Prof. Hiro Narabayashi

Accessible online at: www.karger.com/journals/sfn The sad news of the sudden death of our teacher, friend and pioneer of stereotactic surgery, Professor Hirotaro Narabayashi, came as a great shock. Hiro was his nickname and he was loved by everyone who had the privilege to know him. He was so full of life and new ideas, always active and busy moving around, talking, arguing and explaining. It is difficult to accept and believe that such a vibrant man is no longer among us. Dr. Narabayashi was born in Kobe, Japan on September 4, 1922, and grew up in Nagasaki. He graduated from the University of Tokyo School of Medicine just after World War II and joined Professor Y. Uchimura’s Department of Psychiatry. He had a particular interest in extrapyramidal disease inspired by Alfons Jakob’s German textbook, which he read as a medical student just before the end of the war [1]. At that time patients with Parkinson’s disease were cared for in the Psychiatry Department, but certainly no effective treatment existed. Incidentally, Professor T. Ogawa had just returned from Ranson’s laboratory in America with a drawing of Horsley and Clarke’s stereotaxic apparatus for use in animal experiments. When he suggested the possibility to use it in man, young Narabayashi was immediately inspired and took action to realize the idea, but, unfortunately, this was a time of post-war chaos with Tokyo almost completely destroyed by bombardment. It was not easy to find anyone who could make such an instrument, but Narabayashi