Neurosurgery
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During external ventricular drainage (EVD) weaning, cranial computed tomography (cCT) is necessary to evaluate ventricle width. Because intrahospital transfer of critically ill patients is associated with higher mortality, bedside techniques are necessary to evaluate ventricle width. Transcranial sonography is able to show the ventricles in patients with sufficient temporal acoustic window. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is able to overcome the limitations of insufficient insonation. ⋯ CEUS ventriculography is an effective bedside procedure in critically ill patients with EVD. CEUS allows measurement of ventricle width, ventricle communication, and CSF transfer to the subarachnoidal space through the cisternal foramina.
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Protection techniques using stents or microcatheters allow treatment of aneurysms with complex configurations by coil embolization. However, the application of these techniques is occasionally limited in wide-neck middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms with acute angularity of the efferent branch vessel. ⋯ This microcatheter looping technique facilitates safe entry into the distal branch during coil embolization of wide-neck MCA aneurysms incorporating the origins of acutely angulated branches.
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The anatomically intact but electrically unresponsive facial nerve in vestibular schwannoma surgery.
Permanent facial nerve (FN) paresis after vestibular schwannoma surgery is distressing to both the patient and surgeon. Intraoperative electrophysiological testing has proven invaluable in reducing the incidence of FN injury and may assist in prognosticating long-term function. ⋯ These data demonstrate that even among this extreme subset, modern electroprognostic testing strategies are incapable of reliably predicting poor outcomes. Therefore, if FN continuity is maintained, attempts at same-surgery FN repair should not be pursued.
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Glioma surgery in eloquent areas remains a challenge because of the risk of postoperative motor deficits. ⋯ DTI tractography is effective but not completely reliable in delineating the descending motor pathways. Integration of DTI and DsCS favors patient-specific surgery for cerebral glioma in eloquent areas.
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Clinical Trial
Cortical indocyanine green videography for quantification of acute hypoperfusion after subarachnoid hemorrhage: a feasibility study.
Acute neurological deficits after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) correlate with outcome, and a phase of acute hypoperfusion was characterized recently. Indocyanine green (ICG) videography is an established intraoperative imaging technique with important descriptive potential. ⋯ Cortical ICG videography and analysis are feasible during surgery. Patients early after SAH have a significantly lower velocity of signal change, lower peak of fluorescence intensity, and lower overall area under the curve, but similar transit times. This technique can be used to quantify perfusion alteration, in this case, acute SAH, and may be used as an adapted measurement tool for intraoperative therapy.