World Neurosurg
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Review Meta Analysis
Meta-analysis with Trial Sequential Analysis on the Efficacy and Safety of Erythropoietin in Traumatic Brain Injury: A New Paradigm.
Erythropoietin (EPO) has been shown to be beneficial in traumatic brain injury (TBI). We have attempted to quantitatively synthesize the findings of current randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in this meta-analysis and analyzed the need for further trials using trial sequential analysis (TSA). ⋯ EPO seems to be beneficial in terms of reducing 6-month mortality, however, its effect on in-hospital mortality, neurologic outcomes, and risk of deep vein thrombosis fails to reach statistical significance. TSA suggests a need for large trials to evaluate the role of EPO in patients with TBI in a more systematic way.
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Review Meta Analysis
The Impact of Resident Participation During Surgery on Neurosurgical Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis.
There has been much attention recently on whether the involvement of neurosurgical residents during surgery impacts patient outcomes. Our goal was to perform a meta-analysis of all existing studies in order to determine the true effect of resident involvement. ⋯ We found that, when adjusted for comorbidities, complexity, and procedure type, there was no difference in outcomes in terms of surgical complications, reoperation, length of stay more than 5 days, and mortality. While these results suggest that our apprenticeship teaching model is safe for developing independent physicians, using new educational modalities such as simulation and resident-directed labs may be useful to attenuate potential patient complications in higher-risk procedures and in patients with comorbidities.
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Extent of resection and tumor grade are considered the most important predictors of progression-free survival (PFS) in meningiomas. However, adjuvant therapy for atypical meningiomas remains controversial, with variable PFS rates of up to 40%. The current mitotic index (MI) range for atypical meningiomas is broad, comprising all tumors with >4 and <20 mitotic count per 10 high-power fields, leading to substantial within-grade variation of recurrence risk, especially in borderline histologic cases, creating discordance between the clinical course and the application of the classification criteria. ⋯ The pooled study results in this meta-analysis demonstrate a homogeneous statistically significant correlation between the MI and the rate of local recurrence after surgical resection regardless of the reporting method (continuous: HR = 1.20; categorical: HR = 2.65). However, significant limitations were noted, including the lack of a standardized method for MI calculation and heterogeneity of MI reports. We encourage the community to report their experience with the MI with greater precision and uniformity to further assess the influence of the MI on PFS within atypical meningiomas.
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Secondary intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) score is used to predict risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) associated vascular lesions. However, it has low clinical utility in identifying patients without need for neurovascular imaging. This study aims to develop a modified scoring system to capture patients with low risk of underlying vascular pathology, thereby decreasing need for vascular imaging and its associated morbidity. ⋯ The mSICH score can more accurately predict risk of underlying vascular pathology of ICH and identify patients with lowest risk of vascular pathology. This may minimize the cost and associated risks of invasive cerebrovascular imaging.
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Outpatient spine surgery has been increasingly used recently owing to its perceived cost benefits and its ability to offset the volume from the inpatient setting. However, the 30-day outcomes of outpatient posterior lumbar fusion (PLF) for low-risk patients have not been extensively studied. In the present study, we assessed the 30-day outcomes of outpatient PLF surgery for low-risk patients using a national surgical quality registry. ⋯ Our results have demonstrated that the 30-day outcomes of patients who have undergone outpatient PLF might be comparable to those of patients who have undergone PLF in an inpatient setting. However, outpatient surgery might be associated with a greater overall reoperation rate.