Introduction to the Scientific Sessions. Accidents in Stereotaxy — Side-Effects or Bonus?

Abstract

Stereotaxy in the human began in Edinburgh early in 1955 and I am deeply indebted to Gerard Guiot who gave my inspiration and who was my charming and persuasive mentor in those early days. The theme of my opening remarks is based on accidents in stereotaxy. Fortunately they have been uncommon but some have been curious and even beneficial. We all knew early on the problems of variation of anatomical structure within the basal ganglia and the fallability of radiological landmarks. It was the side-effects, the occasional sensory, motor or speech disturbance which forced a serious attempt to overcome the problem and led to the development of the use of physiological parameters, stimulation and depth micro-electrode recording (Gaze et al. 1964). Careful recording of side-effects and scattergrams for the plotting of lesions and these physiological techniques soon led to a better understanding of anatomical structure of cell masses and fibre interconnections.