General Anesthesia Versus Local Anesthesia in Stereotactic Biopsies of Brain Lesions: A Prospective Randomized Study.

Background: Stereotactic biopsy of brain lesions with unknown entities is a common neurosurgical procedure to obtain tumor tissue. Pathologists can then provide an exact diagnosis on which further therapy, such as resection, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy, can be based. These procedures can be performed under local or general anesthesia.