Functional Neurosurgery and Epilepsy Surgery Program

Surgical Care for Neurologic Disorders

The Functional Neurosurgery and Epilepsy Surgery Program at Westchester Medical Center offers advanced subspecialty care for patients who suffer from complex neurological disorders that are not resolved with conventional management.

We provide a range of surgical treatment options for patients with neurological disorders resistant to medication. These include epilepsy, essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, spasticity, and chronic pain disorders. 

Our team is composed of experts from the Departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, Neuroradiology, Neuropsychology, and Pain Management. The section is led by Vishad Sukul, MD, a national expert in the field of functional and restorative neurosurgery.

The section is comprised of three distinct surgical programs. Select a tab above to learn more.

Movement Disorders Surgery Program

• Treatment options for patients with Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and dystonia after failure of medical management including DBS surgery

• Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery

Epilepsy Surgery Program

• Advanced epilepsy monitoring and workup for patients with seizures refractory to medication

• Traditional and minimally invasive epilepsy surgery

Chronic Pain, Spasticity and Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgery Program

• Spinal cord stimulation, intrathecal pumps, and other neuromodulation options for chronic pain

• Surgical management of trigeminal neuralgia

• Intrathecal baclofen pumps and other neurosurgical options for patients with severe spasticity due to multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy

Movement Disorders Surgery Program

Our multidisciplinary team treats movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is typically the most common procedure offered to patients after failure of medical management. This procedure involves placing one or two small wires into specific brain targets to help reduce and potentially eliminate the motor symptoms (tremor, freezing, slowness of movement) associated with these diagnoses.

Our movement disorders surgical program utilizes the latest technology, offering both awake "frame-less" DBS surgery as well as asleep robotic surgical options. Dr. Sukul currently performs deep brain stimulation procedures at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, NY. Our movement disorder neurologists are conveniently located at Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY (Dr. Danisi and Dr. Amodeo) and at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, NY (Dr. Fekete).

Multidisciplinary Approach

We hold a monthly multidisciplinary conference during which our neurosurgeons, movement disorder neurologists, a neuropsychologist, and neuro-radiologists discuss tailoring individual approaches to patients who may be candidates for deep brain stimulation.

Advanced Surgical Procedures Offered

• Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Surgery for Parkinson's Disease, Essential Tremor or Dystonia

  • DBS of the Subthalamic Nucleus (STN)

  • DBS of the Globus Pallidus (GPi)

  • DBS of the Ventral Intermediate Nucleus (Vim)

• "Frameless" DBS and Robotic-DBS surgery are available to patients, as well as the options to have either awake or asleep DBS depending on the results your clinical evaluation.

Conditions Treated Surgically

• Parkinson's Disease

• Essential Tremor

• Dystonia

• Generalized Dystonia

• Cervical Dystonia

• Focal Dystonia

Our Team

Neurosurgery: Vishad Sukul, MD
Neurology:
Fabio Danisi, MD (Mid Hudson Regional Hospital)
Katherine Amodeo, MD (Mid Hudson Regional Hospital)
Robert Fekete, MD (Westchester Medical Center)
Neuropsychology: Rhea Dornbush, PhD
Neuroradiology: Hasit Mehta, MD
Physician Assistants: Tamara Benoit, FNP

Epilepsy Surgery Programs

Our multidisciplinary team provides comprehensive treatment options for patients with medication-resistant epilepsy. It is composed of experts from various specialties, including neurology, neuroradiology, and neurosurgery.

Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Program

Carrie Muh, MD, a national expert in pediatric epilepsy surgery and the division Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery, leads the Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Program. It comprises a large multidisciplinary team based at the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital and is a Level 4 National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC) epilepsy center. For more information and services offered, please visit the Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery webpage.

Adult Epilepsy Surgery Program

The adult surgical epilepsy program at WMC, led by Vishad Sukul, MD, offers comprehensive care for patients with seizures and epilepsy that do not respond to medications. For some patients, surgery can provide a path to reduction of and possibly freedom from debilitating seizures. 

We offer advanced epilepsy monitoring including stereotactic EEG (sEEG). In this procedure our surgical team implants small wires under robotic guidance to identify where a seizure starts. Both traditional surgery such as temporal lobectomy and minimally invasive options including robotic MRI-guided laser ablation, responsive neurostimulation (RNS), vagal nerve stimulators (VNS), and DBS are available to patients.

Multidisciplinary Approach

Weekly multidisciplinary conferences are held among the neurosurgeons, neurologists (epileptologists), a neuropsychologist, and neuro-radiologists to tailor individual approaches to each patient.

Advanced Surgical Procedures Offered

• Traditional Epilepsy Surgery

  • Temporal lobe resection

  • Frontal, occipital or parietal resection

  • Lesionectomy

  • Corpus Callosotomy

• Minimally Invasive Surgery and Neuromodulation

  • Laser Ablation (LITT)

  • Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)

  • Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS)

  • Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

Conditions Treated Surgically

• Partial Complex Epilepsy

• Mesial Temporal Sclerosis

• Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

• Cortical Dysplasia

• Generalized Epilepsy

• Generalized tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal seizures)

• Drop attacks or atonic/tonic seizures

• Other seizure disorders can be evaluated for surgical candidacy

Adult Epilepsy Surgery Team

Surgery for Chronic Pain and Spasticity

Our team often evaluates patients with chronic pain and spasticity that have not responded to conservative options. In conjunction with our Spine Care program, Peripheral Nerve surgery program, Neurology team and Pain Management division, we offer a variety of surgical procedures for the management of chronic pain disorders.

