World Neurosurg
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Review
Cerebral Microdialysis as a Tool for Assessing the Delivery of Chemotherapy in Brain Tumor Patients.
The development of curative treatment for glioblastoma has been extremely challenging. Chemotherapeutic agents that have seemed promising have failed in clinical trials. Drugs that can successfully target cancer cells within the brain must first traverse the brain interstitial fluid. ⋯ This can be expected to change soon because of advances in microminiaturization. CMD is an extremely valuable, yet underused, technique. Future CMD applications will have central importance in assessing drug delivery to tumor cells in vivo, allowing a pathway to successful therapy for malignant brain tumors.
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In recent years, clinicians have used virtual reality (VR) to simulate real-world environments for medical purposes. The use of VR systems in the field of cervical spine surgery can lead to effective surgical training programs without causing harm to patients. Moreover, both imaging and VR can be used before surgery to assist preoperative surgical planning. ⋯ Therapists have also applied VR to cervical spine rehabilitation and showed good results. At present, the application of VR systems in cervical spine surgery has great potential, but current research is insufficient. Here, we review the latest advancements in VR technology used in cervical spine surgery and discuss potential directions for future work.
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Review Case Reports
Slow-Growing Pituitary Metastasis from Renal Cell Carcinoma: Literature Review.
Tumor metastasis to the pituitary is rare, most commonly reported with either breast or lung cancer metastasizing to the neurohypophysis. Pituitary metastases of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are by contrast infrequently described even within this scarce literature. We present an illustrative case of RCC pituitary metastasis 15 years after radical nephrectomy for primary disease and a review of the published literature. ⋯ We highlight the potential for delayed metastasis to the pituitary to masquerade as a macroadenoma. Imaging consistent with rich vascularity should bring the diagnosis of RCC metastasis into the differential and is important to note when planning surgical resection in such cases.