1954
Traumatic central cord syndrome, originally described by Schneider et al 1) in 1954.
A spinal cord subependymoma (SCSE) is a benign, non-invasive, slow-growing, WHO Grade I spinal cord tumor 2), first reported by Boykin et al. in 1954. 3).
Jelsma 4) 5) 6) was the first to give a description of subdural spontaneous pneumocephalus in 1954.
Since the end of the nineteenth century, the wide dissemination of Pott's disease has ignited debates about which should be the ideal route to perform ventrolateral decompression of the dorsal rachis in case of paraplegia due to spinal cord compression in tuberculosis spondylitis. It was immediately clear that the optimal approach should be the one minimizing the surgical manipulation on both neural and extra-neural structures, while optimizing the exposure and surgical maneuverability on the target area. The first attempt was reported by Victor Auguste Menard in 1894 7) , who described, for the first time, a completely different route from traditional laminectomy, called costotransversectomy. The technique was conceived to drain tubercular paravertebral abscesses causing paraplegia without manipulating the spinal cord.
The procedure defined by Capener in 1954 8) resulted in better results for the treatment of spinal tuberculosis, due to the effect of antibiotics 9).
The Division of Neurosurgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham was formally founded in 1954 under the leadership of James Garber Galbraith. The following 60 years would see neurosurgery at the forefront of the development of a nationally recognized medical center in the heart of Birmingham, Alabama. The Department of Neurosurgery now employs 14 faculty members, performs more than 4500 neurosurgical procedures annually, is active in clinical and laboratory research, and boasts a contemporary, comprehensive residency training program 10).