Articles: surgery.
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J Magn Reson Imaging · Jun 2006
ReviewRole of fMRI in the decision-making process: epilepsy surgery for children.
Functional MRI (fMRI) is increasingly being used to evaluate children and adolescents who are candidates for surgical treatment of intractable epilepsy. It has the advantage of being noninvasive and well tolerated by young people. By identifying important functional regions within the brain, including unpredictable patterns of functional reorganization, it can aid in surgical decision-making. ⋯ We describe how fMRI, used in conjunction with conventional investigative methods such as neuropsychological assessment, MRI, and electrophysiology, can 1) help to improve functional outcome by enabling resective surgery that spares functional cortex, 2) guide surgical intervention by revealing when reorganization of function has occurred, and 3) show when abnormal cortex is also functionally active, and hence that surgery may not be the best option. Altogether, these roles have reduced the need for invasive procedures that can be both risky and distressing for young people with epilepsy. In our experience, fMRI has significantly contributed to the decision-making process, and improved the counseling and management of young people with intractable epilepsy.
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The value of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (INM) during intramedullary spinal cord tumor surgery remains debated. This historical control study tests the hypothesis that INM monitoring improves neurological outcome. ⋯ The applied motor evoked potential methods seem to improve long-term motor outcome significantly. Early motor outcome is similar because of transient motor deficits in the INM group, which can be predicted at the end of surgery by the neurophysiological profile of patients.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Miniature robotic guidance for spine surgery--introduction of a novel system and analysis of challenges encountered during the clinical development phase at two spine centres.
Instrumented spinal fusion surgery is increasingly performed. Breaching of the pedicle occurs in 3-55% of screws; clinically significant screw misplacements occur in 0-7% of all transpedicular screw placements. Several techniques have reduced this incidence but none gained popularity due to cost as well as staff issues. Surgical robots offer distinct added value in accuracy and minimal invasiveness. The aim of this study is to introduce the SpineAssist--a novel spine surgery miniature robot, to discuss the various reasons that had prevented full success with its use, to identify patients related, technical related, and surgeon related issues, and to offer ways to avoid them. ⋯ It is expected that following a steep learning curve in the range of 5-10 cases, recommended to take place within 2-3 weeks time, the surgical team will gain sufficient experience in operating the SpineAssist miniature robotic device in order to achieve excellent surgical results. The system may be used for wide range of applications including but not limited to pedicle screws, trans-facet and trans-laminar screws, biopsy needles, vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty tools and more. The preoperative plan has to be logical, intraoperative fluoro images taken with care, gentle surgical technique must be kept - maintaining the integrity of the posterior elements, and avoiding pressure between the robot arms and the soft tissues. During the clinical development phase discussed in this study, both teams used an early version of the system. Based on the results of this study several significant software and hardware improvements have already been implemented. It is our hope that describing and analysing our findings will help in planning and preparing for the clinical utilization of the SpineAssist system in future sites and will shorten their learning curve. By the time this article is published wider clinical experience will have been gathered and we expect to soon follow up with an analysis of clinical utilization of this system in a larger study group.
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Jun 2006
Levosimendan for patients with impaired left ventricular function undergoing cardiac surgery.
The efficacy of levosimendan treatment for a low cardiac output status following cardiac surgery has not been established. Here, we review our initial experiences of the perioperative use of levosimendan. This study is a retrospective uncontrolled trial. ⋯ In the case of all but one of the patients, either the dose of the concomitant inotropic support or the balloon pumping could be weaned down within 24 h after completion of the levosimendan infusion. No withdrawal of levosimendan was required. Levosimendan could constitute a new therapeutic option for postoperative low cardiac output.
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Comparative Study
[CT-guided vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty: comparing technical success rate and complications in 101 cases].
To compare the technical success and complication rates in CT-guided vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. ⋯ Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty can be safely performed using only MSCT fluoroscopy guidance. The rate of major complications is very low. There was a high rate of small asymptomatic cement leakages which may have remained undetected with conventional fluoroscopy (CF). There was no statistically significant advantage for kyphoplasty with respect to cement leakage and the technical success rate.