REVIEW   

Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 2022 February;66(1):49-53

DOI: 10.23736/S0390-5616.21.05331-5

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Evidence-based medicine in neurosurgery: why and how?

Cristian BLANCO-TEHERÁN ¹, Loraine QUINTANA-PÁJARO ¹, Alexis NARVAEZ-ROJAS ², Rafael MARTÍNEZ-PÉREZ ³, Ezequiel GARCÍA-BALLESTAS ¹, Luis MOSCOTE SALAZAR ^{1, 4, 5, 6}, Silvia PRADA-SOTO ⁴, Ivan LOZADA-MARTÍNEZ ^{4, 5, 6} ✉

¹ Center for Biomedical Research, University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia; ² Department of General Surgery, Carlos Roberto Huembes Hospital, National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, Managua, Nicaragua; ³ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA; ⁴ Medical and Surgical Research Center, University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia; ⁵ Colombian Clinical Research Group in Neurocritical Care, University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia; ⁶ Latin American Council of Neurocritical Care, Cartagena, Colombia

Since its inception, medical training and practice are based primarily on the clinical experience provided by the mentors of each of the medical schools. In the 1990s, the first steps were taken for the construction of what we now know as evidence-based medicine. Evidence-based medicine is the set of studies, methods, and principles for the prevention of medical diseases, management guidelines, and algorithms used in sources of evidence. Neurosurgery based on evidence has emerged thanks to advances in neuroscience and information technology that allows the globalization of current scientific information. The results of important reviews on the levels of evidence in neurosurgery are low in percentages of high-quality evidence in this field of medicine. Based on the above, the aim of this manuscript was to describe the application of evidence in neurosurgery, the current state of the art in evidence-based medicine, and the steps needed to create evidence of the best quality in neurosurgery.

KEY WORDS: Evidence-based medicine; Evidence-based practice; Neurosurgery; Review literature as topic