Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 2008
Biography Historical ArticleWilliam P. van Wagenen and the first corpus callosotomies for epilepsy.
As a trainee of Dr. Harvey Cushing, cofounder and first president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and founder of a prestigious international academic fellowship, Dr. William P. van Wagenen is an important figure in the history of neurological surgery. ⋯ Akelaitis, which led to the description of some features of "split-brain" patients 2 decades before similar work in the 1960s eventually resulted in a Nobel Prize for Roger W. Sperry in 1981. These contributions firmly establish William P. van Wagenen as one of the founding pioneers in the surgical treatment of patients with epilepsy.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 2008
High-dose intraarterial verapamil in the treatment of cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Because oral calcium channel blockers appear to reduce the severity of cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), interest in their application intraarterially has emerged for cases in which noninvasive means of alleviating vasospasm are unsuccessful. Studies to date have been limited to the administration of low intraarterial doses because of concerns about hemodynamic stability and changes in intracranial pressure. These doses, although effective in cases of milder vasospasm, were inadequate in severe cases. The authors present a series of 10 patients with cerebral vasospasm who underwent 12 procedures in which they received > or = 20 mg of intraarterial verapamil per procedure. ⋯ This study indicates that high-dose intraarterial verapamil may be used to treat cerebral vasospasm without compromising hemodynamic stability or increasing ICP.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Feb 2008
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyEffect of spinal cord stimulation for chronic complex regional pain syndrome Type I: five-year final follow-up of patients in a randomized controlled trial.
Chronic complex regional pain syndrome-Type I (CRPS-I) is a painful, disabling disorder for which no treatment with proven effect is available. In the present randomized controlled trial, the authors assessed the effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in reducing pain due to CRPS-I at the 5-year follow-up. ⋯ Despite the diminishing effectiveness of SCS over time, 95% of patients with an implant would repeat the treatment for the same result.