Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jun 2010
Biography Historical ArticleWalter E. Dandy's contributions to vascular neurosurgery.
Although Walter E. Dandy (1886-1946) is appropriately credited with the first surgical clipping of an intracranial aneurysm in 1937--a procedure that established the modern field of vascular neurosurgery--his numerous other contributions to this specialty are not as well known. ⋯ In addition, Dandy performed the first surgical trapping of a cavernous internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysm by clipping the supraclinoid ICA and ligating the cervical ICA, and he also executed the first intracranial surgical clipping of the ICA to treat a carotid-cavernous fistula. In this article the authors describe Dandy's contributions to the field of vascular neurosurgery.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jun 2010
Case ReportsNovel technique to improve vessel mismatch when using saphenous vein bypass grafts for intracranial revascularization procedures.
Cerebral bypass procedures in the posterior circulation are difficult to perform and are considered to be high-risk surgery. Venous grafts, like that formed using the saphenous vein (SV), are simple to obtain without posing a high risk of morbidity. The main disadvantage of these high-flow grafts is the mismatch in vessel diameter between donor and recipient vessels in the posterior circulation. ⋯ The bypass was patent; after a prolonged stay in the intensive care unit, the patient recovered gradually. This technique of linear venotomy along the distal 2.5 cm of the vein and subsequent tapering down of the diameter diminishes the circumference of the distal end of the graft, facilitating bypass to smaller vessels. This is a novel and feasible technique to eliminate vessel mismatch in cerebral bypass procedures in the difficult accessible vessels of the posterior circulation.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jun 2010
Case ReportsA partially ossified solid and cystic Rathke cleft cyst.
A Rathke cleft cyst is considered to arise from the remnants of the Rathke pouch, and it consists of single cuboidal or columnar epithelium including cilia and goblet cells, which secrete mucus into the cyst. Magnetic resonance imaging characteristically shows a thin membranous cystic wall that enhances with Gd, and homogeneous intensity of the content suggesting fluid collection. Cases with an irregularly thickened and/or calcified cyst wall, presumably due to chronic inflammation of the wall, are rare. ⋯ Single cuboidal epithelium including goblet cells and cilia was found along this granulation, and the diagnosis was a Rathke cleft cyst. An ossified Rathke cleft cyst is extremely rare, and a solid Rathke cleft cyst has not before been reported. This case illustrates the extremely long and complex nature of this disease.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jun 2010
Editorial Comment Biography Historical ArticlePersonal considerations on the history of microneurosurgery.