Neurosurgery
-
Operating rooms generate 42% of a hospital's revenue and 30% of hospital waste. Supply costs are 56% of a total operating room (OR) budget. US academic medical centers use 2 million pounds ($15 million) of recoverable medical supplies annually. ⋯ Cost avoidance yielded $31 680.00 in savings. Implementation of this pilot across our main hospital would yield $5000 in revenue annually and $174 240 in cost avoidance. This project can be replicated at other centers and not only reduces the environmental footprint, but also helps generate additional revenue by recycling a necessary packing material that would otherwise require payment for disposal.
-
Clinical and electrophysiological assessments prevail in evaluation of traumatic nerve lesions and their regeneration following nerve surgery in humans. Recently, high-resolution neurosonography (HRNS) and magnetic resonance neurography have gained significant importance in peripheral nerve imaging. The use of the grey-scale-based "fascicular ratio" (FR) was established using both modalities allowing for quantitative assessment. ⋯ To our best knowledge, this is the first description of FR using HRNS for quantitative assessment of nerve damage and postoperative structural reorganization. Our results show a significant difference in healthy vs lesioned nerves and a change in recovering nerve portions towards a more "physiological" ratio. Further evaluation in larger patient groups is required.
-
Intraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) has been utilized in patients with tumor-associated seizures; however, its effectiveness for seizure control remains controversial. ⋯ This retrospective study, one of the largest evaluating the use of ECoG during tumor resection, suggests that ECoG does not provide improved seizure freedom compared to lesionectomy alone for children.
-
Skull base meningioma management is complicated by their proximity to intracranial neurovascular structures because complete resection may pose a risk of worsening morbidity. ⋯ Patients undergoing resection of skull base meningiomas and who experience an immediate improvement in EQ-5D are likely to show continued improvement at 1 yr, with improved QALY and reduced cost per QALY.
-
Although several outcome prediction scores incorporated with pretreatment variables have been developed for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients, there is not currently a prediction score that includes pretreatment imaging that can show salvageable brain tissue. ⋯ The addition of the collateral grade to outcome prediction scores resulted in better prediction of poor outcome after EVT for AIS compared to the prediction scores alone.