Robotic Deep Brain Stimulation (R-DBS)-"Awake" Deep Brain Stimulation Using the Neuromate Robot and O-Arm.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective surgical technique used to ameliorate the motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease. One of the key elements that determine successful patient outcomes is the accurate positioning of the DBS electrode during surgery.

Objective: To describe a robotic DBS (R-DBS) procedure using "awake" technique.

Quality-of-life outcomes with minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion based on long-term analysis of 304 consecutive patients.

Study Design: This was a prospective clinical study that took place in an outpatient spine clinic.

Objective: To demonstrate the short-/long-term outcomes from a large cohort of patients undergoing minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MITLIF).

Summary Of Background Data: Long-term prospective outcomes in patients undergoing minimally invasive spinal fusion for debilitating back pain has not been well studied.

Predicting seizure freedom after two or more chronic invasive evaluations in patients with intractable epilepsy.

Objective: In patients with intractable epilepsy, failure to localize and/or resect the epileptic focus after invasive monitoring is multifactorial. Rarely do these patients return for a second invasive evaluation, and their outcome is not clearly characterized. This study aims to determine the seizure outcome after a second invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) evaluation, and its possible predictors.

Gene expression changes in an animal model of in utero irradiation-induced Cortical Dysplasia.

Purpose: Cortical Dysplasia (CD) is the histopathological substrate in almost half of all drug-resistant focal epilepsies. Little is known about the gene expression profile of CD. As such information may help target therapeutics more effectively, our aim was to perform a gene expression analysis of an animal model of cortical dysplasia induced by in utero irradiation.

Is it safe to use recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein in posterior cervical fusion?

Study Design: A retrospective chart review of all patients who underwent posterior cervical fusion during a 1-year time period.

Objective: To analyze the safety profile of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP)-2 in posterior cervical fusion.

Summary Of Background Data: Use of rhBMP-2 in anterior cervical spine surgery has been associated with complications including postoperative edema, dysphagia, and hematoma formation.

Single injection of a low dose of pentylenetetrazole leads to epileptogenesis in an animal model of cortical dysplasia.

Purpose: Cortical dysplasia (CD) is one of the most frequent causes of pharmacoresistent focal epilepsy. Despite significant advances in various diagnostic and therapeutic methods, the basic mechanisms of higher susceptibility for seizures in patients with CD are unknown. Animal models of CD present with a lower threshold for seizure induction.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy in animal models of epilepsy.

The noninvasive localization of the epileptogenic zone continues to be a challenge in many patients that present as candidates for possible epilepsy surgery. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques provide accurate anatomical definition, but despite their high resolution, these techniques fail to visualize the pathological neocortical and hippocampal changes in a sizable number of patients with focal pathologies. Further, visualized lesions on MRI may not all produce seizures.

Oligoastrocytoma presenting with intractable epilepsy.

Objective: Oligoastrocytomas (OA) are mixed gliomas with distinct oligodendroglial and astrocytic neoplastic components. Very little about OA has been reported in the intractable epilepsy population.

Methods: We undertook a retrospective review of 923 patients who underwent resective surgery for intractable epilepsy between 1996 and 2004.

Fracture of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation hardware as a result of compulsive manipulation: case report.

Objective And Importance: Trichotillomania (TTM) is an impulse control disorder characterized by the recurrent pulling of one's hair resulting in noticeable hair loss. There has been no definite association drawn between Parkinson's disease (PD) and TTM, although there is a suggestion that obsessive-compulsive symptomatology may be more prevalent in left-side predominant PD. We believe that it is important to be aware of psychiatric comorbidities in the surgical treatment of PD, as they may significantly impact the postoperative course.

Risk factors for carbamazepine elevation and toxicity following epilepsy surgery.

Unlabelled: A proportion of patients undergoing epilepsy surgery, and receiving carbamazepine (CBZ), experience significant elevations in CBZ plasma concentrations, some with associated CBZ toxicity. The objective of this study was to identify significant risk factors for elevations (>12 microg/ml) in CBZ concentrations and CBZ-induced toxicity following epilepsy surgery.

Methods: We retrospectively examined charts of 74 inpatients (31 children and 43 adults) chronically receiving CBZ and undergoing epilepsy surgery between January 1996 and June 2000.