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About the Scientific Director
Dr. Philip L. Gildenberg received a B.A. degree in Physiology from the University of
Pennsylvania in 1955, his M.D. and an M.S. in Neurophysiology from Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1959 followed by a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology from Temple University in 1970.
He is:
- Director of Houston Stereotactic Concepts, Inc.;
- Clinical Professor of Surgery (Neurosurgery) and Radiation Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine;
- Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Texas Medical School at Houston;
- Inventor and founder, Restoration Robotics, a company devoted to robotic hair transplantation surgery.
- Inventor and founder, Suturing Robotics, LLC, which makes a semi-robotic suturing device.
Dr. Gildenberg retired from the clinical practice of neurosurgery in October, 2001. He is the Past-President of the American Society for Stereotactic Functional Neurosurgery and is the Past-President of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. Dr. Gildenberg has had the privilege of participating as a visiting professor at more than 30 medical institutions worldwide. A world-recognized authority in minimally invasive neurosurgery, Dr. Gildenberg has designed several techniques to facilitate biopsy and resection of brain tumors, as well as other neurosurgical techniques involving treatment of movement disorders and pain.
He holds several patents concerning
- a means of using CT scanning to measure cerebral blood flow
- several devices for correlating coordinate systems between various types of stereotactic apparatus
- a system to guide the neurosurgeon in resection of brain tumors by presenting a virtual reality view, integrating a video image of the operating field with a computer generated picture of the brain tumor derive from a CT or MRI scan
- the use of an audible to guide the surgeon in brain tumor surgery
- a set of instruments for stereotactic biopsy of brain masses (Radionics, Inc.)
- a system to use stereotactic techniques in robotic hair transplantation surgery, and has several additional patents pending concerning
- a semi-robotic suturing device
- a new type of forceps to facilitate suturing in surgery
- robotic wig making
- a pneumatic tourniquet to facilitate venipuncture
- a system to formulate a three-dimensional picture of blood vessels from two-dimensional digital x-ray pictures
In addition, he has written extensively in the field of functional neurosurgery, that is, surgery for movement disorders (such as Parkinson's disease and spasmodic torticollis), pain (particularly cancer pain), and epilepsy surgery. In 1997, Dr. Gildenberg was honored to receive the Spiegel-Wycis Medal from the World Society of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and in 2003 a Distinguished Service Award from the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery.
He is a member of the:
- American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery
- World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery
- American College of Surgeons
- American Association of Neurological Surgeons
- Congress of Neurological Surgeons
as well as numerous other professional organizations and societies.
Dr. Gildenberg and Professor Ronald Tasker of Toronto have published the Textbook
of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, which is considered to be one of the
milestone publications in the field, bringing together authors from the various disciplines
involved in stereotactic surgery to present the most comprehensive book yet published in
that field. A second edition of that textbook, with Professor Andres Tasker as primary editor, is presently in progress.
He edited an annual series on stereotactic radiosurgery (the use of localized radiation to
treat brain tumors or vascular malformation of the brain)., and was the Editor of the journal Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery from 1975 to 2002.
Dr. Gildenberg worked for 13 years, beginning as a medical student, with Dr. Ernest A. Spiegel and Dr. Henry T. Wycis, the doctors who invented the field of human stereotactic surgery just over 50 years ago, and has been active in the field for almost 45 years. His original contributions to stereotactic and functional neurosurgery involve
- (1) the invention of a new operation for cancer pain, anterior cervical percutaneous cordotomy (with Dr. Paul Lin),
- (2) a new operation, limited myelotomy, for the treatment of cancer pain involving pelvic structures,
- (3) the discovery of the use of spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of spasmodic torticollis,
- (4) the design of a set of instruments for performing stereotactic brain biopsy, the Gildenberg Stereotactic Biopsy Kit (Radionics),
- (5) the invention of a means of displaying a computer generated three-dimensional virtual picture of a brain tumor into the picture of the surgical field to guide the surgeon as the brain tumor is resected by holding a video camera with a stereotactic frame during surgery (Exoscope or Videotactic surgery)
- (6) a means of correlating coordinate systems between various stereotactic apparatus, which makes it possible to use software designed for one system with several other systems. Such software has been used for non-invasive immobilization of the head for stereotactic radiosurgery, to provide radiation in several divided doses rather than a single dose, converting stereotactic radiosurgery to hypofractionated stereotactic
radiotherapy.
Email: hsc@stereotactic.net
Phone: 713-664-3592
FAX: 713-669-0388