Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 2016
Ventricle wall dissection and vascular preservation with the pulsed water jet device: novel tissue dissector for flexible neuroendoscopic surgery.
Neuroendoscopic surgery allows minimally invasive surgery, but lacks effective methods to control bleeding. Water jet dissection with continuous flow has been used in liver and kidney surgery since the 1980s, and is effective for tissue manipulation with vascular preservation, but involves some potential risks, such as elevation of intracranial pressure during application in the ventricles. The authors previously reported the efficacy of the actuator-driven pulsed water jet device (ADPJ) to dissect soft tissue with vascular preservation in microscopic neurosurgery. This feasibility study investigated the use of the ADPJ to reduce the amount of water usage, leading to more safety with sustained efficacy. ⋯ The ADPJ can safely and effectively dissect the ventricle wall, with vascular preservation in immersed conditions. To achieve the optimal result of tissue dissection with minimal surgical risk, the ADPJ is a potential device for neuroendoscopic surgery of the ventricles.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 2016
Positive trends in neurosurgery enrollment and attrition: analysis of the 2000-2009 female neurosurgery resident cohort.
Women compose a minority of neurosurgery residents, averaging just over 10% of matched applicants per year during this decade. A recent review by Lynch et al. raises the concern that women may be at a higher risk than men for attrition, based on analysis of a cohort matched between 1990 and 1999. This manuscript aims to characterize the trends in enrollment, attrition, and postattrition careers for women who matched in neurosurgery between 2000 and 2009. ⋯ Although the percentage of women entering neurosurgical residency has continued to increase, this number is still disproportionate to the overall number of women in medicine. The female attrition rate in neurosurgery in the 2000-2009 cohort is comparable to that of the other surgical specialties, but for neurosurgery, there is disparity between the male and female attrition rates. Women who left the field tended to stay within medicine and usually pursued a neuroscience-related career. Given the need for talented women to pursue neurosurgery and the increasing numbers of women matching annually, the recruitment and retention of women in neurosurgery should be benchmarked and assessed.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 2016
Cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy: is there a rationale for an initial artificial bone-substitute implant? A single-center experience after 631 procedures.
The complication rate for cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy is higher than that after other neurosurgical procedures; aseptic bone resorption is the major long-term problem. Patients frequently need additional operations to remove necrotic bone and replace it with an artificial bone substitute. Initial implantation of a bone substitute may be an option for selected patients who are at risk for bone resorption, but this cohort has not yet been clearly defined. The authors' goals were to identify risk factors for aseptic bone flap necrosis and define which patients may benefit more from an initial bone-substitute implant than from autograft after craniectomy. ⋯ Development of bone flap necrosis is the main concern in long-term follow-up after cranioplasty with autograft. Patients younger than 30 years old and older patients with a fragmented flap may be candidates for an initial artificial bone substitute rather than autograft.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 2016
Structural and biochemical abnormalities in the absence of acute deficits in mild primary blast-induced head trauma.
Blast-induced neurotrauma (BINT), if not fatal, is nonetheless potentially crippling. It can produce a wide array of acute symptoms in moderate-to-severe exposures, but mild BINT (mBINT) is characterized by the distinct absence of acute clinical abnormalities. The lack of observable indications for mBINT is particularly alarming, as these injuries have been linked to severe long-term psychiatric and degenerative neurological dysfunction. Although the long-term sequelae of BINT are extensively documented, the underlying mechanisms of injury remain poorly understood, impeding the development of diagnostic and treatment strategies. The primary goal of this research was to recapitulate primary mBINT in rodents in order to facilitate well-controlled, long-term investigations of blast-induced pathological neurological sequelae and identify potential mechanisms by which ongoing damage may occur postinjury. ⋯ This model highlights mBINT's potential for underlying detrimental physical and biochemical alterations despite the lack of apparent acute symptoms and, by recapitulating the human condition, represents an avenue for further examining the pathophysiology of mBINT. The sustained upregulation of acrolein for days after injury suggests that acrolein may be an upstream player potentiating ongoing postinjury damage and neuroinflammation. Ultimately, continued research with this model may lead to diagnostic and treatment mechanisms capable of preventing or reducing the severity of long-term neurological dysfunction following mBINT.