Neurol Neurochir Pol
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Neurol Neurochir Pol · Jan 2012
Weekend versus weekday admissions in Polish stroke centres -- could admission day affect prognosis in Polish ischaemic stroke patients?
Disparities in resources, access to the expertise and healthcare providers both at hospital and before admission, or patients' awareness of stroke symptoms can cause differences in weekend and weekday stroke severity and prognosis. The aim of the study was to explore differences in baseline characteristics and outcomes of ischaemic stroke patients admitted on weekdays and weekends. ⋯ Admissions on weekends are associated with higher mortality and poor outcome, and that can be only partially explained by differences in baseline characteristics of admitted patients.
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Neurol Neurochir Pol · Jan 2012
Fluorescence-guided resection of primary and recurrent malignant gliomas with 5-aminolevulinic acid. Preliminary results.
Extent of resection plays a key role in the treatment of malignant gliomas (MGs). Patients with complete glioma removal, followed by chemoradiation, obtain the longest overall and progression-free survival. Fluorescence-guided resection of MGs enables intraoperative visualization of glioma tissue and increases control of the resection. The authors present preliminary results of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) application during the resection of primary and recurrent MGs. ⋯ Fluorescence-guided resection of primary and recurrent MGs with 5-ALA improves control of the tumour resection. It enables the cytoreduction to be maximized but experience in neuro-oncological surgery is required to avoid serious, postoperative neurological deficits.
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Neurol Neurochir Pol · Jan 2012
Biography Historical Article[Egas Moniz: a genius, unlucky looser or a Nobel committee error?].
Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz is one of the most intriguing figures in the history of medicine. While an invention of angiography in 1927 is his acknowledged merit, lobotomy, invented in 1935 became a black legend of psychiatry, although sporadically it is performed also today. There are even postulates to withdraw the Nobel Prize, which Moniz received in 1949 for inventing the lobotomy. ⋯ Aside the science, Moniz was an exceptionally colourful person, a merited politician, Portuguese minister of foreign affairs, the head of its delegation at Versailles in 1918, in 1951 he was even proposed a position of a President of Portugal. He was a versatile humanist and a writer, even a gambling expert. His person is hard for black and white evaluation, definitely deserving a re-evaluation from today's historical perspective.