Ebook: Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery and Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology

Neurotraumatology patients present an enormous challenge to society. Neuros- gical management of brain and spinal cord injury has been a frustrating area, as s- gical methods, especially in moderate and severe injuries, have been limited to control of brain and spinal compression, control of intracranial pressure with its expected effect on cerebral blood flow, and structural repair of the supporting structures (skull, spine, brain and spinal cord coverings). Achieving the best outcome for the neu- traumatology patient, however, requires much more than that. This important issue has thus far been approached through the broadest spectrum of scientific knowledge, from the most fundamental biological sciences to the social sciences. Such a variety of approaches has for a long time been in need of a "center of gravity;' a balancing point where facts and opinions can meet and be integrated. The management of neural injury is awaiting a breakthrough, and we should do our best to facilitate. As the majority of the new discoveries tend to appear at the integrating borderlines of two separate scientific areas, our duty is to bring together all scientists involved with neural injury. all hope that the meeting has fulfilled this goal and is a step forward in bringing together previously distant areas of knowledge in neurotraumatology. These proceedings contain the full text of the submitted reports, with the intention of providing the information and personal opinions of the participating speakers to those who were unable to attend.

The primary objective of neurosurgeons is to achieve the best possible outcome for patients while minimizing nervous-system injury through their interventions. Great advances in the practice of minimally invasive neurosurgery over the past couple of decades have been made possible through technological advances providing increasingly sophisticated instrumentation for use in the operating room, necessitating the acquisition of new surgical skills and know-how.

Dissemination of this kind of knowledge was the common goal of two conferences, the 6th International Congress of Minimally Invasive Surgery and the 3rd World Congress of the Academy for Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology, held concurrently in Nagoya, Japan, in March 2005. This volume of proceedings contains in their entirety the reports submitted at both these meetings, and provides valuable insights into the latest innovations in clinical neurosurgery for practitioners from a broad range of disciplines.