Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · May 2023
Randomized Controlled TrialSurgery for glioblastomas in the elderly: an Association des Neuro-oncologues d'Expression Française (ANOCEF) trial.
The role of surgery in the treatment of malignant gliomas in the elderly is not settled. The authors conducted a randomized trial that compared tumor resection with biopsy only-both followed by standard therapy-in such patients. ⋯ This study suggests that debulking surgery is safe, and-compared to biopsy-is associated with a less severe deterioration of quality of life and autonomy, as well as a significant although modest improvement of PFS in elderly patients suffering from newly diagnosed malignant glioma. Although resection does not provide a significant survival benefit in the elderly, the authors believe that the risk/benefit analysis favors an attempt at optimal tumor resection in this population, provided there is careful preoperative geriatric evaluation. Clinical trial registration no.: NCT02892708 (ClinicalTrials.gov).
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Journal of neurosurgery · May 2023
Multicenter StudyCD34 microvascularity in low-grade glioma: correlation with 5-aminolevulinic acid fluorescence and patient prognosis in a multicenter study at three specialized centers.
Early markers are urgently needed in low-grade glioma (LGG) evaluation to rapidly estimate the individual patient's prognosis and to determine the optimal postoperative management. Generally, visible 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) fluorescence is present in only a few LGGs. Recently, the authors identified visible 5-ALA fluorescence as a powerful intraoperative marker for unfavorable outcome in LGG treatment. However, its precise histopathological correlate is unclear. Neoangiogenesis represents a crucial event in tumor evolution, and CD34 is an established marker for vascular endothelial progenitors potentially indicating tumor progression. The aim of this study was thus to correlate 5-ALA fluorescence and CD34 microvascularity as well as to investigate the prognostic value of CD34 in a large series of LGGs. ⋯ The data indicate that CD34 microvascularity is associated with intraoperative 5-ALA fluorescence and outcomes in patients with LGG. Thus, visible fluorescence in LGGs might indicate increased CD34 microvascularity, serving as an early prognostic marker for unfavorable patient outcome that is already available during surgery.
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Journal of neurosurgery · May 2023
Natural course of Rathke's cleft cysts and risk factors for progression.
Rathke's cleft cysts (RCCs) are relatively common and often detected incidentally. They are usually asymptomatic and managed conservatively. However, little is known about their natural history. Thus, the authors aimed to examine the natural course of RCCs and identify the risk factors for their progression. ⋯ RCCs rarely progress or cause new symptoms in the long term. Patients with asymptomatic RCC should be followed up for at least 5 years to ensure RCC inactivity. RCCs in older adults may require greater surveillance.
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Journal of neurosurgery · May 2023
Evaluating syntactic comprehension during awake intraoperative cortical stimulation mapping.
Electrocortical stimulation mapping (ECS) is widely used to identify essential language areas, but sentence-level processing has rarely been investigated. ⋯ These findings suggest that there may be language regions that differentially contribute to sentence processing and which therefore are best identified using sentence-level tasks. The functional consequences of resecting these sites remain to be investigated.
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Journal of neurosurgery · May 2023
Gene expression analysis during progression of malignant meningioma compared to benign meningioma.
Meningioma is the most common primary intracranial neoplasm. Only 1%-3% of meningiomas are malignant according to the 2016 WHO criteria (WHO grade III). High-grade meningiomas present specific gene expression signatures indicating aggressive growth or recurrence. However, changes in gene expression and in neuroinflammatory gene expression signatures in WHO grade III meningiomas and during progression from WHO grade I or II to grade III are unknown. ⋯ The authors found gene expression changes in low-grade meningiomas that predated histological transformation to grade III meningiomas. Neuroinflammation genes distinguished grade III from grade I meningiomas.