Acta neurochirurgica
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1993
Early ischaemia after severe head injury. Preliminary results in patients with diffuse brain injuries.
Ischaemic brain lesions still have a high prevalence in fatally head injured patients and are the single most important cause of secondary brain damage. The present study was undertaken to explore the acute phase of severely head injured patients in order to detect early ischaemia using Robertson's approach of estimating cerebral blood flow (CBF) from calculated arterio-jugular differences of oxygen (AVDO2), lactates (AVDL), and the lactate-oxygen index (LOI). Twenty-eight cases with severe head injury were included (Glasgow Coma Scale Score below or equal to 8). ⋯ The ischaemia score had mean of 4.3 +/- 1.7 in the ischaemic group and 2.7 +/- 1.4 in non-ischaemic patients (p = 0.01). It is concluded that ischaemia is highly prevalent in the early period after severe head injury. Factors potentially responsible of early ischaemia are discussed.
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1993
Ultrasonic DREZ-operations for treatment of pain due to brachial plexus avulsion.
One, if not the only effective way of treating pain due to preganglionic avulsion of the brachial plexus is the Dorsal Root Entry Zone (DREZ) lesion procedure. In 1985 the author began to use ultrasound as a lesion-maker for operations in the DREZ. Since then, 127 (3 patients were operated on twice) DREZ-Operations have been carried out on 124 patients suffering from chronic pain due to brachial plexus avulsion. ⋯ Analysis of the results after ultrasonic DREZ-operations revealed that ultrasonic DREZ-sulcomyelotomy was the most effective technical modality. Immediately after operation good pain relief was obtained in 103 (96%) out of the 107 patients operated on with the ultrasonic DREZ-sulcomyelotomy method, and in 15 (75%) out of the 20 patients with ultrasonic discontinuous DREZ-lesions. The total follow-up study (47.5 months on average) revealed 87% good results overall.
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1993
Case ReportsSpondylectomy, microsurgical decompression and osteosynthesis in the treatment of complex disorders of the cervical spine.
In 44 patients with complex degenerative, traumatic, neoplastic and infectious disorders of the cervical spine an aggressive surgical approach was used, consisting of spondylectomy, radical microsurgical decompression and osteosynthesis. The patient group consisted of 23 patients with multisegmental cervical spondylosis, 9 patients with primary or metastatic malignant tumour disease spread along the cervical spine, 6 patients with complex cervical trauma and 6 patients with infection affecting one or more cervical segments. Considering the heterogeneity of the group of patients treated, a multitude of neurological symptoms and signs were present. ⋯ None of the patients became neurologically worse after surgery. With regard to the underlying disease, patients with MSCS and tumour had the best results with overall improvement in 62% and 75% respectively. While in patients with infection improvement could be achieved in 58%, improvement in trauma patients was demonstrable in only 34% while in 66% the pre-operative clinical status remained unchanged.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1993
Preservation of cochlear nerve function in acoustic neurinoma surgery.
A total of 55 cases with unilateral acoustic neurinoma which were operated on by the lateral suboccipital approach was studied to elucidate factors which influence postoperative hearing acuity. We analyzed several factors: preoperative hearing level, tumour size, tumour consistency (cystic or solid), and anatomical location of the cochlear nerve. The size of the tumours ranged from 1.2 to 5.8 cm in diameter. ⋯ The distance or interrelation between the two nerves had no bearing on postoperative hearing preservation. Postoperatively, hearing acuity was improved in 6 cases (20%) with a mean value of 5.6 dB, unchanged in 3 (10%), and deteriorated in 21 (70%) among the 30 cases with remaining preoperative-hearing. When the tumour was less than 2 cm or cystic, better hearing preservation was expected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)