World Neurosurg
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Chiari III malformation is an extremely rare congenital anomaly. At present, its primary and associated pathognomonic factors remain poorly understood. The authors report a case of a male neonate born with an occipital encephalocoele with herniation of posterior fossa contents associated with bilateral postaxial polydactyly. ⋯ Owing to the uniqueness of this patient's presentation, the concurrent diagnoses of Chiari III malformation and polydactyly are discussed in concordance with updated literature.
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Many studies have been performed to evaluate the roles of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor (PGR) in meningiomas, but their influence on tumor behavior remains unclear. ⋯ Although skull base meningiomas are often incompletely resected, there were no differences in recurrence-free survival or recurrence rate between skull base and non-skull base meningiomas. As the Ki-67 index and WHO grade were not different between these locations, the high rate of positive PGR may be responsible for the benign biology of skull base meningiomas.
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Although partial thrombosis is common with intracranial aneurysms, complete aneurysmal thrombosis is extremely rare. An even rarer and seldom reported phenomenon is the spontaneous complete occlusion of the parent artery in the presence of a thrombosed aneurysm. Given the unclear natural history of this phenomenon, therapeutic decision making may be rather difficult. Here we report a case of right cavernous carotid artery aneurysm with spontaneous right internal carotid artery (ICA) thrombosis in a 45-year-old man. ⋯ Spontaneous thrombosis of an intracranial aneurysm and the parent artery is rare, with only a few cases reported in the literature. In the absence of symptoms and adequate collateral circulation, these patients are perhaps best managed conservatively.
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Case Reports
Four-Level Vertebrectomy For En Bloc Resection of a Cervical Chordoma: Technical Case Report.
Chordomas are locally aggressive tumors that can involve multiple levels of the spine and are difficult to resect. We present our technique for 4-level en bloc cervical spondylectomy for a locally aggressive chordoma. ⋯ En bloc resection as part of a multidisciplinary team approach remains the mainstay of spinal chordoma treatment. Modern instrumentation and careful dissection can provide good results even in locally advanced cases.
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Fungal mass lesions in the central nervous system are, as a group, extremely rare. In this group cryptococcomas are the most common mass lesions seen. These cryptococcomas/mucinous pseudocysts are commonly only 3-10 mm in diameter and occur almost exclusively in the basal ganglia through contiguous spread from a basal meningitis through the Virchow-Robbin perivascular spaces. In rare cases a chronic granulomatous process may lead to formation of mass lesions that have a tumoral appearance. ⋯ Diagnosing the tumoral form of cryptococcosis in immunocompetent patients is a challenge. Primary and secondary brain tumors are usually the first hypotheses in these cases. Thorough preoperative investigation through cerebrospinal fluid sampling and detailed magnetic resonance imaging may lead to consideration of this diagnosis before the histopathologic analysis has been conducted.