Biomimetic tissue phantoms for neurosurgical near-infrared fluorescence imaging.

Significance: Neurosurgical fluorescence imaging is a well-established clinical approach with a growing range of indications for use. However, this technology lacks effective phantom-based tools for development, performance testing, and clinician training.

Aim: Our primary aim was to develop and evaluate 3D-printed phantoms capable of optically and morphologically simulating neurovasculature under fluorescence angiography.

FDA Regulation of Neurological and Physical Medicine Devices: Access to Safe and Effective Neurotechnologies for All Americans.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ensures that patients in the U.S. have access to safe and effective medical devices.

Experience with 25 years of dorsal root entry zone lesioning at a single institution.

Background: The authors sought to assess long-term efficacy, surgical morbidity, and postoperative quality of life in patients who have undergone dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) lesioning.

Methods: We utilized the electronic chart system at our institution to identify patients who underwent DREZ lesioning since 1986. Of the patients that were able to be identified, 19 (12 males and 7 females) patients were able to be contacted at time of data collection.

Seizure freedom off antiepileptic drugs after temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

Data are limited on seizure recurrence after antiepileptic drug (AED) discontinuation in operated seizure-free patients. We reviewed seizure outcome in patients who came off AEDs after being seizure-free for 2 years following temporal lobe surgery in our center. Thirty-nine (68%) of 57 patients who discontinued AED therapy remained seizure-free.

Studies in autotomy: its pathophysiology and usefulness as a model of chronic pain.

An interesting behavioral syndrome results in animals from the same or similar types of lesions that lead to deafferentation pain in humans; many neurectomized animals begin to scratch, bite, or self-mutilate their denervated limb, a phenomenon termed autotomy. The proposition that this behavior in animals is a response to the chronic pain of peripheral nerve injury has met with considerable controversy. If this issue were resolved, then a better understanding of the neurophysiology of autotomy might help elucidate the mechanisms of the human conditions.

Comparison of subjective and objective analgesic effects of intravenous and intrathecal morphine in chronic pain patients by heat beam dolorimetry.

The pain tolerance latencies of 10 chronic pain patients were evaluated by heat beam dolorimetry (stimulus intensity 15.33 mW.cm-2.

Chronic pain assessment using heat beam dolorimetry.

The heat beam dolorimeter (HBD) was developed to evaluate cutaneous pain thresholds in humans. In the present study, the hypothesis that a patient's underlying pain status affects his pain tolerance to an incident HBD stimulus was tested. Twenty-seven chronic pain patients with a variety of clinical problems unresponsive to conventional algological therapy were scheduled for neurosurgical procedures.