World Neurosurg
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To determine the criteria used by neurosurgery resident selection committees in different programs and to assess the process of selection. ⋯ Interview process, USMLE I, and letters of recommendations were the most important factors affecting residents selection. Most of the program directors are satisfied by this process and applicants pool as it reflects somehow their performance during residency.
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Case Reports
Concentric craniotomy: removal of tumor involving the skull and the intracranial space.
Removal of a tumor involving both the intracranial space and the skull presents technical challenges. This is especially so if there is a potential for significant hemorrhage due to a hemangioma or a significant attachment to the brain as with a meningioma. ⋯ The technique we describe, a concentric craniotomy, transforms a difficult operation with the potential for significant hemorrhage into a more standard removal of a convexity tumor.
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The relationship between metrics, such as the h-index, and the ability of researchers to generate funding has not been previously investigated in neurosurgery. This study was performed to determine whether a correlation exists between bibliometrics and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding data among academic neurosurgeons. ⋯ Bibliometric indices are higher for those with NIH funding compared to those without, but only the contemporary h-index was shown to be predictive of NIH funding. Among neurosurgeons with NIH funding, higher bibliometric scores were associated with greater total amount of funding, number of grants, duration of grants, and earlier acquisition of their first grant.
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Chronic renal failure (CRF) is associated with a high incidence of stroke. In particular, the mortality rate for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients with hemodialysis (HD) due to advanced stage CRF is high, and the annual number of such cases is increasing. Therefore, we retrospectively investigated 5 years of clinical data from patients with ICH in our institution to reveal differences in the clinical courses of HD and non-HD patients and to identify risk factors for poor outcomes in ICH patients with HD. ⋯ Mortality in ICH patients with HD was associated with lack of antihypertensive drug use. Therefore, strict control of blood pressure is needed in HD patients to prevent ICH, especially on intermittent HD days or before the HD procedure.
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Higher benchmarks in safety for patients undergoing neurosurgery have been introduced. With these principles, new tools and techniques were established, including intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM). Current trends as a function of patient-, surgeon-, and procedure-related factors and complication rates in the utilization of IONM as an adjunct to the practice of pediatric neurosurgery have not been investigated previously. ⋯ The percent of procedures performed with IONM increased. However, these trends do not seem governed by improvement to patient outcomes because the complication rates were higher in the IONM cohort than the non-IONM cohort.