Congratulations to Dr. Michael S. Okun on the publication of “The Nontrivial Ethics of Brain Biopsies for Research,” which appears in the September 16th issue of JAMA Neurology.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) conducted for routine clinical care has opened an opportunity to explore the possible collection of a brain biopsy for research purposes. Attention has recently been drawn to brain biopsies collected purely for investigative purposes, without serving any immediate diagnostic purpose or eliciting any therapeutic benefit. Such biopsies are frequently performed in oncology1 and are not inherently unethical. However, these protocols have not been routinely used in neurosurgery, and this raises concerns about the amount and content of the detail that should be provided to patients concerning the benefits, burdens, and risks of a brain biopsy and about who is the most appropriate to deliver this information.