Study Design: Retrospective Study.
Objective: Myxopapillary ependymomas (MPEs) are a unique subgroup of spinal ependymomas originating from the filum terminale's ependymal glia. The 2021 WHO classification reclassified all MPEs as grade 2, recognizing their higher recurrence risk.
Brain metastases are an uncommon yet life-limiting manifestation of prostate cancer. However, there is limited insight into the natural progression, therapeutics, and patient outcomes for prostate cancer once metastasized to the brain. This is a retrospective study of 461 patients with metastatic prostate cancer to the brain with a primary outcome of median overall survival (OS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChoroid plexus tumors (CPTs) are rare neoplasms found in the central nervous system, comprising 1% of all brain tumors. These tumors include choroid plexus papilloma (CPP), atypical choroid plexus papilloma (aCPP), and choroid plexus carcinoma (CPC). Although gross total resection for choroid plexus papillomas (CPPs) is associated with long-term survival, there is a scarcity of prospective data concerning the role and sequence of neoadjuvant therapy in treating aCPP and CPC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Grade 3 solitary fibrous tumor, previously known as anaplastic hemangiopericytoma, is a rare and highly malignant intracranial tumor with a limited understanding of its natural history and treatment outcomes.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database spanning 2000-2019 to evaluate the clinical characteristics and treatment modalities that influence overall survival in this tumor entity. A cohort of 249 patients with intracranial grade 3 solitary fibrous tumors was identified.
Objective: The natural history, treatment options, and clinical outcomes of pancreatic metastases to the brain remain largely unknown. Here, we seek to investigate characteristics that influence OS in pancreatic metastases to the brain.
Methods: This is a population-based retrospective study of OS in 508 patients with pancreatic metastases to the brain using the SEER database.
Introduction: Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is among the most aggressive central nervous system malignancies. Although rare, this tumor typically afflicts young children and results in mortality within months. Here, we aim to determine key clinical features and treatment options that impact the survival of patients with ATRT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Diffuse midline glioma with histone H3K27M mutation (H3K27M DMG) is a recently recognized World Health Organization grade IV glioma with a dismal prognosis. Despite maximal treatment, this high-grade glioma exhibits an estimated median survival of 9-12 months. However, little is known with regards to prognostic risk factors for overall survival (OS) for patients with this malignant tumor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The coexistence of meningioma and dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF) is a rare, but highly complex condition. Various pathophysiological mechanisms underlie intracranial meningiomas with continuous or distant dAVFs. We describe a case of coexisting meningioma and dAVF with a systematic review of the literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To compare hearing, tinnitus, balance, and quality-of-life treatment outcomes of petroclival meningioma and nonpetroclival cerebellopontine angle meningioma cohorts.
Study Design: A retrospective cohort study of 60 patients with posterior fossa meningiomas, 25 petroclival and 35 nonpetroclival, who were treated at a single tertiary care center between 2000 and 2020.
Intervention: A survey battery that included the Hearing Effort of the Tumor Ear, Speech and Spatial Qualities of Hearing, Tinnitus Functional Index, Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), and Short Form Health Survey.
Background/objective: To compare functional hearing and tinnitus outcomes in treated large (~ 3 cm) vestibular schwannoma (VS) and posterior fossa meningioma cohorts, and construct willingness-to-accept profiles for an experimental brain implant to treat unilateral hearing loss.
Methods: A two-way MANOVA model with two independent variables (tumor type; time from treatment) and three dependent variables (hearing effort of tumor ear; abbreviated Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing scale (SSQ12); Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI)) was used to analyze data from VS ( = 32) and meningioma ( = 50) patients who were treated at a tertiary care center between 2010 and 2020. A query to probe acceptance of experimental treatment for hearing loss relative to expected benefit was used to construct willingness-to-accept profiles.
