Below is a plain-language guide to the procedures most commonly performed in Dr. Agarwal's practice. For each, you'll find what it involves, who it's for, typical hospital stay and what recovery looks like. This is a starting point — your specific case will be discussed in detail at consultation.
What it is: a precisely planned opening in the skull (craniotomy) through which the tumour is removed under an operating microscope. Where the tumour is close to critical brain areas, intra-operative monitoring of motor, speech and sensory function is used.
Who it's for: patients with symptomatic, growing, or diagnostically-uncertain brain tumours — gliomas, meningiomas, metastases and more.
Hospital stay: typically 4–7 days. Recovery to normal activity: 3–6 weeks for most patients, longer for more complex resections. Steroid, anti-seizure medication and physiotherapy support as needed.
What it is: pituitary tumours are reached through the nose using a high-definition endoscope — no head incision, no brain retraction.
Who it's for: most pituitary adenomas, including hormone-secreting tumours (Cushing's, acromegaly, prolactinomas unresponsive to medication) and non-functioning adenomas compressing the optic nerves.
Hospital stay: typically 3–4 days. Recovery: most patients return to routine activity within 2–3 weeks.
What it is: a small titanium clip is placed across the neck of the aneurysm under the operating microscope, excluding it from circulation and preventing rupture/re-rupture. For select aneurysms, clipping offers the most durable long-term protection.
Who it's for: patients with ruptured or unruptured cerebral aneurysms whose anatomy favours surgical clipping. The decision — clip vs coil — is made together with the patient after detailed imaging review.
Hospital stay: typically 5–7 days for unruptured aneurysms; longer for ruptured aneurysms with SAH. Recovery: progressive over weeks; most patients resume office work in 4–6 weeks.
What it is: an aneurysm is treated from inside the blood vessel — a catheter is navigated from the groin or wrist up to the brain, and platinum coils or a flow-diverting stent is deployed to block the aneurysm.
Who it's for: aneurysms well suited to endovascular treatment — typically small-necked, posterior-circulation or complex anatomy aneurysms, and patients for whom surgery is higher risk.
Hospital stay: typically 2–3 days. Recovery: most patients return home walking and are back to routine activities in 1–2 weeks.
What it is: during an acute ischaemic stroke, a catheter is advanced to the blocked brain artery and the clot is physically removed with a stent-retriever or aspiration device — restoring blood flow.
Who it's for: patients with large-vessel stroke, within the established time window (typically up to 6 hours from symptom onset, extended to 24 hours in selected cases based on imaging).
Urgency: every 15-minute delay in thrombectomy reduces the chance of a good outcome. If a stroke is suspected, call immediately.
What it is: through a small (1.5–3 cm) incision, the herniated disc fragment compressing the nerve root is removed under the microscope. Muscle damage is minimal.
Who it's for: patients with disc prolapse causing persistent leg pain, weakness or numbness that has not responded to 6–8 weeks of conservative management — or earlier if neurological deficit is progressive.
Hospital stay: 1–2 days. Recovery: walking the same evening; back to desk work in 10–14 days; heavier activity at 6 weeks.
What it is: through a small incision at the front of the neck, the damaged disc is removed and replaced with a bone graft or a cage; a small plate stabilises the segment while it fuses.
Who it's for: patients with cervical disc disease causing arm pain, hand weakness, or spinal-cord compression (myelopathy).
Hospital stay: 2–3 days. Recovery: soft neck collar for 2–4 weeks; return to office work around 3 weeks.
What it is: decompression of a narrowed spinal canal (laminectomy), with or without instrumented fusion using pedicle screws and rods when segmental instability is present.
Who it's for: lumbar canal stenosis with neurogenic claudication, spondylolisthesis, or post-traumatic instability.
Hospital stay: 3–5 days. Recovery: graded return to activity over 6–12 weeks; physiotherapy from the first post-operative week.
What it is: for hydrocephalus, either a slim tube (shunt) is placed to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid to the abdomen, or — in selected patients — an endoscopic opening is made within the brain's ventricles so fluid can drain naturally, avoiding a permanent implant.
Hospital stay: typically 2–3 days. Recovery: most patients resume normal activity within 2 weeks.
What it is: a small craniotomy behind the ear allows the trigeminal nerve to be cushioned away from the blood vessel that is irritating it. Provides durable pain relief in the majority of patients.
Who it's for: patients with classical trigeminal neuralgia whose symptoms are not adequately controlled by medication.
Hospital stay: 3–4 days. Recovery: most return to routine in 2–3 weeks.
What it is: life-saving surgery to evacuate a blood clot (extradural, subdural or intracerebral) or to decompress the swollen brain after stroke or severe head injury.
Availability: 24×7 — Dr. Agarwal is on call for neurosurgical emergencies. If you or a family member has had a serious head injury, sudden loss of consciousness or new-onset severe neurological symptoms, call the clinic immediately: +91 8696 650 547.