Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jul 1998
Management and results of sciatic nerve injuries: a 24-year experience.
The purpose of this retrospective clinical study was to present results and provide management guidelines for various types of sciatic injuries. ⋯ Surgical exploration and, when necessary, repair of sciatic nerve injuries is worthwhile in selected cases.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jul 1998
Posterior ventricular catheter burr-hole localizer. Technical note.
Proper ventricular catheter placements are associated with improved shunt performance. When placing ventricular catheters via the posterior approach, the surgeon must determine an optimum trajectory and then pass a catheter along that trajectory. The incidence of optimal posterior catheter placements is increased by using a posterior catheter guide (PCG); however, errors may still occur because of poor selection of a posterior burr-hole site. ⋯ In all cases the catheter entered the ventricle on the first pass and postoperative imaging studies demonstrated successful placement in the ipsilateral anterior horn. There were no catheter-related complications. These early results indicate that the Localizer and PCG devices may be safe and effective when used in combination for placement of posterior ventricular catheters.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jul 1998
Comparative StudyEnhancement of radiosensitivity of wild-type p53 human glioma cells by adenovirus-mediated delivery of the p53 gene.
The authors sought to determine whether combining p53 gene transfer with radiation therapy would enhance the therapeutic killing of p53 wild-type glioma cells. It has been shown in several reports that adenovirus-mediated delivery of the p53 gene into p53 mutant gliomas results in dramatic apoptosis, but has little effect on gliomas containing wild-type p53 alleles. Therefore, p53 gene therapy alone may not be a clinically effective treatment for gliomas because most gliomas are composed of both p53 mutant and wild-type cell populations. One potential approach to overcome this problem is to exploit the role p53 plays as an important determinant in the cellular response to ionizing radiation. ⋯ These data indicate that adenovirus-mediated delivery of p53 may enhance the radioresponse of brain tumor cells containing wild-type p53 and that this radiosensitization may involve converting from a clonogenic to the more sensitive apoptotic form of cell death. Although the mechanism underlying this enhanced apoptotic susceptibility is unknown, the AdSCMV-p53-infected cells have a higher level of p53 protein, which increases further after irradiation, and this exogenous p53 is transcriptionally active. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATE
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The diagnosis and treatment of metastasis to the pituitary gland can be difficult to determine. The goal of this study was to analyze the clinical presentation, treatment, and prognosis of patients who presented with symptomatic pituitary metastasis. ⋯ Aggressive treatment including both surgical decompression and radiation therapy improves the quality of life in patients suffering from symptomatic pituitary metastasis.
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The etiology of spontaneous cervical artery dissection is poorly understood; however, it may involve genetic and environmental factors. The purpose of this study was to determine whether seasonality of spontaneous cervical artery dissection exists. ⋯ A seasonal pattern of spontaneous cervical artery dissection exists with a peak occurring in October. The cause of the seasonality remains to be explained; however, weather- or infectious disease-related factors may provide etiological leads.