Management in chordoid glioma: Avoiding the pitfalls in this rare and challenging entity.

Chordoid glioma (CG) of the third ventricle is an unusual neoplasm of glial nature, which is almost exclusively located in the anterior wall of the third ventricle, in close relation with the hypothalamus. Magnetic resonance images show CG as a suprasellar, hypo- to isointense mass, homogeneously enhancing after the administration of gadolinium. Since its description in 1998 by Brat et al.

ProSeal Laryngeal Mask Airway Attenuates Systemic and Cerebral Hemodynamic Response During Awakening of Neurosurgical Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Extubation and emergence from anesthesia may lead to systemic and cerebral hemodynamic changes that endanger neurosurgical patients. We aimed to compare systemic and cerebral hemodynamic variables and cough incidence in neurosurgery patients emerging from general anesthesia with the standard procedure (endotracheal tube [ETT] extubation) or after replacement of the ETT with a laryngeal mask airway (LMA).

Materials And Methods: Forty-two patients undergoing supratentorial craniotomy under general anesthesia were included in a randomized open-label parallel trial.

Prominent EMA 'dots' in tumour-induced Bergmann gliosis.

Aims: To describe an unusual pattern of epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) immunoreactivity in highly proliferative human Bergmann glia.

Methods And Results: An immunohistochemical study was performed of postmortem cerebellar tissue from 18 adult patients with cerebellar damage of various aetiologies and 15 biopsies of diverse adult and paediatric cerebellar tumours. We observed marked proliferation of Bergmann glia with unusual prominent dot-like cytoplasmic EMA immunoreactivity in a case with extensive leptomeningeal sarcomatosis.

[Normal pressure hydrocephalus: prognostic value of height in patients treated with an identical shunt system].

Introduction: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a clinical entity frequently managed by means of a cerebrospinal fluid shunt. Hydrodynamic hypotheses consider hydrostatic pressure (as well as height) a very important variable for shunt system function. However, we did not find empirical studies supporting the influence of height on clinical response in the literature.

Simple fMRI postprocessing suffices for normal clinical practice.

Background And Purpose: Whereas fMRI postprocessing tools used in research are accurate but unwieldy, those used for clinical practice are user-friendly but are less accurate. We aimed to determine whether commercial software for fMRI postprocessing is accurate enough for clinical practice.

Methods: Ten volunteers underwent fMRI while performing motor and language tasks (hand, foot, and orolingual movements; verbal fluency; semantic judgment; and oral comprehension).

Impact of radiotherapy delay on survival in glioblastoma.

Background: Previous studies in glioblastoma have concluded that there is no decrease in survival with increasing time to initiation of RT up to 6 weeks after surgery. Unfortunately, the number of glioblastoma patients who start RT beyond 6 weeks is not small in some countries. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of RT delay beyond 6 weeks on survival of patients who have undergone completed resection of a glioblastoma.

Does gender matter in glioblastoma?

BACKGROUND The clinical outcome of glioblastoma (GBM) patients who receive radiotherapy alone or with chemotherapy is well established. However, little is known about how many patients do not receive this treatment. We consider it is important to investigate why a proportion of operated patients do not receive further treatment after surgery.

[Intraoperative videoangiography using green indocyanine during aneurysm surgery].

Objective: The authors' objective is to report the initial appreciations on the use of the intraoperative near-infrared indocyanine green videoangiography during aneurysm surgery in our center.

Method: 10 surgical procedures have been made in 9 patients, 5 males and 4 females between 27 and 61 years old with an average of age of 49 years during a time of 10 months between March, 2008 and January, 2009. 10 surgical procedures were performed and 11 aneurysms were clipped.

Pressure inside the neuroendoscope: correlation with epidural intracranial pressure during neuroendoscopic procedures.

Background: During neuroendoscopic procedures, pressure inside the neuroendoscope (PIN) monitored through the irrigation channel correlates with the occurrence of postoperative complications. Our aim was to analyze the reliability of PIN measurement as a surrogate for intracranial pressure (ICP) by comparing PIN with simultaneously epidural ICP measurement as the standard.

Methods: Seventeen consecutive patients undergoing neuroendoscopy were studied prospectively.

[Importance of monitoring neuroendoscopic intracranial pressure during anesthesia for neuroendoscopic surgery: review of 101 cases].

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe monitoring, anesthetic management, and risk factors for complications in neuroendoscopic surgery.

Patients And Methods: Patients who underwent neuroendoscopy between 1994 and 2003 under general anesthesia, with monitoring of intracranial pressure from inside the neuroendoscope, were studied retrospectively. In some patients, the blood flow rate in the middle cerebral artery was monitored using transcranial Doppler ultrasound.

Cerebrospinal fluid composition modifications after neuroendoscopic procedures.

Normal saline solution is currently used as the ventricular irrigation fluid during neuroendoscopic procedures. The aim of this study is to determine the alterations in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) composition after neuroendoscopic interventions. Twenty nine patients who underwent a neuroendoscopic procedure under general anaesthesia were studied.

Functional analysis of third ventriculostomy patency by quantification of CSF stroke volume by using cine phase-contrast MR imaging.

