[Computerized atlas for image-guided stereotactic functional neurosurgery].

Objective: A computerized version of the Schaltenbrand and Wahren's stereotactic brain atlas for image-guided functional neurosurgery planning has been developed and integrated into our PC-based planning system.

Methods: The SW atlas plates were digitized, contoured and labeled for both hemispheres. The computerized atlas may be interactively registered with patient's data using linear and non-linear transformation.

[Modes of treatment for arteriovenous malformations of the brain].

Introduction And Development: Over the years new kinds of therapy have been incorporated into the treatment of arteriovenous malformations (AVM). Current treatment of AVM of the brain employs three well established options: radiosurgery, endovascular therapy (embolisation) and microsurgical resection. Radiosurgery is the simplest and least invasive, but 2 3 years are required to achieve total obliteration, and throughout this time there is the risk of bleeding; its use is limited to small AVM.

[The diagnosis of arteriovenous malformations of the brain].

Introduction: Arteriovenous malformations (AVM) of the brain are, at present, entities that are difficult to diagnose owing to the variations in their clinical presentation and the different localisations in the central nervous system. Their most frequent clinical forms are haemorrhage, which is typically located in the intraparenchymatous region, seizures and, less frequently, vascular headache and progressive neurological deficit.

Development And Conclusions: Several imaging studies with different resolutions must be performed for a final and conclusive diagnosis of an AVM, and brain angiography remains the first choice procedure, both in diagnosis and in planning management.

[Subthalamic nucleus targeting and spatial variability].

Aim: The effectiveness of anatomic localization of the subthalamic nucleus (EAL) was assessed and the mapping method is described here. The symmetry of contralateral nuclei (SCN) was analyzed on 11 parkinsonian patients submitted to bilateral subthalamotomy with ablative lesioning.

Patients And Methods: To assess EAL the percentage so much of first trajectory (p1) as the total of trajectories (pt) that hit the target and the rest of subthalamic nucleus average distance (d) was calculated.