No abstract

Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is complex and recurrent chronic pain after spinal surgery. Several important patient and surgery related risk factors play roles in development of FBSS. Inadequate selection of the candidates for the spinal surgeries is one of the most crucial causes. The guidelines suggest that conservative management featuring pharmacologic approaches and rehabilitation should be introduced first. For therapy-refractory FBSS, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is recommended in selected patients. Treatment efficacy for FBSS has increased over the years with the majority of patients experiencing pain relief and reduced medicinal load. Improved quality of life can also be achieved using SCS. Cost-effectiveness of SCS still remains unclear. However evidence for SCS role in FBSS is controversial, SCS can be beneficial for carefully classified patients.

Modern approaches to the organization of translational research

There is a lot of evidence that a great Russian writer and essayist Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky suffered from epilep‑ sy. Not only this disease had influence on Dostoevsky’s personality and social life, but also affected his creative work. Dostoevsky is believed to suffer from mesiobasal temporal lobe epilepsy with an ecstatic aura – a form named after him afterwards.