From functional neurosurgery to "interventional" neurology: survey of publications on thalamotomy, pallidotomy, and deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease from 1966 to 2001.

Articles on surgery for Parkinson's disease (PD), published between 1966 and 2001, were reviewed with respect to whether the first author had a neurosurgical affiliation, and whether the papers appeared in neurosurgical or non-neurosurgical journals. Between 1966 and 1979, neurosurgeons and non-neurosurgeons published almost equally on surgery for PD in both neurosurgical and non-neurosurgical journals; between 1980 and 1995, the majority of publications were by neurosurgeons in neurosurgical journals; and after 1995, non-neurosurgeons were more often first authors of surgical publications and these were more frequent in non-neurosurgical journals. The fact that the first author of surgical publications on PD is often a non-neurosurgeon may have some bearing on the reported results of surgery.