Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Oct 2013
Plasma taurine as a predictor of poor outcome in patients with mild neurological deficits after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
The object of this study was to determine the relationship between plasma taurine and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) outcome. ⋯ Increased plasma taurine concentrations on admission predict a poor outcome in SAH.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Oct 2013
Hemorrhage risk, surgical management, and functional outcome of brainstem cavernous malformations.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the pre- and postoperative rehemorrhage risk, neurological function outcome, and prognostic factors of surgically treated brainstem cavernous malformations (CMs) with long-term follow-up. ⋯ Favorable long-term outcomes and significantly low postoperative annual hemorrhage rates were achieved via surgery. Total resection should be attempted with an aim of minimal injury to neurological function; however, postoperative deficits can improve during the postoperative course. Close follow-up with radiological examination is proposed for patients with adverse factors predictive of rehemorrhage.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Oct 2013
Association of increased body mass index with Chiari malformation Type I and syrinx formation in adults.
In this paper the authors describe an association between increased body mass index (BMI) and Chiari malformation Type I (CM-I) in adults, as well as its relationship to the development of syringomyelia. ⋯ An association between increased BMI and CM-I in adults was recognized. Gaining weight may influence the de novo creation of a syrinx in adults who previously had minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic CM-I, and reducing weight can improve a syrinx after unsuccessful surgical decompression. Therefore, a reduction in body weight should be recommended for all overweight and obese patients with CM-I.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Oct 2013
Opening of the blood-brain barrier with an unfocused ultrasound device in rabbits.
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a major impediment to the intracerebral diffusion of drugs used in the treatment of gliomas. Previous studies have demonstrated that pulsed focused ultrasound (US) in conjunction with a microbubble contrast agent can be used to open the BBB. To apply the US-induced opening of the BBB in clinical practice, the authors designed an innovative unfocused US device that can be implanted in the skull and used to transiently and repeatedly open the BBB during a standard chemotherapy protocol. The goal of this preliminary work was to study the opening of the BBB induced by the authors' small unfocused US transducer and to evaluate the effects of the sonications on brain parenchyma. ⋯ The results demonstrate that the BBB can be opened in large areas of the brain in rabbits with low-power, pulsed, and unfocused US with limited damage to healthy tissue.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Oct 2013
Multicenter Study Clinical TrialProspective validation of a patient-reported nasal quality-of-life tool for endonasal skull base surgery: The Anterior Skull Base Nasal Inventory-12.
Patient-reported quality-of-life (QOL) end points are becoming increasingly important health care metrics. To date, no nasal morbidity instrument specifically designed for patients undergoing endonasal skull base surgery has been developed. In this study, the authors describe the development and validation of a site-specific nasal morbidity instrument to assess patient-reported rhinological outcomes following endonasal skull base surgery. ⋯ This prospective study demonstrates that the ASK Nasal-12 is a validated, site-specific, unidimensional rhinological outcomes tool sensitive to clinical change. It can be used in conjunction with multidimensional QOL instruments to assess patient-reported nasal perceptions in endonasal skull base surgery. This instrument is being used as a primary outcome measure in an ongoing multicenter nasal morbidity study. Clinical trial registration no.: NCT01504399 (ClinicalTrials.gov).