Complications in Neurosurgery, Acta Neurochirurgica Supplement 130

Keki E. Turel, Mikhail F. Chenov, Hrishikesh Sarkar, Editors

ISSN 0065–1419 ISSN 2197–8395 (electronic)

ISBN 978–3-030–12886–9 ISBN 978–3-030–12887–6 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12887-6

Springer Nature Switzerland

Complications are the unpopular companion of our daily neurosurgical work in the operation theater. Some complications are minor, barely eradicable, and not in our focus, such as a urinary infection in an elderly patient scheduled for surgery. Some complications occur as a part of a severe disease, despite optimal management. A neurologic deficit related to severe vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage belongs to that category. In the vast majority of complications, however, the neurosurgeon is directly involved in its origin by having performed an operation without sufficient knowledge or technical skills or by making wrong decisions regarding the indication and postoperative patient care. I assume that every neurosurgeon is driven by the desire to reduce their own complication rate and that most neurosurgeons also feel a responsibility for obtaining good results for the organization he or she works in. While one's own disastrous complications are etched into our mind, it is much smarter and more patient friendly to learn from the experiences of experts in this field. Therefore, it is more than timely to publish a book on complications and complication avoidance. As a multi-author book, the chapters differ in structure. Many are centered around a catastrophic case, some are reviews of the literature, some are complication analyses of the case series of the authors themselves, and some focus on techniques and tools for complication avoidance. Chapters on complication definition, quality assessment, ethical aspects, and medicolegal issues frame the clinical articles. Because the book is a compilation of the presentations at two conferences in 2017, some rare complications may be overrepresented, while some aspects, especially focusing on the infrastructure for complication avoidance and monitoring, may be missing. Nonetheless, many important pearls, which can improve the neurosurgeons' daily work with the patient, can be found in the book. Therefore, the book should find its way into the bookshelf of every neurosurgeon who has not yet fully mastered their profession.

Prof. Dr. Veit Rohde

Department of Neurosurgery

University of Goettingen, Germany

Publication History

Article published online:
01 April 2024