Neurosurgical Re-Engineering of the Damaged Brain and Spinal Cord

This volume highlights the important role played by neurosurgeons and their techniques in neurorehabilitation. The authors review the recent advances made in neurosurgical techniques which can contribute to the patient's functional recovery from neurological deficits, such as movement disorders, bladder dysfunction, pain and other sensory disturbances, and cognitive dysfunction after CNS damage. They also demonstrate that when neurosurgeons are actively involved in applying a multidisciplinary approach during early neurorehabilitation, the patient's functional recovery is greatly facilitated through the timely use of various different neurosurgical techniques, including nerve grafting, cell transplantation, cortical stimulation, deep brain and spinal cord stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, and intrathecal drug therapy. The importance of such a multidisciplinary approach is discussed in terms of a new concept, the neurosurgical re-engineering of the damaged CNS.