Advocate Brain & Spine Institute at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center 

Each of our neurosurgeons at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center has completed specialized training in diagnosing and treating neurological and spine conditions through a seven-year residency – more surgical training than physicians in any other specialty. Because of this extensive medical training and decades of combined experience, our experts excel at diagnosing and treating cranial, spinal and neurological conditions.

Our promise to you:

• If you have an urgent matter, you will be seen on the same day.
• If you are looking for a physician consultation, you will receive an appointment within five days.
• Upon arrival, you will be greeted by patient service representatives who will help you navigate your care.
• When appropriate, you will receive a comprehensive, multidisciplinary work-up on the same day, including consult, imaging, pain treatment or rehab services.
• We will collaborate with your referring physician to develop the care plan that is best for you.
• After your consultation, we will communicate with your physician within 48 hours to share your treatment plan.
• For HMO patients, our team will help you expedite the HMO referral process.

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center provides comprehensive care for patients with stroke. A specially trained team of neurologists, neurosurgeons, neurointerventionalists and nurses cares for stroke patients. They also provide ongoing reports to each patient’s primary care physician to keep them up-to-date on the patient’s progress throughout treatment.

• Learn about the signs of stroke.
• Take our Stroke Risk Assessment.
• Learn more about stroke care at Advocate.

• Brain aneurysm
• Cerebral/ vascular aneurysm
• Arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
• Cavernous malformation
• Intracranial arterial stenosis
• Carotid stenosis
• Moyamoya disease
• Stroke
• Alzheimer's disease
• Dementia
• Parkinson's disease, tremor, other movement disorders
• Concussions
• Traumatic brain injuries (head injuries)
• Pituitary tumors
• Brain tumors
• Glioblastoma
• Astrocytoma
• Oligodendroglioma
• Ependymoma
• Meningioma
• Pituitary adenoma
• Peripheral nerve tumors
• Vestibular schwannoma (acoustic neuroma)
• Pseudo tumor cerebri
• Benign tumors
• Headaches
• Trigeminal neuralgia
• Occipital neuralgia
• Multiple sclerosis
• Seizure disorder/epilepsy
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Myasthenia gravis
• Myopathy
• Hydrocephalus
• Hemifacial spasms
• Encephalitis and cerebritis
• Chiari malformation

Learn more about treatment for brain conditions at Advocate.

Spine conditions:

• Back pain
• Complex traumatic spinal disorders
• Compression fractures
• Degenerative spine disease
• Degenerative disc disease
• Disc herniation
• Neck pain
• Herniated disc (ruptured disc)
• Myasthenia gravis
• Myopathy
• Nerve injuries
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteoporosis
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Kyphosis
• Scoliosis
• Spinal deformities
• Sciatica
• Spinal instability
• Spine fractures
• Spine infections
• Spine tumors
• Spinal cord injury
• Spinal stenosis
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spondylosis
• Spondylolysis (pars fracture)
• Flat-back syndrome
• Failed back syndrome
• Arm pain
• Myelopathy
• Cervical disc disease
• Lumbar disc disease

Learn more about treatment for spine conditions at Advocate.

• Pain management
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Psychiatric care
• Neurology
• Neuroradiology
• Neurosurgery
• Minimally invasive neurosurgery
• Neurointervention
• Neuro-interventional radiology
• Neuro-oncology
• Rehabilitation
• Intra-operative computerized image-guided navigation
• High field brain MRI (3 Tesla)
• Stereotactic radiosurgery
• Awake brain surgery
• Microscopic brain surgery

Learn more about treatment for brain conditions at Advocate.

Spine services:

• Interventional radiology
• Pain management
• Rehabilitation
• Spine surgery
• Spinal radiation
• Neuroradiology 
• Neurology
• EMG testing
• Neurosurgery
• Oncology
• Psychiatric care
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Outcome analysis
• Minimally invasive spine surgery
• Discectomy
• Outpatient discectomy
• Outpatient microdiscectomy
• Laminectomy (decompression surgery)
• Laminoplasty
• Vertebroplasty
• Kyphoplasty
• Corpectomy
• Spinal fusion
• Spinal reconstruction
• Revision of previous failed spinal surgery
• Artificial disc replacement
• Scoliosis surgery
• Spinal trauma and spinal cord injury surgery
• Spinal tumor surgery
• Spinal cord stimulator for pain
• Intra-operative computerized image-guided navigation and imaging
• EOS Imaging System
• Stereotactic radiosurgery
• TrueBeam

Learn more about treatment for spine conditions at Advocate.

• Patient intake form [PDF]
• Health information release [PDF]

What to bring

Please bring the following with you to make sure your visit goes as smoothly as possible:

• Insurance card or public aid card
• Photo identification
• Physician referral
• All medical records relevant to your condition
• A CD of your MRI, MRA or CT scans if they were performed elsewhere