World Neurosurg
-
The use of balloon guide catheters (BGCs) for proximal flow arrest during neurointerventional procedures has been limited owing to the incompatibility of BGCs with large-bore aspiration catheters and difficulty in device navigation. The objective of our study was to describe the use of the Walrus catheter (Q'Apel Medical, Fremont, California, USA), a new 8F BGC, with a variety of aspiration catheters and procedures requiring flow arrest. ⋯ Our results have demonstrated that the Walrus BGC is a highly navigable 8F guide catheter compatible with most available aspiration catheters. Owing to its compatibility with most available aspiration catheters and ease of use, the Walrus BGC is a valuable addition to the tools available for mechanical thrombectomy.
-
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the dynamics of health care and neurosurgical practice. Elective surgeries were suspended for 8 weeks in Kentucky. Our objective was to determine if telehealth (TH) visits could be sustained as an alternative to in-person visits. ⋯ TH visits were challenging due to the need for in-person physical examinations in neurosurgery. TH temporarily accommodated patient needs during the pandemic but could not totally replace in-person visits and was not sustained after 3.5 months of use. Video TH visits worked well for nonurgent issues, such as minor visual examinations. Our findings could help guide the implementation of TH should similar circumstances arise again.
-
Intervertebral fusions in cases of reduced bone density are a tough challenge. From a biomechanical point of view, most current studies have focused on the range of motion or have shown test setups for single-component tests. Definitive setups for biomechanical testing of the primary stability of a 360° fusion using a screw-rod system and cage on osteoporotic spine are missing. The aim of this study was to develop a test stand to provide information about the bone-implant interface under reproducible conditions. ⋯ This setup is suitable for biomechanical testing of cyclical continuous loads on the spine with reduced bone quality or osteoporosis. The embedding method is stable and ensures a purely single-level setup with different trajectories, especially when using the cortical bone trajectory. Optical monitoring provides a very accurate indication of cage movement, which correlates with the macroscopic and radiological results.
-
The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an independent predictor of clinical outcome of different diseases, such as acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, malignant tumor, and traumatic brain injury. However, the prognostic value of NLR plus admission Glasgow Coma Scale score (NLR-GCS) is still unclear in patients with diffuse axonal injury (DAI). Therefore this study assessed the relationship between the NLR-GCS and 6-month outcome of DAI patients. ⋯ The higher NLR level on admission is independently associated with unfavorable outcomes of DAI patients at 6 months. Furthermore, the combination of NLR and admission GCS score provides the superior predictive capacity to either NLR or GCS alone.
-
The incidence of retractions has been increasing steadily, in direct proportion to the volume of scientific literature. Retraction of published articles depends on the visibility of journals and on postpublication scrutiny of published articles by peers. The possibility thus exists that not all compromised ("retractable") articles are detected and retracted from the less-visible journals. The proportion of "retractable" articles and its converse, the proportion of published articles in each journal that are likely to be "true" (PTP), have not been estimated hitherto. ⋯ Neurosurgery as a discipline had a higher RGap but also a higher PTP than the other 2 groups.