Neurosurgery
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We determined the incidence of acute, major complications in a population of 28,395 patients who underwent lumbar laminectomy for discogenic radiculopathy in the United States in 1980. This population was drawn from a broad cross-section of community hospitals and represented 31% of all patients who underwent laminectomy that year for this condition. Our cohort excluded patients with a) operations exceeding two disc levels, b) fusion, c) previous lumbar laminectomy, or d) coexistent discitis, spondylosis, spinal stenosis, myelopathy, or arachnoiditis. ⋯ Neurosurgeons performed 60% of the operations, and orthopedic surgeons performed 40%. The speciality of the surgeon was not a factor in determining the risk involved in surgery. Spinal anesthesia was used in 7% of the cases, and no pattern of complications emerged that was uniquely related to that technique.
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In this study of 72 patients who had histologically verified thalamic astrocytomas, 44 patients underwent stereotactic serial biopsy, 22 underwent stereotactic resection of the neoplasm, and an additional 6 patients underwent stereotactic biopsy followed by stereotactic resection of the tumor at a later date. Of the 50 patients who underwent stereotactic biopsy, 3 were neurologically worse after the procedure (morbidity, 6%), and 3 additional patients with Grade 4 astrocytomas who preoperatively were rapidly deteriorating neurologically, died within 30 days of the procedure. Of the 28 patients who underwent stereotactic resection, 14 were neurologically improved after the procedure, 10 were unchanged, and 4 were worse. ⋯ There was no neurological morbidity, but one patient died after resection. Many of those who underwent resection were deteriorating due to an enlarging tumor mass or recurring cyst, and had undergone more conservative therapies such as biopsy and radiation. Even though stereotactic biopsy is appropriate in many patients harboring thalamic astrocytomas, selected patients with significant mass effect from solid tumor or recurring cyst can benefit from stereotactic resection.