Three topics of major interest for neursurgeons are covered in this volume of the Advances in Neurosurgery series, as the title suggests. First, neurosurgical standards of diagnosis and treatment are viewed from several points of view, including the legal one. Second, the many aspects of aneurysm surgery are dealt with: timing and grading, monitoring during the operation, postoperative vasospasm, Doppler sonography and new research in subarachnoid hemorrhage. Third, the diagnosis and treatment of malignant gliomas are discussed; there are preliminary reports on interstitial laser-assisted thermal therapy, immunotherapy and radiopharmaceutical substances as well as the standard forms of neurosurgical and radiation treatment.