Brain ablation in the rat cerebral cortex using a tunable-free electron laser.

Background And Objectives: We used the MARK III free electron laser (FEL) tuned to molecular vibrational absorbance maxima in the infrared (IR) wavelength range of 3.0-6.45 microm to study the effect of these various wavelengths and a power level of 5 mJ/2 microseconds macropulse on photoablation of CNS tissue.

Exposure of the dorsal root ganglion in rats to pulsed radiofrequency currents activates dorsal horn lamina I and II neurons.

Objective: Application of pulsed radiofrequency (RF) currents to the dorsal ganglion has been reported to produce long-term relief of spinal pain without causing thermal ablation. The present study was undertaken to identify spinal cord neurons activated by exposure of the dorsal ganglion to pulsed RF currents in rats.

Methods: Left-sided hemilaminectomy was performed in adult Sprague-Dawley rats to expose the C6 dorsal root ganglion.

Seizure outcome after temporal lobectomy for temporal lobe epilepsy: a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

Objective: To determine seizure outcome and its predictors in patients with medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) after temporal lobectomy (TL).

Background: TL is the most common surgical procedure performed in adolescents and adults for the treatment of medically refractory TLE. Seizure outcome has been reported extensively during the first few postoperative years, but little is known beyond that time.

Evolution of neuroablative surgery for involuntary movement disorders: an historical review.

Surgical therapy of involuntary movement disorders has evolved during the past century from gross destructive ablations of the central nervous system to refined, accurate, discrete lesioning of sites deep within the brain. The understanding of neuroanatomic and physiological systems improved tremendously through experimentation in animals and empirical observations of surgery in humans. A continuum of accumulated knowledge has been achieved through ablation or lesioning of virtually all aspects of the central and peripheral nervous system predicated on previous successes or failures.