This is the first controlled trial evaluating an entirely novel cancer treatment modality delivering electric fields rather than chemotherapy. No improvement in overall survival was demonstrated, however efficacy and activity with this chemotherapy-free treatment device appears comparable to chemotherapy regimens that are commonly used for recurrent glioblastoma. Toxicity and quality of life clearly favoured TTF.

BackgroundFor patients with psychiatric illnesses remaining refractory to ‘standard’ therapies, neurosurgical procedures may be considered. Guidelines for safe and ethical conduct of such procedures have previously and independently been proposed by various local and regional expert groups.MethodsTo expand on these earlier documents, representative members of continental and international psychiatric and neurosurgical societies, joined efforts to further elaborate and adopt a pragmatic worldwide set of guidelines. These are intended to address a broad range of neuropsychiatric disorders, brain targets and neurosurgical techniques, taking into account cultural and social heterogeneities of healthcare environments.FindingsThe proposed consensus document highlights that, while stereotactic ablative procedures such as cingulotomy and capsulotomy for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder are considered ‘established’ in some countries, they still lack level I evidence. Further, it is noted that deep brain stimulation in any brain target hitherto tried, and for any psychiatric or behavioural disorder, still remains at an investigational stage. Researchers are encouraged to design randomised controlled trials, based on scientific and data-driven rationales for disease and brain target selection. Experienced multidisciplinary teams are a mandatory requirement for the safe and ethical conduct of any psychiatric neurosurgery, ensuring documented refractoriness of patients, proper consent procedures that respect patient's capacity and autonomy, multifaceted preoperative as well as postoperative long-term follow-up evaluation, and reporting of effects and side effects for all patients.InterpretationThis consensus document on ethical and scientific conduct of psychiatric surgery worldwide is designed to enhance patient safety.

It is still generally believed that complex visual analysis is not carried out within the first 100 ms. Here we show that intra- and extracranial visual evoked potentials (VEPs) differentiate previously seen faces from novel faces as early as 50 ms after stimulus onset. EEG was recorded from scalp electrodes in 12 male healthy volunteers (group I) and intracranially from implanted depth electrodes in the temporal and frontal cortex of seven epilepsy patients (group II). Both groups were engaged in a face recognition task. All subjects showed significant differential responses which occurred very early (50-90 ms) and later (190-600 ms). In group II, the early responses were recorded more frequently in the right hemisphere, whereas the late differential VEPs were found in both hemispheres. Both types of VEPs were more frequent in the temporal neocortex, underlining its role as a major contributor to these fast recognition processes.