Comparison between pediatric and adult neurosurgery: management and future perspectives

Abstract

With creation of the many subdivisions within the field of neurosurgery, neurosurgeons have taken on different roles. It is important for neurosurgeons to understand all the different subjects involved to enable them to build up long-term goals in patient management and research. As pediatric neurosurgeons, the authors give accounts of three characteristic diseases encountered in pediatric patients: spinal dysraphism with tethered cord syndrome, hydrocephalus, and craniosynostosis. Drawing on their personal experience of tethered cord syndrome, the authors stress the pathophysiological mechanisms, clinical characteristics and proper management of the pediatric disease. Because pediatric neurosurgeons cover the whole range of neurosurgical diseases of infancy and childhood, the authors emphasize that their actions can be the basis for the management of general neurosurgical patients. A comparison between pediatric and adult neurosurgery is also drawn, with special reference to the interaction between pediatric and adult neurosurgeons.