Electrophysiological Set-Up for Data Acquisition and Processing During Stereotaxic Surgery: Demonstration on Pulvinar Units

Abstract

Microelectrode recordings during human stereotaxic surgery have become a very important aid to the neurosurgeon during target localization, allowing for the correction of individual anatomical variabilities. These recordings permit the study of the electrical activity of the different nuclei reached by the electrode in its way towards the selected target. Moreover, the availability of digital computers in the physiological laboratories has greatly complemented the analysis of neuronal activity by the introduction of new and very powerful statistical techniques. The knowledge of specific patterns of unitary activity within the thalamic nuclei may give additional information useful for the localization of the target.