Notes From Prague: Symposium on Neurosurgery

NOTES FROM PRAGUE: A EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

March 6, 2012

As things wind down at the 20th European Congress of Psychiatry, Prof Mathews briefly reviewed the neurosurgical procedures available for treating patients with mental disorders in a symposium on neurosurgery. He discussed the selection process for patients with treatment-resistant depression for surgery at the Scotland Advanced Interventions Service.

The service offers a multidisciplinary treatment approach, including pharmacological management and psychotherapy, in addition to various neurosurgical procedures, eg, vagus nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation, ablative neurosurgery. Prof Mathews stressed the need to make sure that patients are well informed and are not being coerced into neurosurgical treatment.