Introduction: Operative Neurosurgery Technical Lessons Video Series

Abstract

When Godfather II was released almost half a century ago, it was widely considered the best sequel ever made. It was also the first sequel to receive the Best Picture award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and together with the original, the pair remains at the pinnacle of movie-making today. The Operative Neurosurgery Technical Lessons Video Series is also a sequel of sorts, and if it can approximate how closely the sequel emulated The Godfather, it would greatly satisfy all of us involved in its creation. So, what of the original to our remake? Neurosurgical Procedures: Personal approaches to classic operations was published in 1992.1 In this vastly useful and widely popular book, editor Dr Charles Wilson solicited 20 of his friends, all “seasoned neurosurgeons” per his preface, to write “how to” chapters about their favorite approach. By intention, the authors were encouraged to highlight their personal experiences, and as such, the language of scientific discourse was put aside and replaced with authoritative voices that were personal, in some cases even intimate, and therefore, imminently relatable. Giants of neurosurgery were well-represented in this book. The venerable Thoralf Sundt discussed bypass surgery to treat cavernous aneurysms, and John Jane wrote about orbital approaches. Like Peter Jannetta, who authored a chapter on microvascular decompression, the writers were the ones who developed the operations and defined the boundaries of their indications. Their collective work can be considered a snapshot of the “best practice” in neurosurgery during the late 1980s. Picking up the book today, the content seems unusably outdated. Although cures of glioblastoma and prevention of spinal stenosis remain elusive, neurosurgery has taken a quantum leap since 1992. The development of endovascular devices, the ubiquitous presence of contemporary navigation systems, and the partnership of the modern neurosurgeons with skull base rhinologists have all turned Dr Wilsons' book into a historical monument. And so, this remake is to update the original, hopefully achieving the same usefulness, connection with the audience, and popularity of it. Because neurosurgery itself has modernized in the past 4 decades, so too has the teaching of it. Neurosurgical trainees around the world rely heavily on social media, not only for connection with each other but also for learning, and platforms such as YouTube has made operative videos widely disseminated, powerful tools for teaching neurosurgery. Although our movies are not necessarily directed by Francis Ford Coppola, still, watching a 10-minute movie demonstrating a surgical technique is more engaging to most viewers than reading a 20-page chapter. For this reason, the Operative Neurosurgery Technical Lessons Video Series is designed to be a collection of surgical videos, produced by experienced neurosurgeons, each demonstrating their favorite procedure, or to borrow words from Dr Wilson again, “the approach… associate(d) particularly with them.” Each episode is focused on a single procedure, and again, the producers are encouraged to concentrate on their personal experiences, honed by many repetition, and influenced by their unique portfolio of complications and to forego comprehensive expositions of alternative techniques and exhaustive data to support the indications of the variations. Thusly imbued with the voice of the producer and equal parts Arts and Science, the videos will hopefully come across to the viewer as personal, compact, and digestible. As a collection, the series strives to resonate with the community as a superb collection of modern cranial neurosurgery. Selection for the list was art in itself, and we thank Editor-in-Chief Doug Kondziolka for personally participating in this process, beyond simply encouraging the project to move forward. The symbol we chose to represent this series is da Vinci's “Vitruvian Man” superimposed on the brain. In many ways, the most iconic image of western civilization, Leonardo's drawing depicts a perfectly proportioned human fit simultaneously into a circle and square. It symbolizes the equipoise of Arts and Science, a balance which is the ideal of the High Renaissance. Similarly, this series strives to achieve the same balance of the 2 and aim to be a worthy sequel. On behalf of the Editorial Board, Journal Editor, Operative Neurosurgery, Rachel Lowery, and the Operative Neurosurgery staff, we hope the videos provide you many hours of learning.