Surgery for Chronic Pain

We offer surgical treatment and neurostimulators for failed back/neck surgery syndrome (FBSS), complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), chronic back & leg pain, peripheral neuropathy and more. Surgical options include spinal cord stimulation (SCS), dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG), dorsal root entry zone lesioning (DREZ), peripheral neurostimulation and intrathecal pain pumps. 

Neurosurgery for chronic pain is performed at Westchester Medical Center by our functional neurosurgeon, who has extensive experience in complex neuromodulation and other neurosurgical pain procedures. Additionally, our pain management division also performs certain neuromodulation procedures, including SCS and peripheral neurostimulation.

Surgery for Cancer Pain

We offer surgical treatments and neuromodulation therapy (including intraspinal/intrathecal pain pumps) for patients with intractable pain for various cancer and cancer-related disorders in conjunction with our comprehensive pain management team. Additionally, we offer neuromodulation options for patients with neuropathic pain after cancer therapies (chemotherapy, radiation) that does not respond to medication.

Spasticity

We offer intrathecal baclofen pumps for patients with severe medication refractory spasticity due to multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy. Trial, implant, and subsequent management of implanted pumps are performed by our functional neurosurgeon at Westchester Medical Center.

Trigeminal Neuralgia, Headache, and Facial Pain

Our functional neurosurgeons offer surgical options such as microvascular decompression, stereotactic radiosurgery and peripheral neurostimulation for the surgical management of trigeminal neuralgia. Additionally, microvascular decompression for hemifacial spasm is offered by our vascular neurosurgery team. In partnership with the WMC Headache Center, we also offer neurostimulation for the management of select headache disorders (i.e. occipital neuralgia).

Our Team

Neurosurgery
Vishad Sukul, MD (spinal cord stimulation, spinal and peripheral neuromodulation, surgery for chronic pain and spasticity, surgery for trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain)
Chirag Gandhi, MD (surgery for trigeminal neuralgia and hemifacial spasm)
Merritt Kinon, MD (complex spine surgery, spinal neuromodulation)
Jared Pisapia, MD (peripheral nerve surgery)

Pain Management
Nitin Sekhri, MD
Cameron Marshall, MD
Ammar Siddiqui, MD

Contact Us

Ambulatory Care Pavilion
100 Woods Road, 4th Floor

Valhalla, NY 10595

Phone: 914.493.2363

Fax: 914.493.2505

Our Providers

Katherine Amodeo, MD
Assistant Professor of Neurology, New York Medical College

• Movement Disorder
• Neurology

Tamara Benoit, FNP

• Nurse Practitioner, Family Health

Fabio Danisi, MD
Attending Physician

• Movement Disorder
• Neurology

Rhea Dornbush, PhD

• Neuropsychology Services

Mill Etienne, MD

• Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology

Robert Fekete, MD
Attending Physician

• Movement Disorder

Chirag Gandhi, MD
Chair of Neurosurgery
Endovascular and Cerebrovascular Neurosurgeon
Neurosurgical Oncology

• General Neurosurgery
• Interventional Neuroradiology

Manisha Holmes, MD
Section Chief of Epilepsy

• Neurology
• Neurology/Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neurophysiology/Epilepsy

Merritt Kinon, MD
Section Chief of Spinal Neurosurgery, Westchester Medical Center Health Network
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Orthopaedic Surgery, New York Medical College

• Spinal Neurosurgery

Jin Li, MD
Chief, Neuromuscular Section
Medical Director, Headache Service

• Neuromuscular
• General Neurology

Cameron Marshall, MD
Division of Pain Medicine
Department of Anesthesiology

• Pain Management

Patricia McGoldrick, PNP

• Pediatric - Neurology

Hasit Mehta, MD
Section Chief of Neuroradiology

Tracey Milligan, MD
Professor and Chair of Neurology
Director of Neurology, Westchester Medical Center Health Network
Program Director Neurology Residency

• Neurology
• Neurophysiology/Epilepsy

Carrie Muh, MD
Division Chief, Pediatric Neurosurgery,
Surgical Director of Pediatric Epilepsy Program,
Surgical Director of Pediatric Neuro-vascular Program,
Surgical Co-Director of Craniofacial Program

• Pediatric Neurosurgery

Jared Pisapia, MD
Attending Pediatric Neurosurgeon,
Surgical Director of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Program,
Surgical Director of Peripheral Nerve Surgery Program,
Surgical Co-Director of Craniofacial Program

• Pediatric Neurosurgery

Venkat Ramani, MD

Attending Physician
Ombudsperson
Neurology Wellness Director

• Neurophysiology/Epilepsy

Nitin Sekhri, MD
Medical Director, Pain Management

• Pain Management

Ammar Siddiqui, MD
Anesthesiologist and Interventional Pain Specialist
Pain Management

• General Surgical Anesthesia
• Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine

Vishad Sukul, MD
Section Chief of Functional Neurosurgery and Epilepsy Surgery
Department of Neurosurgery | Brain and Spine Institute

• Functional and Epilepsy Surgery

Steven Wolf, MD

• Pediatric - Neurology