Neurosurgery
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Biography Historical Article
The contributions of Dr. Roswell Park to epilepsy and spinal surgery.
ROSWELL PARK, M. D., (1852-1914) is remembered for founding the world's first cancer institute that now bears his name a century ago, The Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and for an unfortunate association with the mortal wounding of President William McKinley in Buffalo, NY, in 1901. Park's accomplishments as a pioneer American neurosurgeon have been overlooked. ⋯ In the same year, he wrote the first American monograph on surgery of the head. Park's case reports of successful operations on patients deemed almost incurable reveal boldness and ingenuity. Park's untimely death truncated a promising career.
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Comparative Study
Posture-related overdrainage: comparison of the performance of 10 hydrocephalus shunts in vitro.
Approximately 10 to 30% of shunt revisions may be attributed to posture-related overdrainage. The susceptibility of various hydrocephalus shunts to overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid requires independent laboratory evaluation. ⋯ Shunts without mechanisms preventing very low intracranial pressure in vertical body positions should be identified and avoided for patients likely to develop complications related to cerebrospinal fluid overdrainage.
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Decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral ischemia occurring immediately after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) may be caused by acute microvascular constriction. However, CBF can also be influenced by changes in intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). The goal of these experiments was to assess the significance of acute vasoconstriction after SAH and its relationship to changes in CBF, ICP, CPP, and extracellular glutamate concentrations. ⋯ Acute vasoconstriction after SAH occurs independently of changes in ICP and CPP and is associated with decreased CBF, larger hemorrhage size, persistent elevations of extracellular glutamate, and poor outcome. Acute vasoconstriction seems to contribute directly to ischemic brain injury after SAH. Further evaluations of pharmacological agents with the potential to reverse acute vasoconstriction may increase CBF and improve outcome.
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The evolution of neurosurgical techniques indicates the effort to reduce surgery-related traumatization of patients. The reduction of traumatization contributes to better postoperative outcomes. The improvement of diagnostic imaging techniques facilitates not only the precise localization of lesions but also the accurate determination of topographical relations of specific lesions to individual anatomic variations of intracranial structures. This precision of diagnostic imaging should be used to perform individual surgical procedures through so-called keyhole approaches. Keyhole craniotomies are afflicted with a reduction of light intensity in the depth of the operating field, and they provide rather narrow viewing angles. Thus, objects located directly opposite the approach entrance are more visible than those in the shadow of the microscope beam. These two deficiencies of keyhole craniotomies can be compensated for by the intraoperative use of rigid rod lens endoscopes, the shaft of which remains easily controllable through the surgical microscope. ⋯ With the knowledge of almost all individual anatomic and pathoanatomic details of a specific patient, it is possible to target the individual lesion through a keyhole approach using the particular anatomic windows. As the light intensity and the depiction of important anatomic details are improved by the intraoperative use of lens scopes, endoscope-assisted microsurgery during keyhole approaches may provide maximum efficiency to remove the lesion, maximum safety for the patient, and minimum invasiveness.
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Certain neurosurgical procedures require sectioning of the tentorium cerebelli. The presence of venous sinuses within the tentorium makes these procedures difficult. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence, size, location, configuration, and pattern of venous drainage of these sinuses. ⋯ Venous sinuses are common in the tentorium cerebelli. In this study, they were observed in 86% of the cases. They can be classified into three types, based on their location, size, configuration, and pattern of drainage. The medial one-third of the tentorium is the most vascular part. A knowledge of these sinuses may be helpful while sectioning the tentorium. The importance of these sinuses in treating vascular and neoplastic diseases of the brain is highlighted. A brief review of the embryology of these sinuses is also presented.