The history of surgery for movement disorders

Treatment of movement disorders by interruption of pathways within the nervous system has been a goal of neurosurgeons for the past century. When human stereotactic surgery was introduced 50 years ago, a major advance was made in surgical treatment of Parkinson's disease and other disorders of the motor system. Since then, the field has experienced a period of progressive growth, then abrupt decline, and now is more active than ever before and continuing to grow rapidly. Recent progress in computer science, imaging techniques, neurophysiology, and stereotactic targeting has provided the fuel for future progress.