Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
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Atypical meningioma has an aggressive clinical course. Distinguishing atypical from benign meningioma preoperatively could affect surgical planning and improve treatment outcomes. In this study, we examined whether pre-operative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features could distinguish between benign and atypical meningioma. ⋯ Further multivariate analyses suggests that edema, draining vein and necrosis are all positive predictors of tumor volume (p < .0001). Overall, these data suggest that radiographic features including presence of tumor necrosis, and tumor location along the falx or convexity may be predictive of higher-grade meningioma when considered alone. However, most strikingly, our data point to tumor volume as the most robust pre-operative indicator of higher-grade meningioma.
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Repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS) is a valuable diagnostic method for myasthenia gravis (MG). However, its association with clinical severity was scarcely studied. We reviewed medical records and retrospectively enrolled 121 generalized MG patients. ⋯ RNS testing revealed facial muscles have the highest positive rate, followed by proximal muscles and distal muscles, with the palpebral portion of the orbicularis oculi muscle most sensitive. Amplitude decrement of compound muscle action potential (CMAP) in the palpebral portion of the orbicularis oculi muscle is related to quantitative myasthenia gravis (QMG) scores, MG-specific manual muscle testing (MMT) scores and myasthenia gravis-related activities of daily living (MG-ADL) scores. We suggest that RNS testing of the palpebral portion of the orbicularis oculi muscle is a potential assessment indicator in patients with generalized MG.
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For neurosurgeons, who are accustomed to the binocular microscope, there is a new learning curve that must be overcome for monocular endoscopic pituitary surgery. Different studies describe a learning curve between 15 and 200 procedures, after which both operative time and complications stabilize. In this retrospective study, we evaluate the endoscopic learning curve of our group, already trained in microsurgical transsphenoidal surgery, with the assistance of ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons. ⋯ Over time, blood transfusions discrepantly increased from the E group to the L group (11% vs. 31%). Because of the pivotal role of ENT in the transnasal stage of 50 endoscopic procedures, we obtained an operative time comparable to that of microscopic procedures, with similar complication rate and gross total resections. Neurosurgical-ENT combined follow-up proved to be a fundamental protection from late complications.
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Early hospital readmission has become a proxy for quality of care and contributes significantly to high health care costs in the United States, with more than $20 billion health care dollars are spent on 30-day readmission annually. Cranial neurosurgical procedures (i.e., craniotomy, craniectomy) are associated with high readmission rates; however, studies examining readmission after cranial procedures are limited and relatively unknown. The aim of this study is to identify the drivers of 30-day unplanned readmission in consecutive patients undergoing craniotomies and craniectomies. ⋯ The majority of patients presented to the emergency department from home (80%), while 10% were readmitted from a skilled nursing facility and 10% were readmitted from an acute rehabilitation institution. The most common presented symptoms for readmitted patients were fever/presumed infection (40%) and altered mental status (40%), followed by new sensory/motor deficits (30%). This study suggests that infection, altered mental status, and new sensory/motor deficits were the primary complications leading to unplanned 30-day readmission after cranial neurosurgery.
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Geriatric depression is a major public health problem and has an especially large effect on health when comorbid with a chronic medical condition. Hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes are accompanied by a high incidence of depression and can affect the treatment and prognosis. Depression is a highly prevalent risk factor for incident of and is associated with morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disease. ⋯ Current evidence on antidepressive therapy in patients with coronary diseases is limited. A better understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms underpinning depression and cardiovascular disease as well as the complex biological crosstalk of cardiovascular disease complicated with depression is particularly important for future therapeutic strategies. The following review is on current understanding of geriatric depression and cardiovascular disease.