Neurosurgery
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An association between moyamoya disease and Down syndrome appears to exist on the basis of reported anecdotal cases in the literature. ⋯ This is the first study to estimate the prevalence of Down syndrome in patients with moyamoya disease. The 26-fold-greater prevalence of Down syndrome in patients with coexisting moyamoya disease compared with the prevalence of Down syndrome among live births (145 per 100,000) highlights the need for a better understanding of the common pathophysiology of the 2 conditions.
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An alternative treatment option to whole-brain irradiation after surgical resection of brain metastases is resection cavity stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). ⋯ The greatest volume change occurs immediately after surgery (postoperative days 0-3) with no statistically significant volume change occurring up to 33 days after surgery for most patients. Therefore, there is no benefit of cavity shrinkage in waiting longer than the first 1 to 2 weeks to perform cavity SRS.
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Tailored craniotomies for awake procedures limit cortical exposure. Recently we demonstrated that the identification of eloquent areas increased the risk of postoperative deficits. However, it was not clear whether the observed neurological deficits were caused by proximity of functional cortex to the tumor [cortical injury] or subcortical injury. ⋯ Subcortical injury with significant DWI changes result in postoperative neurological decline despite our efforts to preserve cortical areas of function. This underscores the importance of preserving subcortical fiber tracts during awake craniotomy procedures.
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It is not known what effect pregnancy or delivery has on the risk of rupture of an intracranial aneurysm, and, consequently, the optimal management of unruptured aneurysms in pregnancy is unclear. ⋯ We were not able to find an increased association between pregnancy or delivery and the risk of rupture of cerebral aneurysms. The significantly higher rate of cesarean deliveries performed in patients with unruptured aneurysms may not be necessary.
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Surgery for scoliosis requires extensive exposure, resulting in significant tissue injury and longer recovery times. To minimize morbidity in scoliosis surgery, several studies have shown successful application of a combination of minimally invasive techniques; however, the extent of scoliosis treated has been modest. ⋯ The hybrid approach for the treatment of scoliosis results in acceptable radiographic and clinical outcomes. Complications did not appear increased compared with those expected with scoliosis surgery. Although decreased adjacent tissue injury was achieved with the minimally invasive component of the procedure, a larger comparative study is required to determine magnitude of this benefit.