Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Feb 2010
ReviewHighly cited works in neurosurgery. Part I: the 100 top-cited papers in neurosurgical journals.
The number of citations a published article receives is a measure of its impact in the scientific community. This study identifies and characterizes the current 100 top-cited articles in journals specifically dedicated to neurosurgery. ⋯ The most cited articles in neurosurgical journals are trials evaluating surgical or medical therapies, descriptions of novel techniques, or systems for classifying or grading disease. The time of publication, field of study, nature of the work, and the journal in which the work appears are possible determinants of the likelihood of citation and impact.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Feb 2010
ReviewHighly cited works in neurosurgery. Part II: the citation classics.
The term "citation classic" has been used in reference to an article that has been cited more than 400 times. The purpose of this study is to identify such articles that pertain to clinical neurosurgery. ⋯ More than half of the citation classics identified in this study have been published in the past 20 years. Case series, classifications, and reviews appeared more frequently in neurosurgical journals, while randomized controlled trials tended to be published in general medical journals.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Feb 2010
Randomized Controlled TrialPostoperative pain management with tramadol after craniotomy: evaluation and cost analysis.
Patients undergoing craniotomies have traditionally received opiates with acetaminophen for the management of their postoperative pain. The use of narcotic pain medications can be costly, decrease rates of early postoperative ambulation, lengthen hospital stays, and alter a patient's neurological examination. The use of alternative pain medications such as tramadol may benefit patients by resolving many of these issues. ⋯ The use of scheduled atypical analgesics such as tramadol in addition to narcotics with acetaminophen for the management of postoperative pain after craniotomy may provide better pain control, decrease the side effects associated with narcotic pain medications, encourage earlier postoperative ambulation, and reduce total hospitalization costs.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Feb 2010
Cerebral microdialysis and intracranial pressure monitoring in patients with idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus: association with clinical response to extended lumbar drainage and shunt surgery.
This study was performed in patients with idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) to monitor cerebral metabolism with microdialysis (MD) and intracranial pressure (ICP) readings, and relate to the clinical responses to extended lumbar drainage (ELD) and shunt surgery. ⋯ The MD monitoring indicated low-grade cerebral ischemia in patients with iNPH; during ELD, cerebral metabolism improved. The pulsatile ICP (the ICP wave amplitude) was the only variable differentiating the clinical responders from the nonresponders. The authors suggest that the pulsatile ICP reflects the intracranial compliance and that CSF diversion improves the biophysical milieu of the nerve cells, which subsequently may improve their biochemical milieu.