical school from the Department of Surgery in 1960, the department has been able to educate medical students about neuroscience and treat patients with neurological diseases in Kyungpook National University School of Medicine and hospital. The department is currently well developed and divided into five divisions: neurovascular center, neurological tumor center, spine center, pediatric neurosurgery, and gamma knife center.

1. In the neurovascular center, various surgical technologies to treat brain aneurysm have been studied and applied, and in particular a superciliary keyhole approach, which is a minimally invasive surgical technology, has been applied to treat unruptured brain aneurysm. Moreover, to remove intravascular thrombus in patients with acute stroke, an interventional radiologic approach was extensively applied along with a minimally invasive surgical technology. The brain cooling device has been studied experimentally for the purpose of minimizing brain injury and decreasing intracranial pressure after brain stroke and trauma. This study has been funded by the Korean government.

2. In the neurological tumor center, studies on the treatment of malignant neuroglioma and gliomatosis are in progress. Currently, the treatment of the migration of meningioma cells to cerebrospinal fluid, the tumors originated from the transitional zones between skull and cervical spine, and new treatment modality for glioblastoma multiforme are underway. 

3. In the spine center, extensive studies on trauma and upper cervical spine have been conducted. Further studies on the recurrent lumbar spine diseases and the dynamics of spine have been recently underway. Several new drugs including valproic acid have been tested for protection of spinal cord injury. Moreover, an osteoporosis model was made to study the dynamics of spine bones.

4. In the pediatric neurosurgery center, many clinical studies on premature skull closure and Moyamoya Disease have been carried out. The role of a shunt valve has been evaluated in the center for the treatment of hydrocephalus. To clarify the pathogenesis of hydrocephalus, animal models are studied. In addition, brain inflammation and cell injury have been investigated to understand the pathophysiology of neonatal brain injury. 

5. In the gamma knife center, several prognostic factors of metastatic brain tumors have been studied. Research on the identification of specific molecular biomarkers for recurrent brain tumors and arteriovenous malformation is also underway. In addition, for the better treatment for trigeminal neuralgia, new modalities of gamma knife treatment are to be developed.​

Sung-Kyoo Hwang, MD, PhD
Joo-Kyung Sung, MD, PhD
Jeong-Hyun Hwang, MD, PhD
Seong-Hyun Park, MD, PhD
Dae-Chul Cho, MD, PhD
Kyung-Tae Kim,MD, PhD
Ki-su Park, MD, PhD