Expectations and Outcomes
Expectations and outcomes Since the resurgence of neurostimulation technologies in the 1990s, promising advances have been made in this field by altering nervous system function for relief of pain and…
Limiting Morbidity
Surgery of any kind carries risk of complications and, to date, there is no surgical intervention that is completely safe. As ever, the goal of the surgeon in this regard…
Trials and Their Applicability
Introduction We as neuromodulators have a unique advantage. We are able to apply a technology that is both safe and testable. There are not many procedures that medicine offers that…
The Neuromodulation Approach
Introduction Neuromodulation means many things to many people – but essential to any point of view is that the term implies some type of intervention that interfaces on some level…
Surgical Techniques
Introduction Rather than write a ‘this is how I do it’ chapter, it seems more helpful to get under the skin of surgical techniques used specifically in neuromodulation, so to…
Cerebral – Deep
Introduction The notion that functional brain disorders can be treated by modulating the activity of subcortical brain regions is as old as modern neurosurgery. Meyers is credited with performing the…
The Electrode – Principles of the Neural Interface: Axons and Cell Bodies
Introduction Therapeutic interventions with electrical stimulation of the nervous system have a long and successful history. The fundamental feature of clinical applications of neurostimulation is the interaction between the stimulating…
The Electrode – Materials and Configurations
Physical basis of the electrode/electrolyte interface When a metal electrode is placed inside a physiological medium, such as extracellular fluid (ECF), an interface is formed between the two phases. In…
Peripheral Nerve
Introduction One of the less common areas of neuromodulation, peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) is probably its fastest growing direction, at least in the field of pain treatment. The approach, which…
Surgical Resection of Sacral Tumors/Sacrectomy and Lumbopelvic Reconstruction
Overview Most tumors of the sacrum are benign aggressive lesions—aneurysmal bone cysts, osteoblastomas, and giant-cell tumors—or low-grade malignancies, such as chordoma or chondrosarcoma. Intralesional resections in the form of curettage…
