Neurosurgery
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The understanding of the physiology of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) continues to expand. Knowledge of the hemodynamics of blood flow associated with AVMs is also progressing as imaging and treatment modalities advance. The authors present a comprehensive literature review that reveals the physical hemodynamics of AVMs, and the effect that various treatment modalities have on AVM hemodynamics and the surrounding cortex and vasculature. ⋯ The hemodynamics associated with intracranial AVMs is complex and likely changes over time with changes in the physical morphology and angioarchitecture of the lesions. Hemodynamic change may be even more of a factor as it pertains to the vast array of single and multimodal treatment options available. An understanding of AVM hemodynamics associated with differing treatment modalities can affect treatment strategies and should be considered for optimal clinical outcomes.
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Case Reports
Endovascular Treatment of Posterior Cerebral Artery Aneurysms With Flow Diversion: Case Series and Systematic Review.
Flow diversion of posterior cerebral artery (PCA) aneurysms has not been widely reported, possibly owing to concerns regarding parent vessel size and branch vessel coverage. ⋯ The safety and effectiveness profile of flow diverter treatment of PCA aneurysms may be acceptable in select cases.
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The complexity and heterogeneity of adult spinal deformity (ASD) creates significant difficulties in performing high-quality, complete economic analyses. For the same reasons, however, such studies are immensely valuable to clinicians and health policy experts. There has been a paradigm shift towards value-based healthcare provision and as such, there is an increasing focus on demonstrating not just the value ASD surgery, but the provision of care at large. ⋯ Fundamentally, an effective treatment method may be associated with a high upfront cost, however, if durable, will be cost-effective over time. The emphasis on carotid endarterectomy and CUA in the field of adult spine deformity is relatively recent; therefore, there is a limited amount of data on cost-effectiveness analyses. Continued efforts with emphasis on value-based outcomes are needed with long-term follow-up studies.
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Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) play an important role in the evaluation of health outcomes, quality of life, and satisfaction, and have been successfully utilized in many areas of clinical medicine and surgical practice. The prevalence of PROMs in neurosurgery is not known. ⋯ PROMs that currently feature in the neurosurgical literature may not address the specific outcomes relevant to neurosurgical practice. There is an emergent need for generic and disease-specific PROMs to be validated in neurosurgical patients and neurosurgery-specific PROMs developed to address unmet needs of patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures.
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The optimal therapeutic approach for adult craniopharyngioma remains controversial. Some advocate for gross total resection (GTR), while others advocate for subtotal resection followed by adjuvant radiotherapy (STR + XRT). ⋯ This is the first and largest systematic review focusing on the rate of recurrence in adult craniopharyngioma. Although the rates of recurrence are favoring GTR, difference in risk of recurrence did not reach significance. This study provides guidance to clinicians and directions for future research with the need to stratify outcomes per treatment modalities.