World Neurosurg
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Review Meta Analysis
Secondary neoplasms after stereotactic radiosurgery.
The use of medical radiation has increased 6-fold in the past 30 years. Within neurosurgery, the advent of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has significantly altered the treatment paradigm for both benign and malignant central nervous system diseases. With this increased reliance on radiation has come a responsibility to identify the long-term risks, including the potential development of radiation-induced neoplasms. Although the data regarding traditional radiation exposure and its subsequent risks are well-defined, the data for SRS is less developed. ⋯ The risk of developing an SRS-induced neoplasm is low but not zero. Thus, long-term surveillance imaging is advised for patients treated with SRS.
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Comparative Study
Traumatic brain injury in a rural and an urban Tanzanian hospital--a comparative, retrospective analysis based on computed tomography.
In a resource-poor environment such as rural East Africa, expensive medical devices such as computed tomographic (CT) scanners are rare. The CT scanner at the rural Haydom Lutheran Hospital (HLH) in Tanzania therefore offers a unique chance to observe possible differences with urban medical centers in the disease pattern of trauma-related cranial pathologies. The purpose of this study was to compare traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) between a rural and an urban area of Tanzania. ⋯ This study documents the burden of TBI and the differences in TBI-related CT diagnoses and their incidence between urban and rural areas in Eastern Africa. These results are important as they demonstrate that patients with severe TBI are not a primarily urban concern. Management of TBI should be included in the training curricula for health personnel alike irrespective of whether their workplace is primarily urban or rural.