Nō to shinkei = Brain and nerve
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It is desirable for neurosurgeons to be able to evaluate cord functions. To assess electrophysiologically functional status of spinal cord, cortical and spinal somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) were studied in 33 patients with cervical radiculomyelopathy; 11 cases of cervical spondylosis, 11 cases of OPLL, 3 cases of narrow canal, 2 cases of narrow canal with OPLL, 3 cases of intradural extramedullary tumor, 2 cases of intramedullary tumor and one case of traumatic cervical cord injury. Before the operation cortical SEP was recorded from post-Rolandic area by the median nerve stimulation. Spinal SEP was recorded from the dorsal surface of the cord after partial and complete laminectomy, or before and after tumor removal. ⋯ Cortical SEP showed abnormalities in 45% of the cases, whose abnormalities were disappearance of the early components such as P1N1 wave, P1 to P2 complex or P1 to P3 complex and delay of the peak latency. Spinal SEP showed abnormalities in 42% of the cases, and the abnormal patterns were divided into 3 groups as follows: Type 1: Slightly abnormal, P1 and N1 waves are well recorded, whereas the P2 wave is absent or markedly suppressed in the amplitude. Type 2: Moderately abnormal, the P2 wave is flat and in addition the N1 wave is diminished in the amplitude. Type 3: Severely abnormal, only the P1 wave is recorded and the N1 to P2 complex is absent. Type 1 was obtained from 3 patients, type 2 from 9 patients, and type 3 from 2 patients. Cortical and spinal SEP were closely related to deep sensations, and cortical SEP was relatively correlated with superficial sensations. There were no differences of spinal SEP in most of the cases between partial and complete laminectomy. In intradural extramedullary tumor, however, good spinal SEP was recorded in collapsed cord after the tumor removal. Clinical symptoms were improved postoperatively in 80% of patients with both normal cortical and spinal SEP. It is concluded that cortical and spinal SEP are useful for prognostic value in patients with cervical radiculomyelopathy.
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Symptomatic tension pneumocephalus developed after an evacuation of chronic subdural hematoma is reported. In this 71 year-old man, a rapid deterioration of consciousness was noted 5 days after a trephination for bilateral chronic subdural hematomas. ⋯ Subdural tension pneumocephalus was confirmed by typical CT findings and treated by re-trephination and drainage. The literature on the tension subdural pneumocephalus was reviewed, and the mechanism of its development was briefly discussed.
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The authors investigated the hydrodynamics in normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and suggested surgical indication for identifying cases suitable for shunt operation. 48 patients with presumed NPH who underwent CT scanning, CT cisternography, and continuous monitoring of intracranial pressure for 24 hours were studied for assessing the correlation of incidence of B wave with clinicopathological features of the normal pressure hydrocephalus syndromes. The causes of NPH consisted of idiopathic of primary origin in 24 patients, subarachnoid hemorrhage in 9, head injury in 8, cerebrovascular occlusion in 3, meningitis in 2, intracerebral hematoma in one and craniotomy in one. The incidence of B waves in term of percentage of time with B waves did not correlate with the age of the patients and presence or absence of CT evidence of brain atrophy. ⋯ On the other hand, patients with type III-a on CTC and B waves for less than 5% of the time monitored could not be expected to respond to shunting. Incidence of B waves on continuous ICP monitoring correlated closely with response to CSF shunting. Therefore continuous ICP monitoring, combined with CT cisternography, provide a reliable indication of the potential of a patient with NPH to recover after shunting.