Alpha-fetoprotein secretion in a craniopharyngioma. Are craniopharyngiomas part of the germ cell tumor family?

A 14-months-old girl was admitted to our hospital because of excessive irritability and abnormal eye movements over the last two months. Brain CT and MRI revealed a suprasellar cystic and partially solid mass with calcifications. The laboratory investigation revealed increased serum levels of AFP.

Shunting for the treatment of arachnoid cysts in children.

Background: The optimal treatment of symptomatic arachnoid cysts remains controversial.

Objective: We present a single-institution experience on surgical treatment of arachnoid cysts.

Methods: Between January 1983 and January 2008, 92 patients with symptomatic arachnoid cysts underwent surgery at our institute.

The value of 99mTc-tetrofosmin brain SPECT in predicting survival in patients with glioblastoma multiforme.

Unlabelled: (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin brain SPECT has been reported as a useful tool for the evaluation of glioma proliferation. In the present study, we set out to investigate the prognostic value of (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin brain SPECT in patients with glioblastoma multiforme.

Methods: We prospectively studied 18 patients (13 men, 5 women; mean age ± SD, 60.

Prognostic significance of cyclin A and B1 in pediatric embryonal tumors.

Embryonal tumors constitute the most common malignant brain tumor group in children. Although patient prognosis has been substantially improved over recent decades, identification of prognostic markers would be of obvious significance. In the present study we evaluated the prognostic significance of cyclin A and B1 in correlation with Ki-67 index in pediatric embryonal tumors.

Expression of epidermal growth factor receptor and HER-2 in pediatric embryonal brain tumors.

Background/aims: Medulloblastomas (MBs), atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors (AT/RTs) and central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are aggressive embryonal brain neoplasms in children with overlapping histological features but with different pathogenetic pathways. We set out to evaluate the role of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), HER-2, Ki-67 and p53 in embryonal tumors.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 36 children with embryonic tumors (27 MBs, 7 AT/RTs and 2 supratentorial PNETs).

Ossification of the ligamentum flavum in cervical and thoracic spine. Report of three cases.

Ossification of ligamentum flavum (LF) is a pathological condition that causes neurological symptoms and usually occurs in the thoracic spine and less frequently in the cervical spine. Symptomatology usually involves occipital headache in the early stage, neck pain and later sensory disturbances of upper and lower extremities, gait disturbance, restricted cervical movement and tetraparesis. Herewith, we report on 3 cases of ossification of the LF in the cervical and thoracic spine that had a favourable outcome after surgical treatment.

Diagnosis and management of cephaloceles.

Cephaloceles are rare neural tube defects. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the charts of all patients with cephaloceles who underwent surgical treatment in our institute for a 14-year period, between January 1995 and January 2009. There were 27 children (11 boys and 16 girls; mean age, 7.

Malignant progression of a pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma in a child.

Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA) is a recently recognized rare cerebral neoplasm that predominantly affects young patients. We report on the case of a 3-year-old boy who presented with a 2-week history of headaches and seizures. Radiological investigation revealed a lesion in the right parietal-occipital lobe.

Immunohistochemical expression of cell cycle/apoptosis regulators and epidermal growth factor receptor in pediatric intracranial ependymomas.

Intracranial ependymomas are the third most common primary brain tumor in children. We set out to investigate the expression of p-53, p-27, bcl-2, and epidermal growth factor receptor in 13 pediatric infratentorial ependymomas, in correlation with Ki-67/ MIB-1 proliferation index and prognosis. The median progression-free survival was 37.

Coagulopathy in moderate head injury. The role of early administration of low molecular weight heparin.

Introduction: Abnormalities in blood coagulation are relatively common after traumatic brain injury (TBI). We prospectively studied the safety of the early antithrombotic prophylaxis with low molecular weight heparin.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated 61 patients with moderate TBI.

Assessment of glioma proliferation using imaging modalities.

The assessment of glioma proliferation rate is important to predict tumor behavior, response to therapy and prognosis. Various methods, largely involving immunohistological markers in tissue samples, have been proposed to this aim; however, they all require tissue removal through a biopsy or during a surgical procedure. Consequently, non-invasive imaging modalities that could reliably assess the proliferative potential of intracranial space-occupying lesions in vivo would be of obvious significance.

Influence of glioma's multidrug resistance phenotype on (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin uptake.

Purpose: Multidrug resistance (MDR) remains a major obstacle to successful chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer. Several chemotherapeutic and radiopharmaceutical agents are substrates of the pumps encoded by the MDR genes, and therefore, their accumulation is prevented. We evaluated in vivo whether [(99m)Tc]tetrofosmin ((99m)Tc-TF) uptake is influenced by the MDR profile of gliomas.

Characterization of intracranial space-occupying lesions by ⁹⁹(m)Tc-Tetrofosmin SPECT.

Differentiating neoplastic from non-neoplastic intracranial lesions is of paramount importance for patient management. Benign lesions can have many of the features of malignant brain tumors on both computed tomography (CT) and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Herewith, we set out to investigate the role of (99m)Tc-Tetrofosmin (⁹⁹(m)Tc-TF) brain SPECT in the differentiation of neoplastic from non-neoplastic intracranial lesions.