Advances in Functional Neurosurgery

Functional neurosurgery is a surgical branch that works in strict collaboration with Neurology, to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease, tremor, dystonia, pain, epilepsy, and Tourette’s syndrome, and other neuropsychiatric disorders. In the last 20 years, there have been considerable advances in the techniques, technologies, and approaches devoted to functional neurosurgery. These advances have led to improved stereotactic accuracy, better outcomes, a lower rate of complications, and a higher number of patients benefiting from this neurosurgical approach. Moreover, functional neurosurgery has allowed for a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of treated diseases. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become the leading stereotactic technique, over lesional surgery, based on adjustability and safety with bilateral procedures. Recent technological advances in technology, devices, and imaging are prompting additional developments to functional neurosurgery applied to a growing number of neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Since functional neurosurgery became a widely adopted therapeutic option for movement disorders patients over the last 30 years, the experience acquired and the technological advances in the fields of surgery and neuroimaging have made new strategies available that improve the accuracy of the current practice of functional neurosurgery. The goal of this Research Topic is to address current challenges and opportunities for functional neurosurgery, and to provide innovative research data on advanced neuroimaging techniques supporting the planning, execution, and monitoring of functional neurosurgery procedures.

For this Research Topic we are interested in submissions of Perspectives, Original Research, Systematic Reviews or Meta-analyses, which provide new insights on any aspects of functional neurosurgery and its use for neuropsychiatric disorders. In particular, we will consider studies reporting data on new techniques, indications, safety and novel use of imaging. New insights into disease pathophysiology provided by functional neurosurgery studies, and the use of intraoperative or chronic neurophysiological signals used for programming or lead implantation, are also welcome.