Dr. Barry Katz is a board-certified
neurosurgeon, which means he performs
life-changing surgery on the nervous system,
specifically the brain and spinal cord.
He treats many spinal cord problems, including
herniated disc, spine instability, pinched nerve
and spinal stenosis. These issues are associated
with chronic pain, and surgery can often bring
instantaneous relief.
“It can be quite miraculous,” he said. “For
instance, I’ll have a patient who can’t
walk or even stand up due to pain, and
as soon as they wake up from surgery,
they can. It’s life changing.”
In addition, Dr. Katz is an expert in life-saving
procedures including kyphoplasty, lumbar
and cervical spine fusion, head trauma, brain
tumors and hydrocephaly. He performs
biopsies, hemorrhage removal and tumor
removal, and he has expertise in state-of-theart
technology used to perform delicate brain
surgeries.
Dr. Katz attended medical school and
completed residency at the Feinberg School
of Medicine at Northwestern University in
Chicago. He practiced in North Carolina for 10
years before moving to Northwest Arkansas
and later Joplin. For the past three years, he
has been with Mercy working as part of a team
practicing in Joplin, Springfield and Northwest
Arkansas.
Because Dr. Katz is a general neurosurgeon,
he can diagnose and treat the vast majority
of neurosurgical problems. Nearby Mercy
neurosurgeons in Springfield are available for
highly specialized procedures like pediatric
neurosurgery, skull-based surgeries and
neurovascular treatment for aneurysms.
“I’ve always found the human brain and
neurology very interesting, and I knew from
a young age I wanted to be a neurosurgeon,”
Dr. Katz said. “With new technology and the
medical advancements I have seen over the
course of my career, neurosurgery has never
ceased to be fascinating to me.”