World Neurosurg
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Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) can help achieve local control (LC) and reduce hormonal overexpression for pituitary adenomas (PAs). Prior reports involved Gamma Knife or older linear accelerator (LINAC) techniques. The aim of this study was to report long-term outcomes for modern LINAC RT. ⋯ Modern LINAC RT for patients with PAs was safe and effective for hormonal control and LC. No difference in LC was noted for functional versus nonfunctional tumors, possibly owing to higher total dose and daily image guidance.
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Antoine Shako Hiango Omokanda Djunga was the pioneer of neurosurgery in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country located in Central Africa. He was born in 1938 in Sankuru, a province of the DRC. He graduated from the Free University of Brussels medical school and later trained there in neurosurgery. ⋯ As a neurosurgeon, he worked at the Kinshasa University Clinic of Lovanium School of Medicine in the DRC, where he introduced neurosurgery and advocated for the construction of the first dedicated neurosurgical operating room. His leadership helped ensure sustainability in the field in the DRC. He died at the age of 48, leaving a void in neurosurgery and an unfulfilled mission of advocating for the construction of an independent neurosurgery hospital in the DRC.
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To explore the feasibility of using a modified power-on programming method in deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson disease (PD). ⋯ The modified power-on programming method can achieve a similar clinical effect to the traditional method, with the advantage of more efficiency.
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Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is particularly useful for treatment of deep arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in eloquent territory with a high associated surgical risk. Prior studies have demonstrated high rates of AVM obliteration with SRS (60%-80%) in a latency period of 2-4 years for complete obliteration. Studies have identified several factors associated with successful obliteration of the AVM nidus; however, these present inconsistent and conflicting data. The aim of this single-center study was to examine factors associated with successful obliteration of AVMs treated with SRS. ⋯ Successful obliteration of the AVM nidus was significantly associated with younger age and prior embolization. The presence of coronary artery disease negatively affected obliteration rates. These results add to the mixed results seen in the literature and emphasize the need for continued studies to delineate more specific patient and AVM factors that contribute to successful obliteration.
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Review
The Uncharted Waters of Machine and Deep Learning for Surgical Phase Recognition in Neurosurgery.
Recent years have witnessed artificial intelligence (AI) make meteoric leaps in both medicine and surgery, bridging the gap between the capabilities of humans and machines. Digitization of operating rooms and the creation of massive quantities of data have paved the way for machine learning and computer vision applications in surgery. Surgical phase recognition (SPR) is a newly emerging technology that uses data derived from operative videos to train machine and deep learning algorithms to identify the phases of surgery. ⋯ Still in its infancy, SPR has been mainly studied in laparoscopic surgeries, with a contrasting stark lack of research within neurosurgery. Given the high-tech and rapidly advancing nature of neurosurgery, we believe SPR has a tremendous untapped potential in this field. Herein, we present an overview of the SPR technology, its potential applications in neurosurgery, and the challenges that lie ahead.