World Neurosurg
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Intramedullary spinal cord metastasis (ISCM) from ovarian cancer is rare. Here we report a case of a 50-year-old female with ISCM from ovarian cancer.
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In times of the ubiquitous debate about doctors' working hour restrictions, it is still questionable if the physician's performance is impaired by high work load and long shifts. In this study, we evaluated the impact of sleep interruption on neurosurgical performance. ⋯ In our study, we found an increase of neurosurgical simulator performance in neurosurgical residents and medical students under simulated night shift conditions. Further, microsurgical dexterity remained unchanged. Based on our results and the data in the available literature, we cannot confirm that working hour restrictions will have a positive effect on neurosurgical performance.
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The clinical outcome of patients with Parkinson disease (PD) who undergo subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) is, in part, determined by the length of the electrode trajectory through the motor STN domain, the dorsolateral oscillatory region (DLOR). Trajectory length has been found to correlate with the stimulation-related improvement in patients' motor function (estimated by part III of the United Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale [UPDRS]). Therefore, it seems that ideally trajectories should have maximal DLOR length. ⋯ Trajectory angles correlate with the recorded STN and DLOR lengths, and should be altered toward a more posterolateral angle in older patients and atrophied brains to compensate for the changes in STN location and geometry. These fine adjustments should yield a longer motor domain pass, thereby improving the patient's predicted outcome.
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The patient is a 79-year-old male, suffering from advanced metastatic prostate cancer, who developed a progressively worsening ideomotor slowing and was therefore referred to the emergency department of our institution. A plain axial computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a vast hemispheric subdural fluid collection, apparently a subdural hematoma. ⋯ The total body CT scan for the routine oncologic follow-up of the prostate cancer scan fell at 20 days from the first CT of the emergency department. A second contrast-enhanced axial CT scan demonstrated the presence of 2 subdural metastases, presumably the initial pathogenesis of the subdural fluid collection.
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Surgery of the craniocervical junction (CCJ) and clivus is technically demanding. For many years, we have used the submandibular retropharyngeal approach for surgery of the upper cervical spine, especially hangman fracture. We hypothesized that submandibular gland resection could offer a significant cranial enlargement of the operative field, up to the clivus. Our aim in this work was to assess the feasibility of an endoscope-assisted retropharyngeal approach to the CCJ and clivus. ⋯ An endoscopic submandibular retropharyngeal approach provides a simple and straightforward access to the CCJ. It also conveniently exposes the clivus. This technique could be added to the techniques used for this difficult surgery.