Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Sep 1993
Centrocentral anastomosis of the proximal nerve stump in the treatment of painful amputation neuromas of major nerves.
The term "centrocentral anastomosis" is used to describe the end-to-end connection across interposed nerve grafts between paired fascicular groups of the proximal stump of a severed nerve. In 22 patients harboring a painful terminal neuroma following amputation of a lower limb (20 neuromas on the sciatic nerve and two on the peroneal nerve), a centrocentral anastomosis was performed on the end of the sectioned nerve to treat pain that had not improved with conventional conservative treatment. ⋯ The results presented here are consistent with laboratory findings demonstrating the absence of neuroma formation after centrocentral anastomosis. Therefore, this technique is recommended for the treatment of painful amputation neuroma.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Sep 1993
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialThe use of moderate therapeutic hypothermia for patients with severe head injuries: a preliminary report.
Animal research suggests that moderate therapeutic hypothermia may improve outcome after a severe head injury, but its efficacy has not been established in humans. The authors randomly assigned 40 consecutively treated patients with a severe closed head injury (Glasgow Coma Scale score 3 to 7) to either a hypothermia or a normothermia group. Using cooling blankets and cold saline gastric lavage, patients in the hypothermia group were cooled to 32 degrees to 33 degrees C (brain temperature) within a mean of 10 hours after injury, maintained at that temperature for 24 hours, and rewarmed to 37 degrees to 38 degrees C over 12 hours. ⋯ Both groups had a similar incidence of systemic complications, including cardiac arrhythmias, coagulopathies, and pulmonary complications. It is concluded that therapeutic moderate hypothermia is safe and has sustained favorable effects on acute derangements of cerebral physiology and metabolism caused by severe closed head injury. The trend toward better outcome with hypothermia may indicate that its beneficial physiological and metabolic effects limit secondary brain injury.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Sep 1993
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialEffect of mild hypothermia on uncontrollable intracranial hypertension after severe head injury.
Recent experimental studies have demonstrated that mild hypothermia at about 34 degrees C can be effective in the control of intracranial hypertension. A randomized controlled study of mild hypothermia was carried out in 33 severely head-injured patients. All patients fulfilled the following criteria: 1) persistent intracranial pressure (ICP) greater than 20 mm Hg despite fluid restriction, hyperventilation, and high-dose barbiturate therapy; 2) an ICP lower than the mean arterial blood pressure; and 3) a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 or less. ⋯ In five patients in the hypothermia group, cerebral blood flow was measured by the hydrogen clearance method and arteriojugular venous oxygen difference was evaluated before and during mild hypothermia. Mild hypothermia significantly decreased the cerebral blood flow, arteriojugular venous oxygen difference, and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (p < 0.01). The results of this preliminary investigation suggest that mild hypothermia is a safe and effective method to control traumatic intracranial hypertension and to improve mortality and morbidity rates.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Sep 1993
Case ReportsSupraclinoid internal carotid artery fenestration with an associated aneurysm. Case report.
The case of an aneurysm occurring at the site of fenestration of the supraclinoid portion of the left internal carotid artery (ICA) is reported. A 37-year-old woman presenting with subarachnoid hemorrhage was found to have bilateral ICA aneurysms at the level of the posterior communicating arteries (PCoA's). ⋯ This represents the third reported case of fenestration of the intracranial ICA associated with an aneurysm. Intracranial artery fenestrations and their embryological origins are also reviewed.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Sep 1993
Traumatic brain injury, hemorrhagic shock, and fluid resuscitation: effects on intracranial pressure and brain compliance.
Intracranial hypertension following traumatic brain injury is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Hemorrhagic hypovolemia commonly coexists with head injury in this population of patients. Therapy directed at correcting hypovolemic shock includes vigorous volume expansion with crystalloid solutions. ⋯ Elevated CVP following resuscitation from hemorrhage to a high CVP significantly worsened intracranial hypertension in animals with concurrent traumatic brain injury, as compared to animals subjected to traumatic brain injury alone (mean +/- standard error of the mean: 33.0 +/- 2.0 vs. 20.0 +/- 2.0 mm Hg, p < 0.05) or to animals subjected to the combination of traumatic brain injury, hemorrhage, and resuscitation to a low CVP (33.0 +/- 2.0 vs. 24.0 +/- 2.0 mm Hg, p < 0.05). These data support the hypothesis that reduction in brain compliance can occur secondary to elevation of CVP following resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock. This may worsen intracranial hypertension in patients with traumatic brain injury and hemorrhagic shock.