Radiation therapy for pilocytic astrocytomas of childhood.

Purpose: Though radiation therapy is generally considered the most effective treatment for unresectable pilocytic astrocytomas in children, there are few data to support this claim. To examine the efficacy of radiation therapy for pediatric pilocytic astrocytomas, we retrospectively reviewed the experience at our institution.

Methods And Materials: Thirty-five patients 18 years old or younger with unresectable tumors and without evidence of neurofibromatosis have been treated since 1982.

Titanium mesh reconstruction to maintain scalp contour after temporalis musculofascial flap reconstruction of the floor of the middle cranial fossa: a technical note and report of two cases.

Objective: Temporalis musculofascial rotational flaps can provide excellent tissue for reconstruction of defects in the floor of the middle cranial fossa. This technique can, however, result in cosmetic deformity of the temporal fossa with an asymmetric contour of the head. We report a technique that uses titanium mesh and autologous abdominal adipose to maintain a normal scalp contour.

Hemispherotomy: efficacy and analysis of seizure recurrence.

Object: Hemispherotomy generally is performed in hemiparetic patients with severe, intractable epilepsy arising from one cerebral hemisphere. In this study, the authors evaluate the efficacy of hemispherotomy and present an analysis of the factors influencing seizure recurrence following the operation.

Methods: The authors performed a retrospective review of 49 patients (ages 0.

Isolated cerebellar Rosai-Dorfman granuloma mimicking Lhermitte-Duclos disease. Case report.

Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is an idiopathic histioproliferative disorder that rarely involves the CNS. Rosai-Dorfman disease is exceedingly rare in the pediatric population and has never been observed in the cerebellum of a child. The authors present the case of a 14-year-old male with a cerebellar lesion having radiographic characteristics of Lhermitte-Duclos disease.

Traumatic enucleation with avulsion of the ophthalmic artery resulting in aneurysm-like subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Traumatic, nonaneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is common after closed head injury and most often results from ruptured cortical microvessels. Here, the authors present the case of a 60-year-old woman who fell and struck her head, causing traumatic enucleation and avulsion of both the optic nerve and ophthalmic artery. The arterial avulsion caused a Fisher Grade 3 SAH.

Epilepsy surgery in children with seizures arising from the rolandic cortex.

Purpose: Medically intractable seizures arising from the sensorimotor (rolandic) cortex present a formidable challenge for epileptologists and epilepsy surgeons. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of surgical treatment for seizures in this region.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 24 children and adolescents who underwent surgical management of refractory rolandic epilepsy at our institution.

Targeted inhibition of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase-4 promotes brain tumor regression.

Purpose: As favorable outcomes from malignant brain tumors remain limited by poor survival and treatment-related toxicity, novel approaches to cure are essential. Previously, we identified the cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitor Rolipram as a potent antitumor agent. Here, we investigate the role of PDE4 in brain tumors and examine the utility of PDE4 as a therapeutic target.

Spontaneous resolution of Chiari malformation Type I in monozygotic twins.

The spontaneous resolution of isolated tonsillar ectopia in Chiari malformation Type I (CM-I) is a known and reported entity in 2 previous single study case reports. However, it has not been previously described in monozygotic twins. Two children, approximately 1 year of age with CM-I and presumed episodes of pallid syncope or breath-holding spells presented for neurosurgical evaluation.

Feasibility of small animal cranial irradiation with the microRT system.

Purpose: To develop and validate methods for small-animal CNS radiotherapy using the microRT system.

Materials And Methods: A custom head immobilizer was designed and built to integrate with a pre-existing microRT animal couch. The Delrin couch-immobilizer assembly, compatible with multiple imaging modalities (CT, microCT, microMR, microPET, microSPECT, optical), was first imaged via CT in order to verify the safety and reproducibility of the immobilization method.

Combined surgical resection and stereotactic radiosurgery for treatment of cerebral metastases.

Background: Patients with limited intracranial metastatic disease traditionally have been treated with surgery followed by WBRT. However, there is growing concern for the debilitating cognitive effects after WBRT in long-term survivors. We present a series of patients treated with surgery followed by SRS, while reserving WBRT as a salvage therapy for disease progression.

Activation of a novel injury-induced calcium-permeable channel that plays a key role in causing extended neuronal depolarization and initiating neuronal death in excitotoxic neuronal injury.

Protracted elevation in intracellular calcium caused by the activation of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor is the main cause of glutamate excitotoxic injury in stroke. However, upon excitotoxic injury, despite the presence of calcium entry antagonists, calcium unexpectedly continues to enter the neuron, causing extended neuronal depolarization and culminating in neuronal death. This phenomenon is known as the calcium paradox of neuronal death in stroke, and it represents a major problem in developing effective therapies for the treatment of stroke.

Outcome following surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal involvement in preadolescent children: emphasis on mesial temporal sclerosis.

Object: The authors conducted a multiinstitutional, retrospective analysis to better define outcome and prognostic indicators for temporal lobe epilepsy surgery for suspected mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) in young children.

Methods: Data were collected for all children undergoing temporal resections at four epilepsy centers over approximately 10 years. Children with a histopathological diagnosis of neoplasm were excluded.

Simultaneous image-guided and endoscopic navigation without rigid cranial fixation: application in infants: technical case report.

Objective And Importance: Infants and young children demonstrate a variety of intraventricular and periventricular lesions. Endoscopy has proven useful in the treatment of many of these lesions, but its benefit is limited if it is applied to complex loculated cysts or if the disease is concealed by normal ependymal boundaries. In adults and older children, endoscopy can be augmented by the simultaneous use of frameless stereotaxy, but this combined modality has not been possible in infants and young children without rigid cranial fixation.