Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Aug 2018
Systematic histopathological analysis of different 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced fluorescence levels in newly diagnosed glioblastomas.
OBJECTIVE Glioblastoma (GBM) is characterized by distinct intratumoral histopathological heterogeneity with regard to variable tumor morphology, cell proliferation, and microvascularity. Maximum resection of a GBM results in an improved prognosis and thus represents the aim of surgery in the majority of cases. Fluorescence-guided surgery using 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) is currently widely applied for improved intraoperative tumor visualization in patients with a GBM. ⋯ CONCLUSIONS Strong and vague 5-ALA-induced fluorescence enables visualization of intratumoral areas with specific histopathological features and thus supports neurosurgeons in improving the extent of resection in patients with a newly diagnosed GBM. Despite the lack of fluorescence, tumor tissue was still observed in approximately half of the cases. To overcome this current limitation, the promising approach of complementary spectroscopic measurement of fluorescence should be investigated further.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Aug 2018
Observational StudySurgical intervention for pituitary apoplexy: an analysis of functional outcomes.
OBJECTIVE Pituitary apoplexy is a clinical syndrome consisting of neurological and endocrine abnormalities secondary to hemorrhage or ischemia of an underlying pituitary adenoma. The authors investigated whether there was a significant difference in neurological, endocrine, and nonneuroendocrine outcomes for patients with pituitary apoplexy, based on the time between symptom onset and surgical intervention. METHODS The authors retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 32 patients who had presented to their institution with acute pituitary apoplexy and subsequently undergone endonasal transsphenoidal resection in the period from 2003 to 2014. ⋯ An absence of benefit for early surgery held true even when considering time to surgery from symptom onset as a continuous variable. CONCLUSIONS Neurological deficits such as visual loss and cranial neuropathies show moderate improvement following surgical decompression, as does preoperative hypopituitarism. The timing of surgical intervention relative to the onset of symptoms does not appear to significantly affect the resolution of neurological or endocrinological deficits.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Aug 2018
Comparative StudyImpact of a more restrictive overlapping surgery policy: an analysis of pre- and postimplementation complication rates, resident involvement, and surgical wait times at a high-volume neurosurgical department.
OBJECTIVE Recently, overlapping surgery has been a source of controversy both in the popular press and within the academic medical community. There have been no studies examining the possible effects of more stringent overlapping surgery restrictions. At the authors' institution, a new policy was implemented that restricts attending surgeons from starting a second case until all critical portions of the first case that could require the attending surgeon's involvement are completed. ⋯ In a multiple linear regression analysis of surgery wait times, patients undergoing surgery after the policy change had significantly longer delays from the decision to operate until the actual neurosurgical procedure (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS At the authors' institution, further restriction of overlapping surgery was not associated with a reduction in overall or serious complications. Resident involvement in neurosurgical procedures decreased significantly after the policy change, and this study suggests that wait times for neurosurgical procedures also significantly lengthened.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Aug 2018
Folate receptor overexpression can be visualized in real time during pituitary adenoma endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery with near-infrared imaging.
OBJECTIVE Pituitary adenomas account for approximately 10% of intracranial tumors and have an estimated prevalence of 15%-20% in the general US population. Resection is the primary treatment for pituitary adenomas, and the transsphenoidal approach remains the most common. The greatest challenge with pituitary adenomas is that 20% of patients develop tumor recurrence. ⋯ Tumor-to-background contrast is most pronounced in adenomas that overexpress FRα. Intraoperative SBR at the appropriate endoscope-to-sella distance can predict adenoma FRα expression status in real time. This work suggests that for adenomas with high FRα expression, it may be possible to identify margins and to predict postoperative MRI findings.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Aug 2018
Suprafloccular approach via the petrosal fissure and venous corridors for microvascular decompression of the trigeminal nerve: technique notes and clinical outcomes.
OBJECTIVE Surgical exposure and decompression of the entire trigeminal nerve in a conventional lateral supracerebellar approach can be challenging because of blockages from the superior petrosal vein complex, cerebellum, and vestibulocochlear nerve. The authors demonstrate a novel suprafloccular approach via the petrosal fissure and venous corridors that can be used as a substitute for the conventional route used to treat trigeminal neuralgia and present a consecutive series of patients and their clinical outcomes. METHODS Preoperative and postoperative clinical data from 420 patients who underwent this modified approach at Hangzhou First People's Hospital between March 2012 and May 2014 were reviewed. ⋯ At the end of the 24-month follow-up period, the rate of excellent results (Kondo score of T0 or T1) was stable at approximately 90.5%. No complications were related directly to petrosal vein or vestibulocochlear nerve injury. CONCLUSIONS Based on data from the large patient series, the authors found this suprafloccular approach via the petrosal fissure and venous corridors provides full exposure and decompression of the entire trigeminal nerve, a high cure rate, and a low neurovascular morbidity rate.