Neurosurgical Neuropsychology: The Practical Application of Neuropsychology in the Neurosurgical Practice

Neuropsychology is a service that is relied heavily upon by neurosurgeons at large centers across the world for the purpose of pre-surgical planning. However, smaller surgical programs often do not have access to neuropsychologists specialized in the various techniques necessary for the presurgical workup. The same difficulty is often encountered when consulting a neuropsychologist postoperatively as well. Also, due to the lack of adequately trained neuropsychologists in this fast expanding field, neurosurgeons outside of academic medical centers often have little experience with consulting neuropsychologists. The goal of Neurosurgical Neuropsychology is to inform both practicing neuropsychologists and neurosurgeons on the use of neuropsychology in the practice of neurosurgery, as well as disseminate the knowledge and techniques necessary for neuropsychologists to consult in a neurosurgical setting.

Neurosurgical Neuropsychology comprehensively explains the use of neuropsychology in neurosurgical settings. The book covers various techniques that may be of benefit to neurosurgeons preoperatively such as functional neuroimaging (fMRI, SPECT, MEG) for presurgical cognitive mapping, as well as more traditional methods to predict outcomes after surgery such as neurocognitive testing, and the Wada procedure. The editors discuss why neuropsychologists are uniquely qualified to aid in cognitive brain mapping, and therefore add considerable value to the neurosurgical team. A wide range of patient populations are also covered ranging from Deep Brain Stimulation candidates for Parkinson’s disease, to adult and pediatric epilepsy candidates, to neuro-oncology cases. This book informs neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, neuro-oncologists, epileptologists, general neurologists, and others on the use of neuropsychology as a consultation service in the presurgical and postoperative phases of neurosurgery.

Comprehensively explains the use of neuropsychology in neurosurgical settings Written for researchers and clinical practitioners focusing on neurosurgery, neuropsychology, clinical neuroscience, and neurologyDiscusses various techniques that may be of benefit to neurosurgeons presurgical and postoperative such as functional neuroimaging (fMRI, SPECT, MEG) for presurgical cognitive mapping, neurocognitive testing, and the Wada procedure

Introduction 1. The historical role of neuropsychology in neurosurgery 2. Foundations of contemporary neuropsychology 3. Components and Methods of Evaluating Reliable Change in Cognitive Function 4. A primer on neuropsychology for the neurosurgeon

Methods 5. Functional Neuroimaging in the Presurgical Work-up 6. Wada Testing and neurosurgical patients 7. Awake craniotomy and bedside cognitive mapping in neurosurgery

Applications 8. Neuropsychology in adult epilepsy surgery 9. Neuropsychology in the Neurosurgical Management of Primary Brain Tumors 10. The Role of the Neuropsychologist in Deep Brain Stimulation 11. Future directions in deep brain stimulation 12. Neuropsychology in the outcome of severe traumatic brain injury

Treatment and Management 13. Neuropsychological rehabilitation 14. Assessment of functional status after neurosurgical intervention