British journal of neurosurgery
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The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and outcomes of decompressive craniectomy (DC) after intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) administration for malignant cerebral infarction. ⋯ Although the main limitation is that the number of patients in our serie was small, which reduced the statistical power, our study suggest that DC after failure of IV tPA administration for malignant cerebral infarction is safe and did not cause an excess of complications arising from the use of fibrinolytic.
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Intra-cranial and spinal surgery is associated with significant morbidity (23.6% and 11.2%) (5) . Fully informed consent, shared decision-making and optimal peri-operative care are essential to ensure excellent surgical outcome. There is evidence to support the use of formal pre-operative risk assessment to facilitate this in non-cardiac surgery but little is published on best practice for neurosurgery. Our aim was to establish current practice in pre-operative risk assessment at UK Neurosciences centres. ⋯ Our survey is the first of its kind in the UK for neurosciences. As expected, formal risk assessment and multi-disciplinary team discussion is not routine. Neurosurgery has a high risk of morbidity and mortality, and pre-operative risk assessment should therefore be considered in line with national recommendations. Further work is required to establish best practice in neurosurgery to ensure that patients are appropriately consented, and to improve standards of care and support surgical outcome data.
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Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Comparison of early and late decompressive craniectomy on the long-term outcome in patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury: a meta-analysis.
Several studies have searched whether early decompressive craniectomy (DC) can improve the long-term outcome of patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the effects of early DC remain unclear. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess whether early DC (time to surgery after injury <24 h) is better than late DC (>24 h) after moderate and severe TBI. ⋯ Bilateral pupil abnormality is positive related to unfavourable outcome and mortality in the patients following DC after moderate and severe TBI. Early DC may be more helpful to improve the long-term outcome of patients with refractory raised intracranial cerebral pressure after moderate and severe TBI. However, more RCTs with better control of patients with bilateral pupil abnormality divided into the early and late groups are needed in the future.
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In the context of traumatic brain injury (TBI), decompressive craniectomy (DC) is used as part of tiered therapeutic protocols for patients with intracranial hypertension (secondary or protocol-driven DC). In addition, the bone flap can be left out when evacuating a mass lesion, usually an acute subdural haematoma (ASDH), in the acute phase (primary DC). ⋯ An update on the RESCUEicp study, a randomised trial of DC versus advanced medical management (including barbiturates) for severe and refractory post-traumatic intracranial hypertension is provided. In addition, the rationale for the RESCUE-ASDH study, the first randomised trial of primary DC versus craniotomy for adult head-injured patients with an ASDH, is presented.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A comparison of equivolume, equiosmolar solutions of hypertonic saline and mannitol for brain relaxation during elective supratentorial craniotomy.
Hyperosmolar solutions have been used in neurosurgery to reduce brain volume and facilitate surgical exposure. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of equivolume, equiosmolar solutions of mannitol and hypertonic saline (HS) on brain relaxation, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay, postoperative outcomes and incidence of side-effects in patients undergoing elective supratentorial craniotomy. ⋯ Single doses of 3 ml/kg of 20% mannitol and 3% HS are safe and effective for intraoperative brain debulking during elective supratentorial craniotomy, but less effective in patients with pre-existing mass effect and midline shift.