Acta neurochirurgica. Supplement
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This manuscript describes the development and ongoing integration of neuroArm, an image-guided MR-compatible robot. ⋯ NeuroArm successfully united the precision and accuracy of robotics with the executive decision-making capability of the surgeon.
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Acta Neurochir. Suppl. · Jan 2011
Association of apolipoprotein E polymorphisms with cerebral vasospasm after spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Cerebral vasospasm (CVS) is the main complication of spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), severely affecting clinical outcome of patients with SAH. Apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) is associated with prognosis of spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and APOEε4 allele is reported to be apt to CVS after SAH. The current study aimed to investigate the association of APOE polymorphisms with CVS after SAH. ⋯ Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that ApoEε4 allele was a risk factor (OR=2.842. 95% CI 1.072-6.124. P=0.019) to predispose to CVS after adjusting for age, sex, hypertension or not, hyperlipemia or not, Fisher grade, and Hunt-Hess grade after SAH. Our finding suggests that the patients with APOEε4 allele predispose to CVS after spontaneous SAH.
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Acta Neurochir. Suppl. · Jan 2011
Treatment of symptomatic lumbar spinal degenerative pathologies by means of combined conservative biochemical treatments.
Research in spine surgery has proposed new soft and less invasive techniques. These are the results of our experience with oxygen-ozone therapy, which we could experiment within the Italian National Health System over 3 years. A total of 1,920 patients were admitted on the basis of unselected enrolment because of lumbosciatic pain. ⋯ The perceived quality of result for this minimally invasive procedure makes oxygen-ozone therapy an interesting weapon in the hands of doctors. Furthermore, if the technique loses its clinical effectiveness, it can be repeated without harm for the patient, and costs for the health organization are notably very low, above all if compared to surgical procedures. We underline the need that this treatment should be performed in protected structures, in operative rooms, under anesthesiologic control, and in the hands of specialists.
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Acta Neurochir. Suppl. · Jan 2011
Application of pulsed radio frequency to the dorsal horn and dorsal roots.
In the world of neuromodulation for pain management, the new multifunctional electrode presented in this article, together with the associated procedure described, considerably extends the range of therapeutic options in the hands of pain physicians. Besides the definite therapeutic effect, the lower rate of complications and side effects, further factors also make this new procedure and device appear an attractive diagnostic and therapeutic modality.
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Acta Neurochir. Suppl. · Jan 2011
Thrombin preconditioning reduces iron-induced brain swelling and brain atrophy.
Cerebral preconditioning with a low dose of thrombin attenuates brain edema induced by intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), a large dose of thrombin or iron. This study examined whether or not thrombin preconditioning (TPC) reduces neuronal death and brain atrophy caused by iron. The right hippocampus of rats was pretreated with or without thrombin, and iron was then injected into the same location 3 days later. ⋯ We found that TPC reduced neuronal death and brain swelling in the hippocampus 1 day after iron injection, and hippocampal atrophy 7 days later. Western blots showed that thrombin activates p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p44/42 MAPK) and 70-kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70 S6K). Our results indicate that TPC reduction of iron-induced neuronal death may be through the p44/42 MAPK /p70 S6K signal transduction pathway.