Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
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We describe the case of a 10-year-old boy who developed reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) after cerebellitis. He received intravenous immunoglobulin and methylprednisolone to treat the cerebellitis. However, he then presented with a sudden severe headache, vomiting, and generalized tonic-clonic seizure. ⋯ MRA performed 46days after symptom onset showed that the multifocal segmental vasoconstrictions had resolved, suggesting a diagnosis of RCVS. The imaging features of RCVS include multifocal segmental vasoconstriction. However, our case suggests that diffuse cerebral vasodilatation may in fact be evident during the early stage of disease.
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Whether surgery improves the outcome more than medical management alone continues to be a subject of intense debate and controversy. However, there is optimism that the management of spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral haemorrhage will change in future based new insight and better understanding of the acute pathophysiology of hematomas and its dynamics. Craniotomy as a surgical approach has been the most studied intervention for spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral haemorrhage but with no significant benefit when compared to best medical management. ⋯ The role of surgery in the management of spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage still remains a matter of debate. There is insufficient evidence to justify a general policy of early surgery for patients with spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage compared to initial medical management but STICH did demonstrate that patients with superficial hematoma might benefit from craniotomy.
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Lumbar total disc replacement (TDR) is an alternative to interbody fusion for the treatment of symptomatic degenerative disc disease. Traditionally, lumbar TDR is performed via an anterior retroperitoneal approach with regional risks of vascular and visceral injury. The direct lateral retroperitoneal, transpsoas approach avoids mobilisation of the great vessels and preserves the anterior longitudinal ligament, thereby maintaining physiological limits on motion. ⋯ Lumbar TDR using the XL-TDR via a lateral transpsoas muscle-splitting approach is a minimally invasive alternative to anterior retroperitoneal exposures for motion preservation. Correct sizing of the XL-TDR and complete contralateral annulectomy with annulus box cutters mitigates the risk of lateral dislocation. Revision surgery for lateral dislocation of the XL-TDR is more straightforward compared to anterior TDR dislocation.