Acta neurochirurgica
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1999
Long-term prognosis of haemangioblastoma of the CNS: impact of von Hippel-Lindau disease.
The aim was to assess the frequency of von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) and the long-term prognosis of VHL and non-VHL patients among 110 consecutive patients with haemangioblastoma (HB) of the CNS treated between 1953 and 1993 at one neurosurgical unit. To reveal VHL manifestations we performed a detailed clinical and radiological examination (neuraxis and abdomen) (61/110), VHL-gene mutation analysis (40/110), and collection of all available clinical, imaging, operative and autopsy data from the hospitals involved. All patients were followed-up with a median of 14 years (excluding 14 operative deaths), and no patient was lost to follow-up. ⋯ Recurrence of the HB in patients whose primary operation was considered radical developed in four of the 10 VHL patients at a median of 19 years, and in nine of the 74 non-VHL patients at a median of 11 years. The median length of life of all VHL and non-VHL patients was 46 and 63 years, respectively. In VHL, RCC and HBs were equal causes of death.
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1999
Interdisciplinary management results in 100 patients with ruptured and unruptured posterior circulation aneurysms.
The authors report on a series of 100 posterior circulation aneurysms managed by surgical and endovascular procedures. The series consisted of 41 elective admissions more than 14 days after SAH or for unruptured aneurysms and 59 acute admissions after subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). In this first interdisciplinary series after the introduction of electrolytically detachable coils, surgical clipping was maintained as treatment of choice in good grade patients while endovascular therapy was primarily offered for patients in poor clinical grade or if the aneurysm was judged difficult to be accessed surgically. ⋯ Size and shape do not appear to be a primary factor to favour one or the other modality. The hope that endovascular therapy improves the prognosis of poor grade patients with posterior circulation aneurysms probably has been overstated. The good results of endovascular treatment with small narrow-necked aneurysms on proximal arteries of the posterior circulation, as seen in the present series and as reported in the accumulating literature, suggest that in future surgical and endovascular treatment should be considered as alternatives in these special cases while in large and broad-necked aneurysms surgery should be considered first.
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1999
Case ReportsRuptured aneurysm at the trunk of the accessory middle cerebral artery.
We present a 32-year-old woman with intracranial haemorrhage due to rupture of a saccular aneurysm arising from the trunk of an accessory middle cerebral artery. This is the first report of an aneurysm arising distally to the anomalous vessel's origin from the A1 segment of the anterior cerebral artery.
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1999
Experimental study of intracisternal administration of tissue-type plasminogen activator followed by cerebrospinal fluid drainage in the ultra-early stage of subarachnoid haemorrhage.
This experimental study evaluated the effect of intrathecal injection of tissue-type plasminogen activator followed by cisternal drainage in the ultra-early stage of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage to prevent vasospasm. Twenty Japanese white rabbits were divided into five groups. Either tPA (groups A, B, and E) or saline (groups C and D) was injected intrathecally 1 hour (groups A, B, C, and D) or 21 hours (group E) after the intrathecal injection of blood. ⋯ Examination of the series of CSF samples (groups A and C) showed that fibrinolysis with tPA effectively cleared clots early. In the two groups treated with tPA and CSF drainage (groups A and E), early removal of subarachnoid clots reduced the degree of vasospasm. Early fibrinolysis with tPA and early removal of subarachnoid clots by drainage is effective for preventing vasospasm.
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Acta neurochirurgica · Jan 1999
Monitoring of intracranial compliance: correction for a change in body position.
The objectives of our study were 1. to investigate whether the intracranial compliance changes with body position; 2. to test if the pressure-volume index (PVI) calculation is affected by different body positions; 3. to define the optimal parameter to correct PVI for changes in body position and 4. to investigate the physiological meaning of the constant term (P0) in the model of the intracranial volume-pressure relationship. Thirteen patients were included in this study. All patients were subjected to 2 to 3 different body positions. ⋯ Using the constant term P0 to correct the PVI we found no changes between the different body positions. Our results suggest that during the variation in body position there is no change in intracranial compliance but a change in hydrostatic offset pressure which causes a shifting of the volume-pressure curve along the pressure axis without its shape being affected. PVI measurements should either be performed only with the patient in the 0 degree recumbent position or that the PVI calculation should be corrected for the hydrostatic difference between the level of the ICP transducer and the hydrostatic indifference point of the craniospinal system close to the third thoracic vertebra.