British journal of neurosurgery
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Our aim is to measure and compare the academic and research output of neurosurgical departments across the U.K. and Ireland. ⋯ The h-index is useful for ranking neurosurgical departments according to their historical or recent publication output. It is particularly useful when restricted to the last 10-year period. We have been able to quantify and rank the academic output of neurosurgical units across the U.K. and Ireland, except where mentioned. This may be of interest to the clinician who wishes to pursue a career in academia or research.
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The cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome (CCAS) was first described by Schmahmann and Sherman as a constellation of symptoms including dysexecutive syndrome, spatial cognitive deficit, linguistic deficits and behavioural abnormalities in patients with a lesion in the cerebellum with otherwise normal brain. Neurosurgical patients with cerebellar tumours constitute one of the cohorts in which the CCAS has been described. In this paper, we present a critical review of the literature of this syndrome in neurosurgical patients. ⋯ Findings from our clinical study showed various degree of deficits in neuropsychological testing (n = 1, memory; n = 3, verbal fluency; n = 3, attention; n = 2, spatial cognition deficits; and n = 1, behavioural changes), but no patient had full-blown features of CCAS. Our study, although limited, finds no robust evidence of the CCAS following surgery. This and our literature review highlight a need for guidelines regarding study design and methodology when attempting to evaluate neurosurgical cases with regard to the potential CCAS.