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666 | Short review of “Principiile chirurgiei neurologice”, 4th edition 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
Short review of “PRINCIPIILE 

CHIRURGIEI NEUROLOGICE”, 4th edition 
Editors: Ellenbongen RG, Sekhar LN, 

Kitchen ND, Elsevier 2018 
First Romanian Edition, coordinated by 

Prof. Ioan Ștefan Florian M.D., at Hipocrate 
Publishing House 

 
 
 
 

 
 

The three princeps authors, well known in 
the neurosurgery world, Ellenbongen RG, 
Sekhar LN, Kitchen ND, have the merit of 
publishing this monography, comprising the 
experience of an entire team of neurosurgeons, 
radiologists, radiotherapists, geneticists, 
anesthetists, from the United States but also 
from Canada, Australia, Brazil and Great 
Britain.  

 The publishing of a complete monography 
in any specialisation is not only obligatory, but 
well necessary. Such world wide recognized 
monographies have appeared everywhere in 
medical literature, like „Harrison's Principles 
of Internal Medicine” (originally published in 
1950) for internal medicine. In neurosurgery, 
for years, the specialised literature was 
dominated by the successive publishing of 
„Youman’s Neurological Surgery” (originally 
published in 1973). The same happened in 
pediatric neurosurgery and, even today, A. 
Leland Albright and his collaborators` works, 

especially „Principles and Practice of Pediatric 
Neurosurgery” (originally published in 1999), 
in various editions, have been the conduite 
guides in this discipline, detailing some 
particularities related to pediatric age. 

 The neurosurgery treatise was named in 
the classic tradition „Principles of 
Neurological Surgery”, the 4th edition 
(Editors: Ellenbongen RG, Sekhar LN, Kitchen 
ND, Elsevier 2018), first Romanian edition 
coordinated by Prof. Dr. Ioan Ștefan Florian at 
Hipocrate publishing house. It constitutes a 
modern, contemporary and novel view on 
neurosurgical pathology. The first edition of 
the "Principles of Neurosurgery" (Elsevier 
Publishing House) originally published in 
1993 by Setti S. Rengachary as first author, 
later joined by Robert H. Wilkins. 

 The authors framed their work under the 
precise denomination „Principles of 
Neurological Surgery”. The material in the 4th 
edition addresses especially neurosurgery 



 
 
 
 
 

Romanian Neurosurgery (2018) XXXII 4: 666 - 668 | 667 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

residents, practitioners, but also all the 
medicine students with inclinations for 
neurosciences. The three authors are 
renowned both for their extremely precise 
written works in neurosurgery, but also for 
their numerous neurosurgical interventions 
they developed over time, with personal 
upgrades and procedures.  

Considering all of the above, the president 
of the Romanian Society of Neurosurgery, 
with the support of Hipocrate publishing 
house, appreciated that the Romanian Society 
of Neurosurgery and all the practitioners in 
this field should possess the Principles of 
Neurosurgery in Romanian, in order to study 
in depth the clinical and operative details of 
the challenging neurosurgical pathology. 
Considering, furthermore, that often the 
information in English is not perfectly 
assimilated, the coordinator of this edition in 
Romanian, Prof. Dr. Ioan Ștefan Florian, made 
the translation as correct and appropriate as 
possible. Moreover, some chapters were 
revised by specialised translators so that 
nothing unclear or interpretable would 
appear, especially not in the operative 
procedures. 

The treatise „Principiile Chirurgiei 
Neurologice” has 9 parts: Part 1 - General 
considerations; Part 2 - Pediatric 
Neurosurgery; Part 3 - Vascular 
Neurosurgery; Part 4 - Cranial-Cerebral 
Trauma; Part 5 - Spine and Medulla Pathology; 
Part 6 - Intracranial Tumors; Part 7 - 
Radiosurgery and radiotherapy; Part 8 - 
Functional Neurosurgery. Pain; Part 9 - refers 
to several issues that were not covered in the 

previous parts, such as the pathology of 
Peripheral Nerves.  

Each chapter is structured beginning with 
several clinical notes, then a framing of the 
issue, its history, its epidemiology, genetic and 
etiological factors, anatomical-pathologic 
observations, clinical diagnostics evaluation 
and imagery; after that, the surgical 
procedures are described thoroughly, with 
operative timing, advantages and 
disadvantages for every procedure, then 
results, complications and future progress. 
The bibliography at the end of each chapter is 
carefully selected and comes mainly from 
actual data. As a whole, this monography 
firstly answers the major challenges of the 
specialists in this field regarding the correct 
diagnosis, and secondly it gives the 
recommended operative procedures of today.  

The Romanian edition „Principiile 
Chirurgiei Neurologice”, coordinated by Prof. 
Dr. Ioan Ștefan Florian, published at 
Hipocrate publishing house (translation of the 
4th edition in English edited by Ellenbongen 
RG, Sekhar LN, Kitchen ND, Elsevier 2018), 
supported by Fundația Transilvania Leaders, is 
extremely interesting, clear and efficient, with 
an exceptional scientific and educational 
quality.  

The translation of the documents was the 
result of a collective effort attended by 58 
physicians, alongside highly experienced 
teachers from all traditional university centers, 
including resident physicians with major 
inclinations for English language, for whom 
this approach was an intense educational 
exercise. 



 
 
 
 
 
668 | Short review of “Principiile chirurgiei neurologice”, 4th edition 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Reading the treatise in detail we see that the 
main topics in neurosurgery pathology are 
discussed, but some modern elements as well, 
such as the endovascular treatment of vascular 
cerebral malformations. Furthermore, 
radiotherapy and radiosurgery are also 
thoroughly discussed, with a focus on the 
recent aspects of proton therapy. 

The image-guided neurosurgery 
procedures are detailed and explained very 
clearly and very educationally, which 
contributes to a deeper understanding of the 
value and importance of image-guided surgery 
by magnetic resonance when diagnosticating 
neurosurgical traumas, in pre- or post-
operative.  

The first chapter is extremely interesting 
and is dedicated entirely to the history of 
neurosurgery, starting from the first 
trepanations and leading to more and more 
sophisticated approaches. The many 
progresses in this difficult field are all 
presented in short.   

Furthermore, this monography is also an 
efficient guide book for extremely difficult 
cases, complications or malpraxis in 
neurosurgery, with medical-legal 
interpretations.  

The presentation of each chapter is 
extremely clear, with exceptional illustrations, 
demonstrating the professionalism and 

dedication of the 3 authors, exceptional 
neurosurgical personalities. 

The monograph is done in nearly 900 
pages, with an alphabetical index of pathology 
at the end.  

We consider this neurosurgery treatise is 
edited at an international level by a complex 
team from the United States and Great Britain 
and also other personalities from different 
parts of the world, and as such it deserves a 
place on the main shelf of neurosurgical and 
adjacent specialties education (neurology, 
psychiatry, anesthesia etc.). 

The effort of the entire team of 
neurosurgery residents in Romania, 
coordinated by Prof. Dr. Ioan Ștefan Florian, 
in translating this book contributes immensely 
to the upgrade of the neurosurgical knowledge 
in this country. Most of all, publishing this 
treatise in Romanian represents a great 
opportunity for the neurosurgery experts in 
this country to have access to a modern and 
renowned international neurosurgical treatise.  

 
Andreea-Anamaria Idu, MD, PhD Student ,“Carol 
Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 
Neurosurgery Resident, Emergency University 
Hospital of Bucharest, Romania 
Prof. Alexandru-Vlad Ciurea, MD, PhD, MSc, Dr. 
h. c. Mult., Sanador Medical Center, Bucharest, 
Romania