The horrific shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords spotlights a radical operation to treat a massive brain injury that was nearly abandoned three decades ago for being too dangerous.
During the procedure, called decompressive craniectomy, surgeons remove a section of skull 5 to 6 inches in diameter. The approach is used routinely by civilian and military trauma surgeons and is accepted as a standard treatment for trauma, stroke and other ailments that cause the brain to swell.
"When it's applied appropriately, it absolutely works," says Geoffrey Manley, chief of neurosurgery at San Francisco General Hospital.
By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY
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