Neurosurgery
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Racial disparities in American health care outcomes are well documented. We investigated racial disparities in hospital mortality and adverse discharge disposition after brain tumor craniotomies performed in the United States from 1988 to 2004. We explored potential explanations for the disparities. ⋯ Black patients died more often or had an adverse discharge disposition after tumor craniotomies in the United States in the period studied (1988-2004). Blacks had more severe disease at presentation and were treated at lower-volume hospitals for surgery. Other socially defined patient groups also showed disparities in access and outcomes of care.
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Although there are several large-species animal models for saccular aneurysms, there is a need for a simple, reproducible saccular aneurysm model in mice. ⋯ We describe a novel murine elastase saccular aneurysm model that replicates the histopathology and BMP-derived cell-mediated processes that will be a valuable instrument for studying the cell-mediated processes in cerebral aneurysm formation.