The contributions in this volume cover recent advances and changing concepts on diagnosis and treatment of resistant epilepsy in children. Topics treated are new insights on mechanisms of epileptogenesis in developing brain, multimodality imaging in pediatric intractable epilepsy, pediatric intractable epilepsy syndromes, pediatric temporal lobe epilepsy surgery, critical review of palliative surgical techniques for intractable epilepsy, treatment modalities for intractable epilepsy in hypothalamic hamartomas, contemporary management of epilepsy in tuberous sclerosis.

Patients with neurosurgical conditions are almost always referred from either primary care physicians, neurologists, internist or a specialist in family medicine. This comprehensive guide will answer commonly asked questions about common neurosurgical conditions related to brain and spinal cord, in an attempt to fill in the gap and answer numerous questions that arises after a diagnosis is made on the loved ones. This book has been specially written and illustrated for families of patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures of the spine and peripheral nerve surgeries, as well as rehabilitation. It is straightforward, with non-technical language explaining the basics of neurosurgical diseases and their management including legal, ethical and financial issues.

A review of state-of-the-art therapies currently used with leptomeningeal cancer patients, including information on symptom management, new clinical trials, epidemiology, as well as research in animal models for experimental treatments.

Patients with neurosurgical conditions are almost always referred from either primary care physicians, neurologists, internist or a specialist in family medicine. This guide will answer commonly asked questions about common neurosurgical conditions related to brain and spinal cord, in an attempt to fill in the gap and answer numerous questions that arises after a diagnosis is made on the loved ones. There are over 1500 academic and private hospitals in USA who have dedicated tertiary Neurosurgery services and cater millions of people in need, in addition to numerous centers that have level I and II trauma care. We aim to reach these centers and the families of the patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures. This book has been specially written and illustrated for families of patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures. It is straightforward, with non-technical language explaining the basics of neurosurgical diseases and their management including legal, ethical and financial issues.

More than 40 articles provide an extensive coverage of clinical and basic science advances over the last three years of research on subarachnoid hemorrhage-induced brain injuries. Early brain injury, the new frontier of subarachnoid research, which may be a key contributor to the high mortality and morbidity, promotes collaborative efforts from neurosurgery, neurology, neuro-ICU into other interrelated fields and basic neurosciences. For the first time, subarachnoid hermorrhage research is almost equally divided by early brain injury and cerebral vasospasm, mechanistic investigations and therapeutic approaches, demonstrating a translational feature of the future direction.

More than 40 articles provide an extensive coverage of clinical and basic science advances over the last three years of research on subarachnoid hemorrhage-induced brain injuries. Early brain injury, the new frontier of subarachnoid hemorrhage research, which may be a key contributor to the high mortality and morbidity, promotes collaborative efforts from neurosurgery, neurology, neuro-ICU into other interrelated fields and basic neurosciences. For the first time, subarachnoid hemorrhage research is almost equally divided by early brain injury and cerebral vasospasm, mechanistic investigations and therapeutic approaches, demonstrating a translational feature of the future direction.

This book presents the development and experimental validation of the structural test strategy called Oscillation-Based Test - OBT in short. The results presented here assert, not only from a theoretical point of view, but also based on a wide experimental support, that OBT is an efficient defect-oriented test solution, complementing the existing functional test techniques for mixed-signal circuits.

Moyamoya disease (MMD) was first reported as a new entity among vascular disorders in 1957. Named for the abnormal vascular networks found around the occluded distal internal carotid artery, it is the most common pediatric cerebrovascular disease in East Asia. In recent years large amounts of data on MMD have been collected and important investigations have been carried out in Japan and Korea, even as the pathophysiology of the disease remains to be discovered. This monograph covers a diversity of topics and presents a systematic compilation of the data and current status of MMD in clinical practice and basic research. With contributions by more than 70 authors, the book includes sections on genetics, computational analysis of hemodynamic shear stress, new imaging techniques, and endovascular treatment of MMD, along with practical applications and future directions for gene and stem cell therapies. For neurosurgeons as well as neurologists and pediatricians, this volume will help lead to more efficient and informed management of MMD.

Today, over 500,000 patients have been treated world wide in 250 Gamma Knife Centres in 37 countries each one treating between 150 and 700 patients a year. The current book serves as a textbook, training manual and reference book for those involved in Gamma Knife practice covering the theoretical background, the practical aspects of treatment, the social side of the method and necessary information not only for users but for those who refer to the Gamma Knife. It also covers some aspects of the hospital and social administration required for optimal use of the technology, also looking at the effect of the internet on specialist medical practice. It also presents the completely new Gamma Knife (Perfexion), a new technology which extends the range of the Gamma Knife and will be the treatment standard for the future.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a chemokine hormone that is widely distributed throughout the body. In addition to its traditional role as a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production, in recent years many laboratories have shown that EPO can act as a neuroprotective compound in a variety of injury paradigms in the nervous system. Past experience with relatively safety profile of this FDA-approved drug makes it an ideal candidate to take it into clinical trials for neuroprotection. We are on the verge of major clinical trials using this drug for neuroprotection in diseases ranging from stroke, to transverse myelitis to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. This is the first book of its kind that brings together researchers from many different disciplines of neuroscience to review the current state-of-the-art in EPO and the nervous system. This book will benefit scientists and clinicians interested in neuroprotection in the broadest sense.

