Unit:
Specialty NanomedicineLibrary of the School of Health Sciences
Author:
Giakoumettis Dimitrios
Supervisors info:
Σ. Σγούρος, Επικ. Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Ε. Ευσταθόπουλος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Ε. Σπυράτου, Μετα-Διδακτορική Ερευνήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Applications of nanotechnology in neurosurgery
Translated title:
Applications of nanotechnology in neurosurgery
Summary:
Background: Any object, material or particle with one, two or three of the outer dimensions smaller than 100 nm can be defined as nano-object, nano-material, or nano-particle respectively. Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology to medicine and is defined by the collaboration of an interdisciplinary field of sciences. Nanoparticles are the building blocks of nanomedicine and they are organized in disperse nanosystems, which are further categorized in molecular, colloidal, and coarse dispersions.
Objective: The objective of this study is to review the current developments of nanotechnology that are of use in different sections of neurosurgery.
Methods and Materials: We conducted a systematic review according to the PRISMA statements. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied for any nanomedical or nanotechnological advances in terms of neurosurgery. The search was performed using the Boolean logic of the advanced search of the PubMed database and by scanning reference lists of the resulting articles.
Results: The search yielded 1984 items and full texts of 190 articles were retrieved for further investigation. A total of 78 original studies were included in our review. Most of the studies, a total of 43, were about neuro-nanotherapy, while a total of 47 were about neuro-oncology.
Conclusion: The brain is probably the most challenging target organ, with the main obstacle to overcome the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Incidence of brain pathology is rising as the population ages, and convectional medications prove to be insufficient for dealing with many neurological diseases. Nanotechnological research is still young, yet quite promising and many new nanosystems are nowadays under development against brain pathology.
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine, Neurosurgery, Nanoparticles, Nanosystems
Number of references:
218
