Neurosurgery Vs. brain surgery vs. cerebral surgery

[jokaec]

The doctor said he needs 'Neurosurgery' or 'brain surgery' or 'cerebral surgery' because a serious brain injury caused by an accident.


Are they all correct? If so, which one is most common in colloquial English? Thank you!

 

[Barque]

I've never heard the term cerebral surgery. Isn't all surgery cerebral?

I'd say brain surgery is more common than neurosurgery. I've only heard neurosurgery used in the context of describing a surgeon's or a hospital's specialty, not in a sentence like yours.

Edit: Just googled cerebral surgery and found it is used quite a bit.

 

[dermott]

Certainly neurosurgery and brain surgery mean different things. Neurosurgery doesn't only involve the brain, it applies to the body's nervous system overall. I suspect brain surgery and cerebral surgery are synonyms.