Functional Electromyography: Provocative Maneuvers in Electrodiagnosis integrates electrophysiology further into the physical examination than ever before. It introduces the use of electrodiagnostic studies to quantify the neurological changes brought about by three provocative maneuvers commonly used in contemporary medicine. This widens the scope of electromyography while sharpening physicians' diagnostic acuity. The book presents nerve conduction velocity (NCV) and H-reflex techniques to identify common conditions that are difficult to diagnose by any other means, often using the needle exam (EMG), MRI or musculoskeletal ultrasound to verify their clinical utility. Functional electromyography successfully diagnoses some cases of thoracic outlet syndrome, nearly all cases of piriformis syndrome, and offers a method for determining whether spinal stenosis or radiculopathy is the main pain generator when both are present in a single patient, even at the same level. This is particularly valuable because the standard conservative and surgical treatments for these two conditions are opposite, in spite of the identical symptom-set they produce. The book carefully describes each technique and persuasively documents their validity in statistical series and individual case presentations. It further guides the attentive electromyographer to adapt these methods to cases beyond those presented in its pages, suggesting a safe and scientific approach to other functional maneuvers of value to the electromyographer, and methods for validating one-time measures that may aid the electromyographer in clinical situations that are neither common nor easily analyzed. Hand drawn illustrations are included alongside text developed by experts in the field. An invaluable resource for physiatrists, neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, specialists in pain management and other providers, Functional Electromyography: Provocative Maneuvers in Electrodiagnosis represents a major contribution to the field of electrodiagnosis.

Neurorehabilitation together with functional neurosurgery are steadily growing fields. In order to encapsulate such concepts, the fourth official scientific meeting of the Neurorehabilitation and Reconstructive Neurosurgery Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) was held in Seoul. This volume is the fourth in a new series of proceedings covering the most important advancements in this field.

This Acta Neurochirurica supplement distills the accomplishments of the Joint Convention of the Academia Eurasania Nuerochirurgica and the German Academy of Neurosurgery held in Bamberg, Germany from Sept. 1-3 2005. The main focus is "Medical Technologies for Neurosurgery," including: imaging, image processing, robotics, workflow analysis and ethics. Coverage extends from an overview of medical technologies, to robotic-assisted systems in neurosurgical operating rooms, to intraoperative MRI.

As an addition to the European postgraduate training system for young neurosurgeons we began to publish in 1974 this series of Advances and Technical Standards in Neurosurgery which was later sponsored by the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies. This series was first discussed in 1972 at a combined meeting of the Italian and German Neurosurgical Societies in Taormina, the founding fathers of the series being Jean Brihaye, Bernard Pertuiset, Fritz Loew and Hugo Krayenbiihl. Thus were established the principles of European co operation which have been born from the European spirit, flourished in the European Association, and have throughout been associated with this serIes. The fact that the English language is well on the way to becoming the international medium at European scientific conferences is a great asset in terms of mutual understanding. Therefore we have decided to publish all contributions in English, regardless of the native language of the authors. All contributions are submitted to the entire editorial board before publication of any volume. Our series is not intended to compete with the publications of original scientific papers in other neurosurgical journals. Our intention is, rather, to present fields of neurosurgery and related areas in which important recent advances have been made. The contributions are written by spe cialists in the given fields and constitute the first part of each volume.

The author describes in his unique style the anatomical variants of the brain and skull. This atlas is a continuation of his last work on "Neuronavigation and Neuroanatomy". Most anatomical reference volumes show a large number of common and rare variations. This atlas concentrates on well known and little known variants which are especially important for the clinicians, in particular the neurosurgeons and the radiologists. The variants have been grouped after areas of trepanation. The author presents also a number of so far unknown variants gathered from his personal theoretical and clinical experience of 50 years. Exact knowledge of anatomical variations which the surgeon may encounter helps to plan operations and to avoid unexpected complications. Variants of no clinical relevance, even rather common ones, have not been included.

The book contains 48 articles presented at the 11th International Conference on Cerebral Vasospasm held in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, in July 2011. This collection of papers represents a cross-section of the enormous progress that has been made towards a thorough understanding and effective treatment of neurovascular events following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, including cerebral vasospasm. It is of interest to clinicians who wish to apply state-of-the-art knowledge to their management of this devastating condition and to basic scientists wishing to expand their understanding of cerebrovascular and neural pathophysiology related to subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Since Bailey and Cushing (1926), all brain tumor classifications have been called histogenetic. The nosographic position that the tumor types progressively acquired in the classification systems derived from the resemblance of tumor cells to those of the cytogenesis, modified whenever new information became available from different biological research fields and especially from molecular genetics. Classically, on the basis of the rough correspondence between the mature/immature aspect of tumor cells and the benign/malignant biological behavior of the tumors, the histological labels contained a prognostic significance. The supposed origin of the tumors was thus a factor for prognosis. Later on, with the concept of anaplasia (Cox, 1933; Kernohan et al., 1949) new criteria were introduced for establishing the malignancy grades of tumors. Immunohistochemistry and later molecular genetics further refined the prognostic diagnoses, substantially increasing the opportunities to recognize the cell origin of tumors, beside revealing the pathogenetic mechanisms. Prognoses became more accurate, as required by the greater and more targeted possibilities of therapy.

