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The 2016 scientific meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) focused on the theme “A World of Innovation.” In his presidential address, 2016 AANS President Frederick Boop compared the historical development of the specialty of neurological surgery with that of the development of global communications. In the early years, general surgeons training in the United States would spend post-residency time abroad learning from surgical masters in Europe and other places. Since Harvey Cushing’s day, neurosurgeons from around the world continue to travel abroad, with many now coming to America for training at centers of excellence.

Current clinical practice is defined by multi-national, multi-center clinical trials, and the AANS subsidiary NeuroPoint Alliance has positioned itself to serve as an international center for the oversight of such trials. The Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation and the Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group have made it possible for a neurosurgeon anywhere with Internet access to learn relevant surgical anatomy, learn new neurosurgical procedures, and watch masters in the field perform operations via high-definition surgical videos at no cost via learning platforms such as the Rhoton Collection, the Neurosurgical Atlas, andNeurosurgical Focusvideo supplements. At the same time, patients are now traveling abroad to seek medical specialty care. Although the globalization of health care poses certain threats, it also presents neurosurgeons with a world of opportunities.

Primary neoplasms of the pituitary gland are uncommon in children. Physiological enlargement of the gland, however, is universal and can sometimes be confused with a tumor. Due to widespread availability of MR imaging, the number of children referred to pediatric neurosurgeons with an enlarged pituitary associated with nonspecific symptoms, most commonly headache, is increasing. In this review, the authors illustrate two common causes of pituitary enlargement in children, namely physiological hypertrophy of puberty, more commonly seen in females, and secondary hyperplasia caused by hypothyroidism. The importance of early and accurate diagnosis, without recourse to extensive endocrine investigations or inappropriate surgery, is underscored.

Epilepsy, especially with refractory seizures, is thought to arise only from cortical lesions or substrate. The authors report on 2 patients with refractory epilepsy and cerebellar lesions. Depth electrodes were placed within the cerebellar lesions in both patients, and intracranial electroencephalographic recordings showed seizure origin from the cerebellar lesions. One patient eventually attained seizure control with antiepileptic drugs. The other case involved a child with generalized myoclonic epilepsy associated with a pilocytic astrocytoma of the cerebellum. This patient obtained seizure control following gross-total resection of the tumor.