Twenty-five years of experience with physiological neurosurgery.

Twenty-five years of experience with physiological neurosurgery for the treatment of movement disorders leads the author to conclude that such syndromes are caused by disordered mechanisms of sensory communication within the brain. The physiological and therapeutic effects of ablation of the posterior portions of the ventrolateral nucleus of the thalamus, the stimulation of the anterior or rostral cerebellar cortex, and deep brain stimulation of some thalamic nuclei are due to the decrease of pathological disinhibition of motor mechanisms. Further advances in the reversal of chronic neurological symptoms by the alleviation of pathological sensory disinhibition are anticipated.