Peripheral and Cerebrovascular Intervention draws upon experts from diverse fields to provide readers with a comprehensive foundation for understanding and performing endovascular procedures-from the basic steps to the most current and advanced techniques. Individual chapters focus on primary intervention sites, including lower extremity, renal/mesenteric, subclavian/upper extremity, carotid/vertebral, intracranial and venous interventions. Additionally, chapters covering critical limb ischemia and abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms are included. By incorporating valuable clinical information, such as indications, contraindications, complications and discussions of surgical techniques and procedures, this book is a valuable resource for the busy practitioner and will be of interest to all interventional and general cardiologists, radiologists and neurologists; vascular surgeons; internists and residents and fellows.

Owing to their frequency and possible consequences and considering the fact they frequently affect young people, trauma tic lesions of the thoraco lumbar spine represent a special point of interest within the field of Neurotraumatology. Traffic accidents are the commonest cause, which accounts for the high peak of occurrence between 15 and 24 years of age. It is also worth noting that according to published series nearly 50% ofthe cases affect the thoraco-lumbar junction. From an anatomical point of view, we must note the severity of thoracic spinal cord lesions especially of the thoraco-lumbar junction and of the lumbar region and be able to associate injuries ofthe conus medullaris and of the ca uda equina where there is a possibility of neurological recovery. Clinical evaluation is not always easy, but remains the basis for diagnosis and prognosis. The neurological classification proposed by FRANKEL et al. in 1969 and used at STOKE MANDEVILLE Hospital seems to retain its value. A more sophisticated study of medullary evoked potentials, as described by TsUBOKAWA can allow a more precise localisation and appreciation of the extent ofthe lesion as well as a better evaluation ofthe prognosis and ofthe evaluation of treatment in the acute phase. The neuro-radiological study should include standard views ofthe whole of the spine with antero-posterior and lateral tomograms of the fractured or luxated area. At present, the unquestionable contribution of the CT.

Modern microsurgical techniques have opened up a new horizon for the otoneurosurgeon. This volume is a very important contribu tion to the student who is learning these surgical approaches. Surgical otoneurology has now passed the infancy stage, but is still an adolescent. As more otologists and neurosurgeons become skilled in this type of surgery, new and better approaches will evolve. Certainly there needs to be much better management of the carotid artery as it passes through the temporal bone. Better techniques to preserve the IX, X, and XI nerves in the jugular bulb area should be developed, and more delicate procedures for management of lesions inside the cochlea and vestibular labyrinth should be developed. As our diagnostic techniques have improved, particularly through imaging, surgical techniques to match the improved diagnostic techniques will emerge. For future otoneurologists who are pre pared, many problems involving the temporal bone that are now considered untreatable will be successfully managed for very grateful patients. The purpose of this text is to familiarize the otoneurosur geon with the anatomy of the temporal bone, skull base, infratem poral fossa, and cerebellopontine angle. This anatomy will be taught by demonstrating surgical procedures. This atlas which is an example of cooperation between the schools of Los Angeles and Verona will permit the reader to rehearse otoneurosurgical procedures in the laboratory, and, when the techniques have been mastered, apply the various approaches in the treatment of inner ear and skull base lesions. William F. House MD.

Computer technology has developed remarkably in the field of neurosurgery during the past 10 to 20 years. Great achievements have been made recently in neuroimaging techniques and computer technology for neuronavigation, from frameless, armless systems to robotic microscopes. Contained in the present volume are all the papers presented at the International Symposium on Computer-Assisted Neurosurgery and selected papers presented at the 6th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Computers in Neurosurgery, which were held in Kobe, Japan, on January 24-26, 1997. This volume is a comprehensive description and review of current technical ad vancements in computer-assisted neurosurgery, with a special focus on advanced intraoperative neuroimaging, various neuronavigation system, robotic microscopes, and strategies for preoperative and intraoperative surgical planning using high-power workstations with three-dimensional software. We express our thanks to the contributors for their participation and cooperation, and to Springer-Verlag for personal and technical assistance in publishing this work. We sincerely hope that this volume will contribute to improving neurosurgical technology and outcomes.

Cerebral stroke is a common and widespread phenomenon affecting a large number of the human population worldwide. Various surgical methods have been developed for its treatment and the therapeutic results have steadily improved. This is a reassuring trend that promises further progress will be made in the future. This volume contains important contributions by leading clinicians and researchers in the field to the "International Symposium on Surgery for Cerebral Stroke" held in Sendai, Japan, May 24 - 27, 1987.