World Neurosurg
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Malignant middle cerebral artery infarction (mMCAI) is a life-threatening condition in pediatric patients. Despite strong evidence showing decreased morbidity and mortality in adult mMCAI patients with decompressive hemicraniectomy (DCH), there is a paucity of data on the use of DCH in children with similar conditions. Here we report experience from our center and perform a systematic review of published literature on outcomes after use of DCH in pediatric mMCAI patients. ⋯ The current data suggest a role for DCH in the management of cerebral edema in pediatric patients with mMCAI. Factors that help in prognostication for adult stroke patients undergoing DCH do not appear to convey similar information about the pediatric population. This highlights the urgent need for collaboration across institutes to further investigate this potentially life-saving procedure in pediatric stroke.
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Case Reports
A solution to meningiomas at the trigone of the lateral ventricle using a contralateral transfalcine approach.
Access to the trigone of the lateral ventricle is challenging because of the deep location and the intimate relationships to eloquent areas. ⋯ The feasibilities and advantages of this novel approach are discussed.
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To describe three cases of delayed development of intracranial hypertension (IH) after surgical treatment of intracranial arachnoid cyst, including the pathogenesis of IH and a review of the literature. ⋯ The pathogenesis of delayed development of IH in this clinical setting is not clearly elucidated. When intracranial arachnoid cysts are treated, the possibility of future development of IH should be borne in mind. Delayed presentation with headaches in patients after treatment of intracranial arachnoid cysts should raise the possibility of IH.
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The prevalent method of ventriculostomy placement is via freehand insertion to cannulate the ventricle at a 90° angle to the skull to get ideal placement. Our goal was to test the validity of this practice in patients without midline shift and with normal ventricular size. ⋯ Our study concludes that not all catheters passed through Kocher's point using a perpendicular trajectory will end up in the ipsilateral frontal horn, and almost 10% of these catheters will be in a nonventricular space. In the instance in which a freehand pass fails to cannulate a ventricle, the safest alternative would be to make only minor adjustments to the perpendicular angle.
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Fluorescence-guided surgery for cranial meningioma has been reported to be useful. There are no reports about spinal cases using this technique. We report on a meningioma of the cervical spine for which fluorescence-guided surgery was used. ⋯ Fluorescence-guided microsurgery is helpful in achieving a total resection of spinal meningiomas, and might therefore reduce the risk of recurrence.