Community-acquired bacterial meningitis is a life-threatening illness that is commonly caused by . Often, it can be associated with high mortality and morbidity rates especially due to the frequency of added neurological complications like hydrocephalus, seizures, stroke, and cerebrovascular events. Here we present an unusual case of cerebrovascular infarction complicating the outcome of a patient who suffered from community-acquired bacterial meningitis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThyroid hormones play a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis throughout the human body. Hypothyroidism is a result of insufficient circulating levels of thyroid hormone. In a hypothyroid state, not only do all metabolic processes tend to slow down but so do neurological processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPosterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a complex process that has been implicated in the setting of many chronic diseases (i.e., hypertension, chronic kidney disease, autoimmune diseases, infections, transplant treatments, etc.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLaryngeal dystonia is a debilitating disorder of voicing in which the laryngeal muscles are intermittently in spasm resulting in involuntary interruptions during speech. The central pathophysiology of laryngeal dystonia, underlying computational impairments in vocal motor control, remains poorly understood. Although prior imaging studies have found aberrant activity in the CNS during phonation in patients with laryngeal dystonia, it is not known at what timepoints during phonation these abnormalities emerge and what function may be impaired.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWidespread network disruption has been hypothesized to be an important predictor of outcomes in patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Most studies examining functional network disruption in epilepsy have largely focused on the symmetric bidirectional metrics of the strength of network connections. However, a more complete description of network dysfunction impacts in epilepsy requires an investigation of the potentially more sensitive directional metrics of information flow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMagnetoencephalography (MEG) is a robust method for non-invasive functional brain mapping of sensory cortices due to its exceptional spatial and temporal resolution. The clinical standard for MEG source localization of functional landmarks from sensory evoked responses is the equivalent current dipole (ECD) localization algorithm, known to be sensitive to initialization, noise, and manual choice of the number of dipoles. Recently many automated and robust algorithms have been developed, including the Champagne algorithm, an empirical Bayesian algorithm, with powerful abilities for MEG source reconstruction and time course estimation (Wipf et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Auditory cortical activation of the two hemispheres to monaurally presented tonal stimuli has been shown to be asynchronous in normal hearing (NH) but synchronous in the extreme case of adult-onset asymmetric hearing loss (AHL) with single-sided deafness. We addressed the wide knowledge gap between these two anchoring states of interhemispheric temporal organization. The objectives of this study were as follows: (1) to map the trajectory of interhemispheric temporal reorganization from asynchrony to synchrony using magnitude of interaural threshold difference as the independent variable in a cross-sectional study and (2) to evaluate reversibility of interhemispheric synchrony in association with hearing in noise performance by amplifying the aidable poorer ear in a repeated measures, longitudinal study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectroencephalography (EEG) source reconstruction estimates spatial information from the brain's electrical activity acquired using EEG. This method requires accurate identification of the EEG electrodes in a three-dimensional (3D) space and involves spatial localization and labeling of EEG electrodes. Here, we propose a new approach to tackle this two-step problem based on the simultaneous acquisition of EEG and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To evaluate laryngopharyngeal sensation at specific subsites using a novel adaptation of a buckling force aesthesiometer for delivery of calibrated tactile stimuli.
Study Design: Cross-sectional.
Methods: Twenty-two healthy adults (12 men, 10 women) were tested for responses to tactile forces, using 30-mm 6-0, 5-0, and 4-0 nylon monofilaments to map sensation of the aryepiglottic (AE) fold, lateral pyriform sinus (PS), and medial PS bilaterally.
Objective: Large-amplitude artifacts from vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) implants for refractory epilepsy affect magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings and are difficult to reject, resulting in unusable data from this important population of patients who are frequently evaluated for surgical treatment of epilepsy. Here we compare the performance of two artifact removal algorithms for MEG data: dual signal subspace projection (DSSP) and temporally extended signal space separation (tSSS).
Approach: Each algorithm's performance was first evaluated in simulations.
Breast Cancer Res Treat
September 2019
Purpose: Pseudocirrhosis has been demonstrated to mimic cirrhosis radiographically, but studies evaluating the pathophysiology and clinical features are lacking. To better understand the incidence, risk factors, clinical course, and etiology of pseudocirrhosis, we performed a retrospective analysis of consecutively treated patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC).
Methods: Of 374 patients treated for MBC from 2006 to 2012, 199 had imaging available for review.