Russell Meyers (1905–1999): pioneer of functional and ultrasonic neurosurgery

Abstract

Advances in functional neurosurgery, including neuromodulation and more recently ultrasonic ablation of basal ganglia structures, have improved the quality of life for patients with debilitating movement disorders. What is little known, however, is that both of these neurosurgical advances, which remain on the cutting edge, have their origin in the pioneering work of Russell Meyers, whose contributions are documented in this paper. Meyers' published work and professional correspondence are reviewed, in addition to documents held by the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Iowa. Meyers was born in Brooklyn, New York, and received his neurosurgical training at hospitals in New York City under Jefferson Browder. In 1939, a chance encounter with a young woman with damaged bilateral ventral striata convinced Meyers that the caudate could be resected to treat Parkinsonism without disrupting consciousness. Shortly thereafter, he performed the first caudate resection for postencephalitic Parkinsonism. In 1946, Meyers became the first chairman of neurosurgery at the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa), which led to the recruitment of 8 faculty members and the training of 18 residents during his tenure (1946–1963). Through collaboration with the Fry brothers at the University of Illinois, Meyers performed the first stereotactic ultrasonic ablations of deep brain structures to treat tremor, choreoathetosis, dystonia, intractable pain, and hypothalamic hamartoma. Meyers left academic neurosurgery in 1963 for reasons that are unclear, but he continued clinical neurosurgery work for several more years. Despite his early departure from academic medicine, Meyers' contributions to functional neurosurgery provided a lasting legacy that has improved the lives of many patients with movement disorders.