Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jul 2019
ReviewCavernous angiomas: deconstructing a neurosurgical disease.
Cavernous angioma (CA) is also known as cavernoma, cavernous hemangioma, and cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) (National Library of Medicine Medical Subject heading unique ID D006392). In its sporadic form, CA occurs as a solitary hemorrhagic vascular lesion or as clustered lesions associated with a developmental venous anomaly. In its autosomal dominant familial form (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man #116860), CA is caused by a heterozygous germline loss-of-function mutation in one of three genes-CCM1/KRIT1, CCM2/Malcavernin, and CCM3/PDCD10-causing multifocal lesions throughout the brain and spinal cord. ⋯ Pathobiological mechanisms related to CA include inflammation and immune-mediated processes, angiogenesis and vascular permeability, microbiome driven factors, and lesional anticoagulant domains. These mechanisms have motivated the development of imaging and plasma biomarkers of relevant disease behavior and promising therapeutic targets. The spectrum of discoveries about CA and their implications endorse CA as a paradigm for deconstructing a neurosurgical disease.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jul 2019
ReviewRisk of de novo aneurysm formation in patients with a prior diagnosis of ruptured or unruptured aneurysm: systematic review and meta-analysis.
De novo aneurysms are rare entities periodically discovered during follow-up imaging. Little is known regarding the frequency with which these lesions form or the time course. This systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to estimate the incidence of de novo aneurysms and to determine risk factors for aneurysm formation. ⋯ This systematic review demonstrates that formation of de novo aneurysms is rare. Overall, routine screening for de novo aneurysms is likely to be of low yield and could be performed at time intervals of at least 5 to 10 years.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jul 2019
ReviewConflict of interest policies and disclosure requirements in neurosurgical journals.
An increasing amount of funding in neurosurgery research comes from industry, which may create a conflict of interest (COI) and the potential to bias results. The reporting and handling of COIs have become difficult, particularly as explicit policies themselves and definitions thereof continue to vary between medical journals. In this study, the authors sought to evaluate the prevalence and comprehensiveness of COI policies among leading neurosurgical journals. ⋯ In 2016, the majority of, but not all, high-impact neurosurgical journals had publically available COI disclosure policies. Policy inclusiveness and comprehensiveness varied substantially across neurosurgical journals, but COI comprehensiveness was associated with other established markers of individual journals' favorability and influence, such as impact factor and h5-index.