World Neurosurg
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Review Meta Analysis
Seniority of surgeon in CSDH Recurrence: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) is increasingly common, particularly in the older and multimorbid population. Surgical proficiency in management is required in the early years of U. K. neurosurgical training with most cases performed by nonconsultant-grade surgeons. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the effect of surgeon seniority on recurrence for patients with CSDH. ⋯ The risk of bias was assessed using the National Institute of Health risk of bias toolkit. Five studies were included in the final analysis (n = 941 total patients). Individually, no study identified a significant difference in recurrence rate and postoperative complications between senior and junior neurosurgeons. On meta-analysis, junior-led evacuations had lower recurrence rates on pooled univariable analysis (12.0% vs. 17.9% [odds ratio 0.48, 95% confidence interval 0.29-0.78, I2 = 0%]) (3 studies). Seniority of surgeon was not associated with increased rates of recurrence patients undergoing CSDH surgery. Complexity of operation may be a confounding factor in observed lower recurrence rates with more junior operators.
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Review Meta Analysis
Safety and Technical Efficacy of Pediatric Brainstem Biopsies: An Updated Meta-Analysis of 1000+ Children.
Brainstem tumors represent ∼10% of pediatric brain tumors, ∼80% of these are diffuse midline glioma. Given invariably poor prognosis in diffuse midline glioma, there continues to be immense variation worldwide in performing biopsy of these lesions. Several contemporary studies in recent years have provided new data to elucidate the safety profile of biopsy and an updated meta-analysis is thus indicated. ⋯ When counseling families on the merits of brainstem biopsy in children, it is reasonable to state that permanent morbidity is rare (<2%). If biopsy is performed specifically to facilitate enrollment in clinical trials requiring a molecular diagnosis, the risks of biopsy outlined here should be weighed against potential benefits of trial enrollment.
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Review Meta Analysis
Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Raman Spectroscopy and Machine-Learning-Based Identification of Glioma Tissue.
Intraoperative Raman spectroscopy (RS) has been identified as a potential tool for surgeons to rapidly and noninvasively differentiate between diseased and normal tissue. Since the previous meta-analysis on the subject was published in 2016, improvements in both spectroscopy equipment and machine learning models used to process spectra may have led to an increase in RS efficacy. Therefore, we decided to conduct a meta-analysis to determine the efficacy of RS when differentiating between glioma tissue and normal brain tissue. ⋯ Finally, meta-analysis for sensitivity and specificity of RS for glioma tissue showed high heterogeneity (I2 = 99.37% and 98.21%, respectively) and yielded an overall sensitivity of 95.3% (95% confidence interval: 91.0%-99.6%) and an overall specificity of 71.2% (95% confidence interval: 54.8%-87.6%). Calculation of a summary receiver operating curve yielded an overall area under the curve of 0.9265. Raman spectroscopy represents a promising tool for surgeons to quickly and accurately differentiate between healthy brain tissue and glioma tissue.
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A retrospective study of cases of endovascular treatment of dissection of the vertebral artery with subarachnoid hemorrhage was conducted. ⋯ Treatment strategies for each branching pattern of PICA can prevent rupture and avoid ischemic complications. And prediction of the rupture side is important in patients with bilateral dissection to consider the appropriate treatment and timing.
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Endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery (EETS) is a common treatment for sellar and suprasellar tumors. While endoscopic training has improved over the years and formal fellowship training is now broadly available, the operative nuances of EETS conjectures the existence a learning curve as a neurosurgeon matures with experience. We aim to evaluate operative outcomes of 3 different experience levels of neurosurgeons over time at a single institution. ⋯ Late-career neurosurgeons had shorter operation lengths, achieved higher rates of GTR, and their patients experienced significantly higher rates of DI. Overall outcomes remained stable throughout the course of 16 years between different surgeon experience levels.