Dr. Tommaso Tufo

Core Competencies

Brain

• Brain surgery with neuronavigation
• Brain surgery with ultrasound
• Robotic Biopsy
• Image-guided brain biopsy for intracranial lesions
• Stereotactic Brain Biopsy
• Brain surgery with intraoperative monitoring for motor and speech area
• Brain Mapping
• Awake craniotomy
• Microsurgery and minimally invasive surgery of brain tumours
• Brain surgery with intraoperative monitoring (IOM), fluorescence-guided resection
• Neuro-Oncology Treatment & Removal of Brain Tumors, Glioma, Glioblastoma Multiforme, Low-Grade Glioma & Astrocytoma, Meningiomas
• Craniotomy for meningioma, glioma & glioblastoma
• Minimal invasive treatment for Brain Metastasis
• Treatment of Arachnoid Cyst
• Treatment of Brain Abscess
• Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy for brain tumours (“Visualase”)
• Skull base and endoscopic surgery
• Vestibular Schwannoma
• Treatment of cranial nerve tumors
• Pituitary gland and pituitary tumors
• Cushing's Disease
• Prolactinoma
• Excision of pituitary adenoma (endoscopic and microsurgical procedure)
• Head and spinal trauma surgery & brain and spine Injury
• Wound Trauma, Concussion & sports-related head, neck & spine injury
• Treatment of Adult-Onset Hydrocephalus
• Shunt and endoscopic procedures for hydrocephalus
• Treatment of Osteoma
• Treatment of Central Cord Syndrome
• Treatment of Neurofibromatosis
• Craniotomy for subdural haematoma & extradural haematoma
• Third ventriculostomy
• Removal of colloid cyst
• Ventriculoperitoneal shunt / Lumbar peritoneal shunt / Syringe subarachnoid shunt / Ventricular-atrial shunt
• Foramen magnum decompression
• Vascular neurosurgery for brain and spine (aneurysms, AVM, Fistula, cavernoma)
• Clipping of aneurysm
• Excision of arteriovenous malformation

Complex Spine Surgery & Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) and Peripheral Nerve Surgery

• Microsurgical approach done as routine.
• Image-Guided Spine Surgery – Real-Time Spinal Navigation
• Spine and Spinal cord surgery with intraoperative monitoring (IOM), fluorescence-guided resection, Continuous Intra-operative Nerve and Spinal Cord Monitoring
• Minimal invasive technique, spinal navigation for spinal decompression and fusion
• Microsurgery and minimally invasive surgery for cervical and lumbar disc herniation and slipping disc
• Endoscopic surgery for disc herniation and stenosis
• Nerve Safe – Ultrasonic Bone Scalpel - Precision Bone Removal without Drill – spinal decompression
• Degenerative Spine Surgery – including Disc Herniation / Spinal Stenosis / Spinal Fracture / Spinal Vascular Lesion / Spinal Pain
• Spinal Tumour & Infection of the Spine
• Lumbar Spine Surgery / Cervical Spine Surgery / Thoracic Spine Surgery
• Revision surgery
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - Decompression - Mini Open  (Local Anaesthetic - Daycase)
• Carpal Tunnel Decompression – Advanced Anaesthetic Technique for Painless Surgery
• Ulnar Nerve - Decompression - Mini Open - General Anaesthetic (or Local Anaesthetic - Daycase)
• Chiari / Arnold Chiari Malformation - Foramen Magnum Decompression
• Interventional Spinal Procedures and Therapies - Xray Guided Needle Based Pain Management
• Cervical Disc Replacement - Subspecialty Interest
• Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Including O.P.L.L.
• Hybrid Cervical Disc Replacement/Fusion Surgery
• Complex Cervical Spinal Deformity Surgery
• Complex Revision Cervical Spine Surgery
• Posterior Cervical Surgery, MIS Nerve Decompression - Foraminotomy
• Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy
• Minimally Invasive Lumbar Discectomy - Tubular Microdiscectomy
• Minimally Invasive Decompression – Extensive Decompression Tiny Incision
• Minimally Invasive Lumbar Spine Fusion – MIS TLIF – Latest Expanding Cage Technology to Decompress and Restore Spinal Balance
• Anterior and lateral (ALIF – XLIF) Lumbar Interbody Fusion
• Complex Revision Lumbar Surgery
• Tumors of The Spine and Spinal Cord – Multidisciplinary Management and surgery
• Spinal Cord Compression from Cancer
• Tumor Surgery and Stabilization
• Benign Spinal Tumors and Nerve Sheath Tumors - Schwanomma / Neurofibroma / Meningioma
• Fractures & Trauma of the Spine
• Osteoporotic Fractures / Tumor Fractures – Cement Injection Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty
• Unstable Traumatic Fractures – Minimally Invasive and Open Fixation/Fusion as Required

