Neurosurgery is a surgical specialty, encompassing the evaluation and treatment of a wide variety of diseases of the nervous system and it's coverings. Neurosurgeons are often called "brain surgeons" by the general public, but neurosurgery addresses the brain and much more. The spinal cord, peripheral nerves, spinal bones, intervertebral disks, cranial nerves, dura, spinal fluid, and the blood vessels supplying the brain are all the domain of neurosurgery.

Neurosurgeons treat brain tumors, head injuries, spinal injuries, herniated discs, spinal tumors, intractable pain, movement disorders, epilepsy, certain psychiatric illnesses, chronic infections of the nervous system, peripheral nerve problems, and other neurological diseases. Most of these diseases have a structural basis.

Official AANS Definition of Neurological Surgery:

"Neurological surgery is the medical discipline that provides the operative and non-operative management (i.e., prevention, diagnosis, evaluation, treatment , critical care, and rehabilitation) of disorders that affect the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their supportive structures and vascular supply, and the operative and non-operative management of pain. As such, neurological surgery encompasses disorders of the brain, meninges, skull, and their blood supply, including the extracranial carotid and vertebral arteries; disorders of the pituitary gland; disorders of the spinal cord, meninges, and spine, including those which may require treatment by spinal fusion or instrumentation; disorders of the cranial and spinal nerves throughout their distributions; and disorders of the autonomic nervous system."