World Neurosurg
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Autologous cranioplasty has been used for decades and is the gold standard treatment in patients who underwent decompressive craniectomy (DC). One of the most common methods to store the cranial bone flap is cryopreservation at very low temperatures (-70 to -80°). The only way to achieve these low temperatures is by using special freezers which are not always available in all medical facilities, especially in low-resource centers. This paper describes our experience with the storage of cranial bone flaps in freezers of conventional refrigerators. ⋯ The use of freezers from conventional refrigerators may be an acceptable alternative for the preservation of the cranial bone flap in facilities where special freezers are not available. The rate of aseptic bone necrosis and infections observed in this paper was similar to the incidence of these complications reported in studies where ultra-low temperatures were used.
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Spina bifida is the most common congenital central nervous system anomaly, resulting in lifelong neurologic, urinary, motor, and bowel disability.1 Its most frequent form is myelomeningocele, characterized by spinal cord extrusion into a sac filled with cerebrospinal fluid.1 We report the case of a 28-year-old pregnant female with no comorbidities. At 16 weeks of pregnancy, fetal ultrasound presented ventriculomegaly, cerebellar herniation, and lumbar myelomeningocele. At 22 weeks, intrauterine surgical correction was performed (Video 1). ⋯ The pregnancy followed its course with no complications, and the child was born at term with the lesion closed and no necessity of intensive care. Recent studies have demonstrated that infants who undergo open in utero myelomeningocele repair have better neurologic outcomes than those who are treated after birth.1,2 However, maternal morbidity is nonnegligible with the classical open surgery.2 Peralta et al2 propose a modification of the classic 6.0- to 8.0-cm hysterotomy in which the same multilayer correction of the spinal defect is performed through a 2.5- to 3.5-cm hysterotomy. This modification, called minihysterotomy, has been successfully performed outside of its creation center and was associated with reduced risks of preterm delivery and maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications.2,3.
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The treatment of persistent syringomyelia associated with Chiari malformation type 1 (CM1) is unclear. This study aims to evaluate the clinical and radiologic outcomes of syringo-subarachnoid shunt (SSS) as a treatment for persistent syringomyelia following posterior fossa decompression (PFD) for CM1. ⋯ SSS placement for persistent syrinx following PFD for CM1 is a safe and effective surgical treatment method. These criteria may also help predict the need for a second surgery and the overall disease outcome for both the surgeon and patient.
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The pterional approach is the workhorse of skull-base neurosurgery, which allows virtual access to any intracranial lesion around the circle of Willis. Preserving the frontotemporal branch of the facial nerve and conserving the temporal muscle's symmetry are fundamental objectives besides the access that can be obtained through this versatile neurosurgical technique. This manuscript proposes a subgaleal preinterfascial dissection, a novel hybrid technique that provides advantages of previously described temporal muscle dissection techniques while preserving the integrity of facial nerve branches and the unobstructed broad pterional region. We describe the subgaleal preinterfascial dissection as a safe and simple to technique to achieve preservation of the facial nerve frontal branches during anterolateral approaches. ⋯ The subgaleal preinterfascial dissection is a reliable, safe technique that may be employed during a pterional approach with an unobstructed surgical view and excellent cosmetic and functional results, preserving the frontotemporal branch of the facial nerve.
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To evaluate the neurosurgical and economic effectiveness of a newly launched intraoperative high-field (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suite for pediatric tumor and epilepsy neurosurgery. ⋯ We used iopMRI in less than half of pediatric tumor and epilepsy surgery for which it was scheduled initially. Therefore, high costs argue against its routine use in pediatric neurosurgery, although it optimized surgical results in one quarter of patients and met high safety standards.