Neurosurgery
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Comparative Study
Rapidly rising incidence of cerebrospinal fluid shunting procedures for idiopathic intracranial hypertension in the United States, 1988-2002.
Obesity, a major risk factor for idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), is rapidly increasing in all ages of the United States population. We studied trends in the incidence of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts for IIH in the United States between 1988 and 2002, using a national hospital discharge database. ⋯ The incidence of CSF shunting for IIH is increasing in the population of the United States at about the same relative rate as morbid obesity. Studies to establish the best shunting method in IIH and to explore alternative treatment strategies, such as optic nerve sheath fenestration and bariatric surgery, are urgently needed.
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Cervical arthroplasty is a relatively new method to maintain motion after cervical anterior discectomy. Two cases are presented in which bony fusion occurred around a cervical disc prosthesis. ⋯ This is the first report in the literature of bony fusion after cervical arthroplasty with the Bryan disc prosthesis.
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Case Reports
Monorail snare technique for the recovery of stretched platinum coils: technical case report.
Coil stretching represents a potentially hazardous technical complication not infrequently encountered during the embolization of cerebral aneurysms. Often, the stretched coil cannot be advanced into the aneurysm or withdrawn intact. The operator is then forced to attempt to retract the damaged coil, which may result in coil breakage, leaving behind a significant length of potentially thrombogenic stretched coil material within the parent vessel. To overcome this problem, we devised a technique to snare the distal, unstretched, intact portion of the platinum coil by use of the indwelling microcatheter and stretched portion of the coil as a monorail guide. ⋯ The monorail snare technique represents a fast, safe, and easy method by which a stretched coil can be removed.
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Historical Article
Hippocrates: a pioneer in the treatment of head injuries.
Hippocrates' treatise On Wounds in the Head represents an excellent source of information regarding the extent of experience with head injuries in classical antiquity. On the basis of clinical observation, the great physician gives an accurate description of the external appearance and consistency of the cranium. ⋯ Trepanation, a neurosurgical procedure still in practice today, is presented in detail. As a whole, the treatise, the first written work in medical history dealing exclusively with cranial trauma, reveals that Hippocrates was a pioneer in treating head injuries.
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Clinical Trial
Localized transcranial electrical motor evoked potentials for monitoring cranial nerves in cranial base surgery.
To describe a novel monitoring technique that allows "functional" assessment of cranial nerve continuity during cranial base surgery. ⋯ Facial nerve MEPs recorded intraoperatively during cranial base surgery using the proposed technique predicts immediate postoperative facial nerve outcome. This technique can also be used to monitor other motor cranial nerves in cranial base surgery.