Objective: Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) is increasingly used as alternative treatment for obstructive hydrocephalus. The aim of this study was to determine the utility of quantitative and qualitative examinations with cine phase-contrast MR imaging to determine the efficacy of ventriculostomy across time and whether CSF pulsation is restored after ETV.

Methods: Thirty-eight patients treated with ETV were evaluated with cine phase-contrast MR within 1 month after surgery.

Prognostic significance of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase determined by promoter hypermethylation and immunohistochemical expression in anaplastic gliomas.

Purpose: Anaplastic gliomas constitute a heterogeneous group of tumors with different therapeutic responses to adjuvant chemotherapy with alkylating agents. O6-Methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), a DNA repair protein, is one of the implicated factors in glioma chemoresistance. The prognostic value of MGMT remains controversial due in part to the fact that previous published studies included heterogeneous groups of patients with different tumor grades.

Anesthetic management of a patient in prone position with a drill bit penetrating the spinal canal at C1-C2, using a laryngeal mask.

Unlabelled: Airway management in patients with penetrating neck trauma must guarantee cervical spine stability. Moreover, the prone position increases the risk of difficult ventilation and cervical spine injury. A 19-yr-old patient was brought to the emergency room in prone position with a drill bit protruding from the posterolateral aspect of his neck.

Patterns and universals of mate poaching across 53 nations: the effects of sex, culture, and personality on romantically attracting another person's partner.

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, 16,954 participants from 53 nations were administered an anonymous survey about experiences with romantic attraction. Mate poaching--romantically attracting someone who is already in a relationship--was most common in Southern Europe, South America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe and was relatively infrequent in Africa, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Evolutionary and social-role hypotheses received empirical support.

Universal sex differences in the desire for sexual variety: tests from 52 nations, 6 continents, and 13 islands.

Evolutionary psychologists have hypothesized that men and women possess both long-term and short-term mating strategies, with men's short-term strategy differentially rooted in the desire for sexual variety. In this article, findings from a cross-cultural survey of 16,288 people across 10 major world regions (including North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia) demonstrate that sex differences in the desire for sexual variety are culturally universal throughout these world regions. Sex differences were evident regardless of whether mean, median, distributional, or categorical indexes of sexual differentiation were evaluated.

Prognostic implication of clinical, radiologic, and pathologic features in patients with anaplastic gliomas.

Background: The clinical evolution of anaplastic glioma (anaplastic astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, and oligoastrocytoma) is variable. Previous studies merged patients with anaplastic glioma and the much more common glioblastoma multiforme. Therefore, the conclusions on prognostic factors reflected in part the consequences of an analysis in a heterogeneous population.

Episodic high irrigation pressure during surgical neuroendoscopy may cause intermittent intracranial circulatory insufficiency.

Intermittent high peak pressure values inside the endoscope during neuroendoscopic surgical procedures are associated with postoperative morbidity. Unexpected delay in awakening is the complication most frequently observed by the anesthesiologist as a result of high peak pressure values inside the endoscope. During eight neuroendoscopic procedures the authors continuously monitored cerebral hemodynamic function, using a transcranial doppler (TCD) probe fixed on patients' temporal window.

Factors influencing surgical complications of intra-axial brain tumours.

Object: Extensive surgical resection remains nowadays the best treatment available for most intra-axial brain tumours. However, postoperative sequelae can outweigh the potential benefits of surgery. The goal of this study has been to review the results of this treatment in our Department in order to quantify morbidity and mortality and determine predictive risk factors for each patient.

Anesthetic management of surgical neuroendoscopies: usefulness of monitoring the pressure inside the neuroendoscope.

Neuroendoscopic procedures are increasing in frequency in neurosurgical practice. We describe the anesthetic technique and the perioperative complications found in 100 neuroendoscopic interventions performed at our institution. Cranial tumor biopsy or retrieval (62%) and cisternostomy for hydrocephalus (33%) were the most frequent indications for neuroendoscopy.

Efficacy of radiotherapy for malignant gliomas in elderly patients.

Purpose: Age above 65 years is a strong negative prognostic factor for survival in patients with malignant gliomas (MG) treated with radiotherapy (RT) and its value has been questioned. We analyzed the effect of RT on the survival of elderly patients with malignant gliomas.

Methods And Materials: We examined 85 consecutive elderly patients with a histological diagnosis of MG.

Neuroendoscopic management of pineal region tumours.

The management of pineal tumours remains controversial. During 1994 we treated four consecutive adults (16-44 yrs) harbouring a pineal tumour with a neuroendoscopic procedure. All of them presented with hydrocephalus.

[Surgical treatment combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy in an unselected population of patients with malignant glioma].

Background: Malignant gliomas are tumors of bad prognosis with a mean survival of 12 months. In the present report 74 patients diagnosed of malignant glioma were studied with the following aims: 1) evaluate how many could receive combined radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy (BCNU) treatment following surgery and 2) analyze whether the patients treated presented a survival similar to that described in the literature.

Methods: The records of 74 patients operated on for malignant glioma between 1987-1990 and consecutively included in a protocol of treatment with RT and BCNU were reviewed.