World Neurosurg
-
Health literacy is the ability with which individuals can obtain, understand, and apply basic health information. Approximately 36% of Americans have basic or below basic health literacy skills. This low health literacy is particularly prevalent in neurosurgery, a growing field of medicine with considerable complexity and a patient population commonly affected with disease-related cognitive impairment. Consequences of poor patient understanding range from increased emergency department admissions rates to reduced adherence to preoperative medication instructions. Economic implications include increasing health care expenditures, decreasing access to health care, and decreasing quality of care. Health literacy costs the United States $106-236 billion per year. ⋯ Despite current efforts, further action is still needed. Health literacy is a key determinant in ensuring longevity and quality of life.
-
Case Reports Comparative Study
Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion for Spondylolisthesis: Comparison Between Isthmic and Degenerative Spondylolisthesis.
Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS TLIF) is a common surgical option for degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS). However, its effectiveness for isthmic spondylolisthesis (IS) is still controversial. No current studies have directly compared perioperative and postoperative results including various radiological parameters between IS and DS after MIS TLIF. ⋯ MIS TLIF resulted in similar clinical outcomes when used to treat both isthmic and degenerative spondylolisthesis. Although disk height restoration was more effective for IS than DS, other radiological parameters including fusion rate were no different between groups. For both isthmic and degenerative spondylolisthesis, MIS TLIF can be a safe and effective surgical option.
-
Myopericytomas are benign vascular tumors composed of perivascular myoid cells that usually arise in superficial soft tissues of the extremities. ⋯ We conclude that myopericytoma may affect the nervous system and for prognostic and therapeutic reasons, needs to be differentiated from other vascular tumors.
-
Palliative tumor resection and subsequent stabilization are important for maximizing function and quality of life for patients suffering from spinal metastases. However, traditional operative techniques for spinal metastases with vertebral body destruction involve extensive soft tissue dissection. In the lumbar spine, open 2-staged spine procedures are routinely required with an anterior retroperitoneal approach for corpectomy and cage insertion and posterior decompression and stabilization with pedicle screws and rods. Both stages require extensive soft tissue dissection that results in significant surgical morbidity, long recovery time, and subsequent delay in initiating postoperative chemoradiotherapy, as well as initially hampering patients' overall quality of life. A minimally invasive approach is desirable for achieving spinal stability, pain control, functional recovery, rapid initiation of adjuvant therapies, and overall patient satisfaction, especially in patients whose medical and surgical therapies are aimed at palliation rather than cure. ⋯ A minimally invasive muscle-sparing, posterior-only approach is a promising surgical strategy for 360-degree decompression and stabilization for the treatment of lumbar spinal metastases with minimized blood loss, muscle detachment and postoperative pain, and fast postoperative recovery and initiation of adjuvant therapy.
-
Case Reports
Endoscopic Endonasal Management of Metastatic Lesions of the Anterior Skull Base: Case Series and Literature Review.
The anterior skull base is an uncommon site for brain metastases. A limited number of cases have been reported where a region of the skull base is accessed through an expanded/extended transsphenoidal route. In addition, reports of overall and progression-free survival rates are lacking. ⋯ The range of anterior skull base metastatic lesions that can be managed endonasally has increased with the advent of extended endonasal endoscopic surgical approaches. Favorable results can be obtained with this surgical approach as part of the overall management paradigm for patients with skull base metastases.