In July 2008, European and Japanese specialists in neurosurgery, neurology, interventional neuroradiology and neurointensive care joined together to discuss the latest developments in the management of cerebrovascular disorders at the 4th European Japanese Joint Conference on Stroke Surgery, held in Helsinki, Finland. This collection of papers from the meeting deal with aneurysm surgery and management of subarachnoid hemorrhage and stroke, arterial dissection, intracranial arteriovenous malformations and fistulas, and microneurosurgical bypass and revascularization techniques.