Clinical neurosurgery
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Computer-assisted neurosurgery has become so successful that it is rapidly becoming indistinguishable from, quite simply, neurosurgery. This trend promises to accelerate over the next several decades, bringing considerable benefit to the patients we care for. From a pragmatic point of view, can we identify specific instances in which clinical practice has been altered by computer assistance? During craniotomies for the resection of brain tumors, this technology has led to a greater standardization within and among practitioners for the expected degree of resection and the risk of morbidity and mortality. ⋯ It is apparent that using computer assistance in neurosurgery has begun a process that will irrevocably transform all of neurosurgical practice itself. It must be neurosurgeons themselves who provide the leadership to transcend the potentially distracting aspects of this technological revolution. What shall not change is the commitment that we, as neurosurgeons, have to the welfare of our patients.