Functional Neurosurgery & Pain Management

• Pain management and procedures for spinal pain origin (spinal injection, radiofrequency, cryoablation)
• Deep brain stimulation frameless and robotics for movement disorders, epilepsy and psychiatric disorders – OCD, Depression,
• Thalamotomy (RF and Thermal therapy system)
• Complex pain surgery, deep brain, pump implant, cordotomy and Spinal cord stimulation (SCS)
• Neurosurgical treatment for spasticity, Pump Implant, SCS, rhizotomy and DREZ lesion
• Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for epilepsy
• Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) for epilepsy
• Lobectomy for epilepsy
• Minimal access epilepsy surgery
• Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s Disease
• Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for dystonia
• Occipital nerve stimulation
• Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for tremor
• Thermocoagulation (Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy or Laser Thermocoagulation)
• Awake craniotomy for tumours near the speech/motor parts of the brain
• Selective dorsal rhizotomy for pain and spasticity
• Spinal cord stimulation for intractable pain
• Spinal cord stimulation for failed back surgery syndrome
• Occipital nerve stimulation for occipital neuralgia
• Occipital nerve stimulation for cluster headaches
• Doral root ganglion stimulation for intractable pain
• Occipital nerve stimulation for intractable migraine
• Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for intractable pain
• Spinal injections: Epidural injections & Facet joint injections
• Sacroiliac joint injection
• Trigeminal neuralgia and hemifacial spasm microsurgery, Radiofrequency ablation and balloon compression for trigeminal neuralgia
• Treatment of Back Pain / Sciatica / Neck Pain / Sacroiliac Joint Pain / Coccyx Pain / Trigger Points
• Treatment of Spasticity in Adult and Pediatric patients
• Epidural Steroid Injections – For the Relief of Back and Leg Pain
• Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injections
• Selective Nerve Root Blocks - Diagnostic / Therapeutic
• Facet Joint Injections – Focal Mechanical Back Pain
• Radiofrequency Ablation – Facet Joint Numbing Treatment for Back Pain
• Spinal Cord Stimulation – Chronic Severe Pain, Nerve/Spinal Cord Injury Pain

Brief Profile

Dr. Tommaso Tufo is a UK and EU board-certified senior neurosurgeon and adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the renowned Catholic University of Rome. He has over 17 years of experience in general & functional neurosurgery and has successfully operated on over 4000 brain and spine cases.

He has a special interest in treating conditions of the brain and has held the position of Director of the Functional and Movement Disorder Group for the Rome and Lazio region, Senior Neurosurgeon and Lead Neurosurgeon at Policlinico Agostino Gemelli Foundation IRCSS University Hospital, the largest public-private hospital in Europe.

Dr. Tufo is actively involved in state-of-the-art research and consulting as principal investigator in several research trials, pioneering the “frameless” techniques and latest treatments in neurosurgery. He is considered a leader in the field of functional neurosurgery and epilepsy, having undertaken an additional senior fellowship in functional neurosurgery at the world-class Walton Centre in Liverpool, England.

He is also appointed the representative for the International Neuromodulation Society and a board member of the Italian chapter of the International Neuromodulation Society. He is also sitting on the editorial board of several international neuroscience journals. Professor Tufo has over 30 published papers on neurosurgery, neurology and neuroscience and is regularly invited to speak at international neuroscience training events and conferences.

He is a member of:

• CNS – Congress of Neurological Surgeons
• SINCH – Società Italiana di Neurochirurgia
• INS – International Neuromodulation Society

Qualifications

• MD, Policlinico Gemelli University Hospital, Catholic University of Rome, Medical School, Italy, 2005
• Senior Fellowship Neurotrauma and Skull Base Surgery, UNICAMP University of Campinas, Brazil, and Curitiba Neurological Institute, Brazil, 2008
• Senior Fellowship – Functional and Epilepsy Surgery, Walton Centre Institute NHS Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 2014
• PhD Neuroscience, Catholic University of Rome, Italy, 2015

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