Huntington’s disease Huntington’s disease is a universally fatal neurodegenerative disorder affecting the central nervous system that results from an autosomal dominant mutation in the huntingtin gene. It is characterized by movement and psychiatric disorders as well as dementia and occurs…
The first descriptions of spine disorders were recorded nearly 4000 years ago in Egypt, when patients with such afflictions were left bedridden and death was considered unavoidable. One of the first extensive series on surgery of the spine was reported…
Neurosurgical lesions in infants and children have distinct manifestations and management issues. Age-related differences in the surgical lesions, anatomy and physiological responses to surgery and anesthesia underlie the clinically relevant differences between pediatric patients and their adult counterparts. Technical advances…
Epidemiology of head injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain. TBI is one of the most serious, life-threatening conditions…
Introduction Stereotactic surgery is a minimally invasive surgical intervention used for the treatment of functional disorders and in the diagnosis of intracranial lesions. The anesthesiologist plays a key role in the management of patients undergoing stereotactic surgery. The techniques of…
Awake craniotomy Awake craniotomy refers to surgery that is performed on the brain while the patient is in a state of awareness and that allows for cooperation with functional testing of the cortex. It is usually performed when eloquent cortical…
Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) was initially introduced in the early 1950s. An intuitively appealing procedure, the number of procedures rose steadily until 1985, when CEA was ranked the third most common operation performed in the United States. Its popularity shifted over…
Surgical management of brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) is one of the most challenging in neurosurgery and, despite the relative rarity of the disease, the subject of a disproportionally large fraction of the literature on surgical cerebrovascular disease. Perioperative and anesthetic…
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank their colleague William Young MD who was responsible for much of the original text of this chapter. Interventional neuroradiology (INR) is the discipline that uses endovascular procedures to treat vascular conditions of the…
Although it is simplistic, the statement by the British neurosurgeon J. Gillingham that “in the early years anesthetists spent their time pushing the brain out of the skull while in recent times they have been sucking it back in” underscores…