Surgical neurology international
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Vascularized nasoseptal flaps allow for the reconstruction of large dural defects and have remarkably reduced the incidence of postoperative complications during endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery. Nevertheless, some complications related to nasoseptal flap have been reported. Flap necrosis is a rare, but serious issue is associated with meningitis and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. ⋯ Our case suggested that partial rather than total flap necrosis could occur, possibly due to variances of vascular anatomy, leading to focal ischemia. Debridement of the necrotic region may be an important solution for recurrent cerebrospinal leakage secondary to partial necrosis of a nasoseptal flap.
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Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IOM) has become valuable in spine surgery. Unfortunately, it is not always available in many spine centers, especially in developing countries. Our aim was to evaluate the accessibility and barriers to IOM in spine surgery in Latin America. ⋯ Despite the fact that 68% of spine surgeons believe IOM to be indispensable for complex spine surgery, cost remains the main barrier to its use/availability in Latin America.
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In this paper, we report a clinical series of skull base lesions operated on trough the MiniPT, extending its application to skull base lesions, either using the classical minipterional or a variant, we call extradural minipterional approach (MiniPTEx). ⋯ We further advance the indications of the MiniPT by extending it to operate on the cranial base tumors or complex vascular lesions without additional morbidity. MiniPT approach may be safely associated with skull base techniques, including anterior and posterior clinoidectomies, peeling of the middle fossa, transcavernous approach, and anterior petrosectomy. The versatility of the MiniPT craniotomy and the feasibility of performing skull base surgery through the MiniPT technique have been demonstrated in this paper.
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In osteoporotic patients, a useful technique for significantly enhancing the strength of a pedicle screw is augmentation with polymethylmethacrylate cement. However, a rare complication of this procedure is a symptomatic pulmonary cement embolism. ⋯ Despite the increased use of cement augmentation for pedicle screw placement and the relatively high incidence of cement leakage into the prevertebral venous system, symptomatic cement pulmonary embolism remains rare. The management of such symptomatic CPE should be evaluated and treated based on both the size and location of the embolism. Here, we presented this case while reviewing three symptomatic and four asymptomatic cases from the literature.
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Case Reports
Histopathological variation in the demyelinating sentinel lesion of primary central nervous system lymphoma.
Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is one of the least common malignant brain tumors. It is usually diagnosed initially as diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In rare cases, however, a demyelinating lesion referred to as a "sentinel lesion" precedes the actual diagnosis, which usually depicts two distinct patterns of inflammatory cells during histological analysis. This case report describes a unique histological finding and describes the recognized variations in sentinel lesion histopathology. ⋯ The sentinel lesion of PCNSL expresses a variable histological pattern of inflammatory cells. This case demonstrates a unique and rare picture of mixed perivascular and parenchymal infiltration of inflammatory cells, highlighting the importance of repeated biopsies and/or radiological examinations to obtain an accurate diagnosis.