Neurologia medico-chirurgica
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Neurol. Med. Chir. (Tokyo) · Jan 2010
Case ReportsOperative management of skull base malignant tumors arising from the nasal cavity and paranasal sinus: recent strategies used in 25 cases.
Cancers of the paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity are the most common malignant tumors of the anterior and anterolateral skull base. The treatment of these tumors affecting the skull base is complex due to the significant anatomical features. We examined 25 patients, 17 males and 8 females with mean age 61 +/- 2 years. ⋯ However, potential complications include cerebrospinal fluid leakage, meningitis, abscess formation, pneumocephalus, frontal brain contusion, trismus, and dysphagia as a functional complication. We believe that the optimal management of such malignant tumors involves a multimodal and multidisciplinary team approach. Here we present our recent institutional experience and treatment policy employed during the past 3 years.
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Neurol. Med. Chir. (Tokyo) · Jan 2010
Comparative StudyEffectiveness of brain hypothermia treatment in patients with severe subarachnoid hemorrhage: comparisons at a single facility.
The effectiveness of hypothermia treatment for severe subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) was evaluated at the same facility under the same director. A total of 187 patients with SAH, 67 admitted before the introduction of hypothermia treatment in May 1999 (early cases) and 120 treated thereafter (late cases), were transported to the National Cardiovascular Center and treated in the acute phase between November 1997 and September 2001. Brain hypothermia treatment was performed in 19 patients of the 120 late cases, 10 males and 9 females aged 33-72 years (mean 57. 6 years), treated by direct surgery in 15 and endovascular surgery in 4. ⋯ Hyperthermia after therapeutic hypothermia induced brain swelling and markedly affecting the outcome. Brain hypothermia treatment did not improve the outcome of severe SAH compared with the period before its introduction. The emphasis in treating severe SAH should be placed on the maintenance of normothermia to prevent brain swelling and elimination of factors that may induce cerebral vasospasm, rather than interventional hypothermia for aggressive brain protection.
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Neurol. Med. Chir. (Tokyo) · Jan 2010
Case ReportsCervical myelopathy caused by atlas osteochondroma and pseudoarthrosis between the osteochondroma and lamina of the axis: case report.
A 58-year-old man presented with a 6-month history of progressive cervical myelopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography of the cervical spine revealed a bone tumor arising from the posterior arch of the atlas and osteophytes at a pseudoarthrosis between the tumor and the lamina of the axis, resulting in marked spinal cord compression. ⋯ The histological diagnosis was osteochondroma. The primary cause of myelopathy in the present case was osteochondroma arising from the posterior arch of the atlas, but the osteophyte formations appearing at the pseudoarthrosis between the atlas osteochondroma and the lamina of the axis might also have contributed to the symptoms, which appeared when the patient was in his late 50s.
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Neurol. Med. Chir. (Tokyo) · Jan 2010
Case ReportsAneurysm on the cortical branch (P4 segment) of the posterior cerebral artery. Case report.
A 75-year-old woman presented with a rare aneurysm on the distal portion (P(4)) of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) causing subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and manifesting as sudden onset of headache, nuchal rigidity, and nausea. Computed tomography on admission revealed thin SAH in the left parietooccipital sulcus. Cerebral angiography demonstrated a small saccular aneurysm on the cortical branch of the left PCA. ⋯ Distal PCA aneurysms frequently affect middle-aged persons and tend to be small, with good clinical course but may cause visual field defects. Direct aneurysm clipping is recommended for patients without visual defect from the onset. Parent artery occlusion by the endovascular technique should be considered for patients with visual loss caused by the initial hemorrhage.
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Neurol. Med. Chir. (Tokyo) · Jan 2010
Case ReportsAcute epidural-like appearance of an encapsulated solid non-organized chronic subdural hematoma.
We report the exceptional case of an encapsulated solid non-organized chronic subdural hematoma (SDH) in a 67-year-old woman that was admitted with acute hemiplegia followed by rapid deterioration in consciousness 5 months after a minor head trauma. Computed tomography (CT) showed an extracerebral biconvex shaped hyperdense mass that led to the misdiagnosis of an acute epidural hematoma. Urgent craniotomy revealed an encapsulated mass filled with solid fresh clot in the subdural space. ⋯ Histological analysis confirmed that the content of the hematoma corresponded to a newly formed clot that was enclosed between an inner membrane, composed of two collagen layers, and an outer membrane with a three layered structure. Chronic SDH may seldom present as an encapsulated solid non-organized lesion that consists of a fibrous capsule enclosing a fresh clot and lacking the thick fibrous septations that typically connect the inner and outer membranes of organized chronic SDH. This entity mimics the clinical course and radiological appearance of acute epidural hematomas and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of extracerebral hyperdense biconvex shaped lesions.