Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
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The importance of the extent of resection for gliomas, and the utility of aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and protoporphyrin IX fluorescence in increasing the extent of resection, has become increasingly evident over the past decade. This review continues from Part 1 and focuses on the biochemical mechanisms by which ALA ingestion leads to tumour fluorescence, and discusses practicalities of the equipment and techniques needed to introduce ALA and fluorescence guided resection into neurosurgical practice.
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The intraoperative identification and resection of glioma is a significant and important challenge in neurosurgery. Complete resection of the enhancing tumour increases the median survival time in glioblastoma compared to partial glioma resection; however, it is achieved in fewer than half of eligible patients when conventional tumour identification methods are used. Increasing the incidence of complete resection, without causing excess morbidity, requires new methods to accurately identify neoplastic tissue intraoperatively, such as use of the drug 5-amino-levulinic acid (ALA). ⋯ ALA use led to a significant increase in the incidence of complete resection (65% compared to 36%), improved progression-free survival at 6 months (41% compared to 21%), fewer reinterventions, and delayed onset of neurological deterioration. This review provides a broad assessment of ALA-PpIX fluorescence-guided resection, with Part 1 focusing on its clinical efficacy, and correlations with imaging and histology. The theoretical, biochemical and practical aspects of ALA use are reviewed in Part 2.
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Chronic pain is a major health problem in developed countries where it may affect as much as 20% of the adult population. There have been no significant clinical breakthroughs in therapeutic options for persons with chronic neuropathic pain. ⋯ We found that affective and cognitive aspects of pain constitute important considerations in achieving improvements in the outcomes of pain neuromodulation in patients with chronic neuropathic pain. Based on our review, we propose that future novel neuromodulatory therapeutic strategies should be directed at areas in the brain that are involved in the neural mechanisms of reward valuation and appetitive motivation such as nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, and prefrontal cortex.
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Review Case Reports
Cerebral blood flow velocity changes and the value of the pulsatility index post decompressive craniectomy.
Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is used to relieve intractable intracranial hypertension and/or to prevent or reverse cerebral herniation. Significant controversy exists on selection of candidates, timing of the procedure and neurologic outcomes. Furthermore, the cerebral hemodynamic consequences post-DC have been researched only recently. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first report on FV/PI monitoring after SOC. TCD is a readily available, non-invasive test. The PI may provide useful information regarding timing and effectiveness of DC.
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Review Case Reports
Direct lateral interbody fusion (DLIF) at the lumbosacral junction L5-S1.
The direct lateral interbody fusion (DLIF), a minimally invasive lateral approach for placement of an interbody fusion device, does not require nerve root retraction or any contact with the great vessels and can lead to short operative times with little blood loss. Due to anatomical restrictions, this procedure has not been used at the lumbosacral (L5-S1) junction. ⋯ To our knowledge, use of the DLIF graft in this patient is the first report of an interbody fusion graft being placed at the disc space between the LSTV and S1 via the transpsoas route. We present a review of the literature regarding the LSTV variation as well as the lateral placement of interbody fusion grafts at the lumbosacral junction.