Recent Articles

Washington Committee Report

Updates Timely Access to Care The Washington Committee has supported the timely access to care by its sponsorship of the Safe Ste Act (HR 2279/S2546) and the Seniors Timely Access to Care Act (HR 3107). Fix the Medical Liability System The Washington...

Education Committee: ASSFN Mentorship and Webinar Program

  We are 75% through this year's mentorship program and have had three webinars. To gain buy-in to continue this program, we need to promote with the program directors/senior partners to urge residents and fellows to enroll. We will personally...

Social Media and Website Committee

Updates A Twitter account was established for the society and is active (@ASSFNeurosurg ). The digital marketing team at the AANS have been engaged and are preparing a proposal to redesign the website and take over administration from our current...

Ethics Committee

The working group of the ASSFN Ethics Committee has drafted a position paper that will likely be submitted to the Medicolegal issue of Neurosurgical Focus that is planned for November. The deadline for that is July 1.

CNS Annual Meeting 2020 Stereotactic and Functional Content

Jonathan Miller, MD, FAANS; Julie Pilitsis, MD, PhD, FAANS; and I have been working with CNS Annual Meeting leaders to program the S&F content for the CNS 2020 Annual Meeting. Content from our field is well-represented at the meeting. The program...

ASSFN/SNS CAST Fellowship Review

There are currently 42 functional fellowships , 25 of which are CAST accredited . CAST has transitioned to ABNS and is in the process of re-accrediting programs; however, 17 advertised functional fellowships are not yet accredited. All have been...

Psychiatric Committee

The Psychiatric Committee has been focusing on improving awareness of psychiatric neurosurgery options among psychiatrists by increasing content on this topic at their national meetings, including submitting proposals to ACNS, SOBP and other psychiatric...

ASSFN Biennial Meeting

The ASSFN 2020 Biennial Meeting was another casualty of the pandemic. To showcase the exciting developments in our field and feature the high-quality research submitted as abstracts, ASSFN hosted a Virtual Scientific Update on Sunday, June 28, 2020 via...

ASSFN 2020 Spring Membership Report

Membership Statistics, April 2020 Type 2020 Dues 2020 Members 2019 Members 2018 Members 2017 Members Active $285 277 276 277 265 Associate $160 41 41 48 24 Medical Student – 12 13 7...

ASSFN Resident Award Project Summary

Author? Inhibitory control is a critical element of human cognition, making it possible to suppress or prevent undesired behaviors. Inhibitory control deficits are a core feature of neurodegenerative (e.g., Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease) and...

Medicare Coverage Approved Nationwide for Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Tremor

Key efforts by the ASSFN were critical to securing Medicare coverage for focused ultrasound thalamotomy for tremor (MRgFUS thalamotomy) for tremor across all 50 states. While MRgFUS thalamotomy is widely recognized by stereotactic and functional neurosurgeons...

ASSFN News & Views

Chronic Pain and Spasticity Medtronic rolled out DTM™ (differential target multiplexed) stimulation for their Intellis system. DTM is a high-density stimulation program that depends on using multiple simultaneous stimulation frequencies to target n...

Presidential Address

Originally presented at the ASSFN Virtual Scientific Update on June 28, 2020. Thoughts on Technology, Times and The Future or our Species: Good, Bad or Other? Thank you for the introduction, Emad. And thank you Emad and Sameer and the organizing...

Website Committee

We are in the process of considering how best to revamp the website to remain current and valuable to the membership as well as to provide a public resource for those interested in functional neurosurgery. In addition, resident members have been recruited...

Washington Committee

A summary of key initiatives from the Washington Committee include: The significant burden of preapproval and desire for reform Surprise billing and the risk to neurosurgery Voiced opposition to E&M code reduction Review of key insurance...

Research, Education and Fellowship Committee Mentorship Program

The first annual ASSFN mentorship program was a success with seven graduates. We obtained feedback surveys with glowing praise of everyone's contribution to the webinars, which we have recorded and put behind the firewall as a member benefit. We have...

ASSFN Membership Report

ASSFN Membership Statistics 10/4/2019 Subclass Code Class Code 2018 Dues 2019 Members 2018 Members 2017 Members 2016 Members 01S Active $285.00 276 290 265 280 15D Associate $160.00...

Guidelines Committee

Dr. Gonzalez-Martinez presented the five questions that the committee is currently considering for the epilepsy guidelines. There was discussion concerning the risks of a guideline influencing the ability to obtain precertification from payors. At...

Annual Meeting Planning Committee

AANS 2020 (Boston): ASSFN members Drs. Air, Sweet, McKhann and Abosch are on the Scientific Planning Subcommittee. AANS 2020 (Boston) Monday 4/27/19 Scientific Session: Face-off: Targeted neuromodulation has a role in primary generalized...

CAST Fellowship Review Committee

There are currently 26 CAST-accredited functional fellowships, while 16 advertised functional fellowships are not yet accredited. Case minimums have been established for two fellowship tracks (DBS and Epilepsy). Per CAST policy, enfolded fellowships are...

Bioethics Committee

There has been some activity on the ethics front. The Pain Section had already started gathering a group to look at the many ethical issues involved with various devices, including ones that most of us use. Many of the members of this group are also members...

ASSFN Biennial Meeting Committee

The ASSFN Biennial Meeting will be held June 20-23, 2020, in Boston. This meeting promises to continue the tradition of featuring the best clinical and basic research efforts of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. For the first time, ASSFN is partnering...

CNS 2019 Highlights

Saturday, October 19 Functional Neurosurgery Update: Emerging Concepts Ellen Air, Casey Halpern and John Rolston moderated the functional neurosurgery update. Faculty included Aviva Abosch, Raag Airan, Nicholas M. Barbaro, Stephan Chabardes,...

Editor's Report

Welcome to the Fall 2019 edition of the ASSFN newsletter. With the assistance of Stephanie Cowart, communications specialist for the AANS, the ASSFN is transitioning to an online, interactive format. The new format will make articles easier to navigate...

Chair's Message

Greetings to all ASSFN members. It is my privilege to provide an update on the state and on goings of our vibrant society. The executive council (myself, Joe Neimat (VP) and Andre Machado (Sec-Treasurer) along with entire Board of Directors, met during...