ABSTRACT
When this book chapter was written, a century was about to close. It was in this era that neuroimaging techniques were introduced into the repertoire of diagnostic tools, antibiotic and psychotropic drugs were developed for the management of neurological and psychiatric diseases, and the advances in neuroscience and engineering laid down the foundations of modern neurosurgery. These triumphs revolutionized the medicine of the brain. Yet, at the dawn of year 2000, effective therapy is still unavailable for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease
and other degenerative disorders, stroke is still the third leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease and cancer,
and the currently marketed drugs are still ineffective in about 60% of patients with complex partial seizures.
