Introduction The importance of the details of caring for a neurosurgical patient has increasingly become the focus of many groups that are involved in the patient's clinical care. In large part, this focus has been driven by the field of…
Clinical Pearls Our role as clinician-scientists is to minimize secondary brain injury, meaning evolving pathologies from the moment of impact. Hence, if the impact has not killed the patient, there is opportunity to intervene and minimize further morbidity or mortality.…
Clinical Pearls To understand the diseases of the peripheral nerve system, physicians require anatomic awareness about the course of the peripheral nerves, bony landmarks, and the relevant ligaments and key muscles Furthermore, a working knowledge about how the muscles function…
Clinical Pearls Peripheral nerve injuries affect 2.8% of trauma patients. One of the important features of the peripheral nervous system in comparison with the central nervous system is its capacity for recovery through both regeneration and remyelination of axons. The…
Clinical Pearls Hydrocephalus is defined as disturbances in cerebrospinal fluid dynamics. Acute hydrocephalus and shunt obstruction are neurosurgical emergencies. Cerebrospinal fluid drainage shunts are the main treatment option of hydrocephalus. However, shunt complications are relatively common. Endoscopic third ventriculostomy is…
Clinical Pearls Brain abscesses are mostly caused by hematogenous spread, contiguous spread, and trauma. Contiguous spread is generally from a purulent frontoethmoidal sinusitis or an infected mastoid. Pyogenic brain abscesses are multibacterial; however, Streptococcus sp. is the most common pathogen.…
Clinical Pearls Modern stereotactic functional surgery includes lesioning and stimulation procedures. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and their choice should be tailored to the therapeutic aims and circumstances in the individual patient. Evidence for the efficacy of stereotactic surgery…
Clinical Pearls Functional neurosurgery involves precise surgical targeting of anatomic structures in order to modulate neurologic function. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become the standard of care for movement disorders because of its early reversibility and flexibility as well as…
Clinical Pearls Intractable disabling epilepsy, a localizable epileptogenic zone, and a low risk of (unacceptable) postoperative deficits are considered to be the three basic tenets that make a patient a candidate for epilepsy surgery. One should apply surgical technique for…
Clinical Pearls The most common medically intractable epilepsy appropriate for epilepsy surgery has a temporal lobe origin. Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy represents a large percentage of all cases of localization-related epilepsy. The seizures arise in the hippocampal and parahippocampal areas…