World Neurosurg
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has infected more than 13 million people on a global scale and claimed more than half million deaths across 213 countries and territories. While the focus is currently on recovery from the pandemic, the disease has significantly changed the way we practice medicine and neurosurgery in New York City and the United States. Apart from the emergency cases, several health systems across the country have similarly started to perform elective surgeries. Although COVID-19 screening and testing guidelines have been proposed and adopted by many hospitals, these may not adequately protect the operating room personnel who are in proximity to the patient for prolonged periods. There are concerning reports of especially high transmission rates of COVID-19 in transmucosal head and neck procedures conducted by otolaryngologists and neurosurgeons, despite attempts at wearing what constitutes appropriate personal protective equipment. ⋯ With the rising concerns regarding airborne spread of the virus, we expect that these precautions will prove highly useful as we enter the recovery phase of this pandemic and hospitals attempt to prevent a return to widespread infection. In addition, its availability and cost effectiveness make this technique especially attractive to practical use in centers with limited resources.
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During neurosurgery, we use a head clamp system for firm head fixation. However, we have encountered slippage using the head clamp system, although this has not been adequately studied. In the present study, to increase the reliability of the analysis using a more homogeneous type of patient data, we conducted a prospective study of patients who had undergone epileptic surgery. We examined the potential risk factors for head slippage and postulated that the location of the pins might be important. ⋯ We should consider that head clamp slippage could occur intraoperatively.
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Every year, there are an estimated 22.6 million new neurosurgical consultative cases worldwide, of which 13.8 million require surgery. In 2016, the global neurosurgical workforce was estimated and mapped as open-access information to guide neurosurgeons, affiliates, and policy makers. We present a subsequent investigation for mapping the global neurosurgical workforce for 2018 to show the replicability of previous data collection methods as well as to show any changes in workforce density. ⋯ Overall, the density of the neurosurgical workforce has increased from 2016 to 2018. However, at the current rate, 80 LMICs (58.0%) will not meet the neurosurgical workforce density target by 2030.
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Observational Study
Gamma knife radiosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia: role of trigeminal length and ponto-trigeminal angle on target definition and on clinical effects.
Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) is a well-defined treatment for trigeminal neuralgia. The aim of this study was to determine how the GKRS planning might change on the basis of the patient's own anatomy and how to best choose the target location. ⋯ The pontotrigeminal angle and the shot-emergence distance should be considered during GKRS planning: the first as a potential risk factor for hypoesthesia, and the second should not exceed 8 mm.
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Pancreatoblastoma is an extremely rare neoplasm that accounts for 0.5% of all pancreatic exocrine tumors. These rare entities typically manifest in the pediatric population but can rarely occur in adults. Systemic seeding has been described before but intracranial metastasis in adults has yet to be described. ⋯ Central nervous system seeding of pancreatoblastoma is rare, and the available evidence suggests that the strategy we used could be adequate for treating such occurrences.