Conquering the third ventricular chamber Historical vignette

Surgery within the third ventricle was a special challenge early in the conception of the discipline of neurosurgery due to a lack of diagnostic methods and difficulty in reaching and removing lesions affecting this vital region. Walter Dandy and Harvey Cushing performed pioneering approaches of the third ventricular region. The authors have reviewed the previously undisclosed efforts of Cushing to approach the third ventricle through a direct review of his available patient records at the Cushing Brain Tumor Registry. The authors compare these efforts to those of Dandy published in Dandy's pioneering work Benign Tumors in the Third Ventricle of the Brain: Diagnosis and Treatment. Based on the review of these records, the authors attempt to examine the foundations of surgery within the third ventricle. (DOI: 10.3171/2008.9.17664)