[Minimally invasive stereotactic functional surgery using an intravenous anesthetic propofol and applying Image...

Image-guided stereotactic surgery of the ventralis intermedius nucleus of the thalamus, globus pallidus, and subthalamic nucleus is a prevailing modality as a treatment of movement disorders. This technical note describes a method of minimally-invasive stereotactic functional surgery for patients with parkinsonian symptom or various tremors. Patients were administered propofol, an intravenous anesthetic, during placement of a burr hole and a stereotactic frame, but not the period when the patients were necessary to be awake. The intravenous anesthesia was very beneficial to relieve local pain and mental stress of the patients. Radionics ImageFusion and AtlasPlan were used for defining the target localization without an intraoperative ventriculography. ImageFusion efficiently fused high-resolution MR images on CT images. AtlasPlan accurately corrected the localization of the tentative target point after measurements from the midpoint of the anterior commissure-posterior commissure line on the modified MRI, and enabled us to reduce the degree of an intraoperative correction to fix a final target. Stereotactic functional surgery has been thought to be less-invasive, however further modifications of surgical procedure and intraoperative medication can make this type of surgery much more less-invasive.