Timing of cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy for trauma.

Background: The optimal timing of cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy for trauma is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine if early cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy for trauma reduces complications.

Methods: Consecutive cases of patients who underwent autologous cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy for trauma at a single Level I Trauma Center were studied in a retrospective 10 year data review.

Postoperative prevertebral soft tissue swelling does not affect the development of chronic dysphagia following anterior cervical spine surgery.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Objective: To characterize the relation between postoperative soft tissue swelling and the development of chronic dysphagia after anterior cervical spine surgery. Chronic dysphagia was defined as dysphagia that persists more than 1 year.

Controversies in the surgical management of spinal cord injuries.

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) affects over 200,000 people in the USA and is a major source of morbidity, mortality, and societal cost. Management of SCI includes several components. Acute management includes medical agents and surgical treatment that usually includes either all or a combination of reduction, decompression, and stabilization.

Optimal management of malignant epidural spinal cord compression.

Malignant epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC) is a common neurologic complication of cancer. MESCC is a medical emergency that needs rapid diagnosis and treatment to prevent undergo emergent evaluation including magnetic resonance imaging of the entire spine. If MESCC is diagnosed, corticosteroids should be administered.

Traumatic Type III odontoid fracture and severe rotatory atlantoaxial subluxation in a 3-year-old child: case report.

In this report, the authors describe the case of a 3-year-old child with a traumatic Type III odontoid fracture. To their knowledge, this is the first reported case of a true Type III odontoid fracture with atlantoaxial rotatory subluxation in a child. The patient presented with pain and had resisted manipulation of the neck following a motor vehicle crash.

Successful ventricle to direct heart shunt placement as a salvage cerebrospinal fluid diversion technique. Case report.

The authors report a complex case in a 35-year-old woman who underwent shunt placement at birth for myelomeningocele. She had previously undergone more than 30 shunt revisions, with placement of the distal catheter in the peritoneum multiple times, and also in the pleura, the gall bladder, and the upper venous system. All shunts had failed and the possible placement sites were now anatomically hostile.

Optimal management of malignant epidural spinal cord compression.

Malignant epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC) is a common neurologic complication of cancer. MESCC is a medical emergency that needs rapid diagnosis and treatment to prevent paraplegia. Patients with malignancy who present with new onset of neurologic signs and symptoms should undergo emergent evaluation including magnetic resonance imaging of the entire spine.

Anterior screw fixation of a dislocated type II odontoid fracture facilitated by transoral and posterior cervical manual reduction.

Background: Early fixation of type II odontoid fractures has been shown to provide high rates of long-term stabilization and osteosynthesis.

Case: In this report, the authors present the case of a patient with a locked type II odontoid fracture treated by anterior screw fixation facilitated by closed transoral and posterior cervical manual reduction.

Conclusion: While transoral intraoperative reduction of a partially displaced odontoid fracture has previously been described, the authors present the first case utilizing this technique in the treatment of a completely dislocated type II odontoid fracture.

Superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome: Successful treatment with repair of the middle fossa floor: technical case report.

Objective: Superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome has recently been reported as a cause of pressure- or sound-induced oscillopsia (Tullio phenomenon). We report the presentation and successful treatment of 3 patients with superior semicircular dehiscence syndrome by a joint neurosurgical/neuro-otology team.

Clinical Presentation: Patient 1 is a 37-year-old man who presented with complaints of disequilibrium, fullness in the left ear, hearing loss, and oscillopsia when pressure was applied to the left external auditory canal.

Mapping dermatomes during selective dorsal rhizotomy: case report and review of the literature.

Background: Studies suggest that the pattern of dermatomal segmental innervation in any given patient, may differ from the classic dermatomal maps first described in the 1890s. Such variability may limit the effectiveness of selective dorsal rhizotomy for treatment of neurogenic pain.

Case Description: A 46-year-old male presented with a 27-year history of intractable pain in his left arm after being shot during the Vietnam War; multiple surgical and medical therapeutic modalities failed to produce durable pain relief.

Transient rotational compression of the vertebral artery caused by herniated cervical disc. Case report.

Of the many causes of vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI), extrinsic compression of the vertebral artery (VA) is relatively uncommon. A syndrome of VBI caused by extrinsic compression of the VA secondary to head rotation has been termed positional vertebrobasilar ischemia. The authors present a case of transient VBI caused by herniation of a cervical disc.