These proceedings from the Xth Congress of the European Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery in Stockholm reflect the growing interest in these fields of neurosurgery. It is the most extensive volume in this series of publications and it contains a large number of original articles pertaining to the most recent advances in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. Not long ago stereotactic neurosurgery was considered an esoteric sub speciality practised only by those involved in treating movement disorders and pain. In the last decade we have witnessed the incorporation of stereotactic methodology in the management of common neurosurgical diseases, and the stereotactic technique is now practised in all major neurosurgical centers. As with other surgical techniques and tools, however, the utilization of stereotactic methods requires special knowledge and training. This book comprises articles which give insight into new stereotactic applications and technology. For example, the usage of stereotaxis without a frame and the so-called navigator systems in open tumor surgery is dealt with in two papers. The introduction and development of radiosurgery is closely linked to the advancement of stereotactic technique. Radiosurgical treatment of tumors and cerebrovascular diseases has been one of major achievements in modern neurosurgery. This publication contains several original reports illustrating the efficacy of radiosurgery in problematic neurosurgical diseases.

The last ten years has witnessed a resurgence of interest in stereotactic surgery although this has been mainly in the field of the comparatively simple stereotactic biopsy of intracranial tumours. There is also evidence of a returning interest in functional neurosurgery other than pain which has always sustained high levels of endeavour. The present work comprises selected papers from a much larger group of interesting and important communications to the European Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. They represent modern views on a wide variety of stereotactic surgical topics from internationally acclaimed experts in this field. The neurosurgeon who has little or no acquaintance with this fruitful sub-specialty will be surprised to find very broad applications of the technique which is gradually replacing many con ventional neurosurgical procedures. This is particularly evident in the papers on tumours but there is also a section on the treatment of vascular disease which marks an extension of neurosurgical practice. The Society has always regarded technical advances as important and some of the most recent devel opments appear in this book. Finally, an exciting new development of neural transplantation marks the beginning of what may be an important part of neurological surgery in the future."

This volume contains selected contributions from the XIth Meeting of the European Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery held in September 1994 in Antalyaffurkey. Most of the papers deal with the many therapeutic and technical advancements made in this field of neurosurgery. The emergence of new stereotactic methodologies such as frameless stereotaxy and other forms of neuronavigation have become an indispensable tool for all types of neurosurgical operations. An increasing number of young neurosurgeons takes an interest in the neurosurgical approaches to the treatment of movement disorders, chronic pain and epilepsy. This is a clear sign ofthe growing awareness of the long neglected fact that these neurosurgical treatments can be offered to large patient populations. Neurotransplantation as a novel treatment of Parkinson's disease has paved the way for the application of this technology for other indications. The pioneering work performed by the late Edward Hitchcock is reviewed here. There is a renewed interest in pallidotomy for dealing with certain forms of Parkinson's disease and certain aspects of this operation are discussed in another paper. Progress in the neurosurgical treatment of pain is dealt with by contributions on refined techniques of percutaneous cordotomy, DREZ operations and critical evaluations of spinal cord stimulation. A novel approach is a report on the experiences of treating cancer pain by intraspinal implantation of chromaffin cells. Several contributions cover the important issues of novel techniques for the study of neural dysfunction, peroperative monitoring with PET, microrecording, magneto-encephalography and other techniques.

The book gives the most up-to-date information for the expanding field of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery from European and international experts. The newest developments in neural transplantation and stereotactic irradiation are included together with the reports on extensive trials of analgesic surgery and new techniques used in the treatment of a variety of functional disorders.