Neurosurg Focus
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The aim of this study was to design a checklist with a scoring system for reporting on studies of surgical interventions for trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and to validate it by a review of the recent literature. ⋯ Similar to the STROBE criteria that provide a checklist of items that should be included in reports of observational studies in general, the authors' suggested checklist for the STNS could help editors and reviewers ensure that quality reports are published, and could prove useful for colleagues when reporting their results specifically on the surgical management of TN. It would help the patient and clinicians make a decision about selecting the appropriate neurosurgical procedure.
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Review Case Reports
Dual occipital and supraorbital nerve stimulation for chronic migraine: a single-center experience, review of literature, and surgical considerations.
Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) has been studied in a few clinical trials for the treatment of chronic migraine (CM) with failure to prove sufficient efficacy. To date, peripheral nerve stimulation for the treatment of primary headache is limited to off-label use only. The authors report their institutional experience in CM therapy with combined ONS and supraorbital nerve stimulation (SONS). ⋯ The authors' stimulation efficacy was superior to the combined 33% positive response rates (≥ 50% pain reduction) in the published studies of ONS for CM. This is likely due to the fact that topographical paresthesia induced by combined ONS and SONS covers the area of migraine pain better than ONS alone. The authors also discuss effective surgical techniques to prevent patient morbidity.
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Cervical radiculopathy secondary to compression from congenital anomalous vertebral arteries (VAs) is a known entity. Patients present with a variety of symptoms ranging from upper-extremity numbness to true occipital neuralgia. Treatment options for extracranial tortuous VAs include conservative management or some form of surgical microvascular decompression (MVD). ⋯ Successful MVD was conducted with relief of the patient's symptoms. A novel sling technique was used for mobilization of the VA. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first MVD described utilizing this technique.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Unilateral versus bilateral percutaneous pedicle screw fixation in minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.
Clinical results for unilateral pedicle screw fixation after lumbar interbody fusion have been reported to be as good as those for bilateral instrumentation. However, no studies have directly compared unilateral and bilateral percutaneous pedicle screw fixation after minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). The purpose of this study was to determine whether unilateral percutaneous pedicle screw fixation is comparable with bilateral percutaneous pedicle screw fixation in 1-segment MIS TLIF. ⋯ Unilateral and bilateral screw fixation after MIS TLIF produced similar clinical results. Although perioperative results were better with unilateral screw fixation, the long-term results were better with bilateral screw fixation, suggesting bilateral screw fixation is a better choice after MIS TLIF.