Health Disparities in the Neurosurgical Care of Patients with Trigeminal Neuralgia.

Background: There has been limited investigation into how social determinants of health impact treatment outcomes in patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN). We aimed to investigate how social determinants of health may alter the course of clinical care for patients with TN.

Methods: The electronic medical record was queried for patients with a diagnosis of TN comanaged by neurosurgeons and other facial pain specialists at our medical center.

Frailty in patients with IDH-mutant gliomas: experience from a high-volume tumor center.

Purpose: Gliomas are increasingly diagnosed in an aging population, with treatment outcomes influenced by factors like tumor genetics and patient frailty. This study focused on IDH-mutant gliomas and assessed how frailty affects 30-day readmission and overall survival (OS). We aimed to address a gap in understanding the impact of frailty on this specific glioma subtype.

Examining the Effect of ALK and EGFR Mutations on Survival Outcomes in Surgical Lung Brain Metastasis Patients.

In the context of the post-genomic era, where targeted oncological therapies like monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are gaining prominence, this study investigates whether these therapies can enhance survival for lung carcinoma patients with specific genetic mutations-EGFR-amplified and ALK-rearranged mutations. Prior to this study, no research series had explored how these mutations influence patient survival in cases of surgical lung brain metastases (BMs). Through a multi-site retrospective analysis, the study examined patients who underwent surgical resection for BM arising from primary lung cancer at Emory University Hospital from January 2012 to May 2022.

Purely nasal floor mucosa-free graft for reconstruction after endoscopic endonasal transellar approach: an anatomical and clinical analysis.

Background/objective: In this radioanatomical study with clinical correlate, we study a variation of the 'extended nasal floor mucosa' (ENFM) free-graft, the purely nasal floor mucosa (PuNFM) free-graft. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the coverage surface area provided by the PuNFM, study the adequacy of the PuNFM in the reconstruction of endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) transsellar postoperative defects and compare and evaluate this reconstructive technique with current sellar region reconstruction practices.

Methods: Dissections were performed on five cadaveric specimens.

Complication rate of overlapping versus nonoverlapping functional and stereotactic surgery: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Overlapping surgery, in which one attending surgeon manages two overlapping operating rooms (ORs) and is present for all the critical portions of each procedure, is an important policy that improves healthcare access for patients and case volumes for surgeons and surgical trainees. Despite several studies demonstrating the safety and efficacy of overlapping neurosurgical operations, the practice of overlapping surgery remains controversial. To date, there are no studies that have investigated long-term complication rates of overlapping functional and stereotactic neurosurgical procedures.

Artificial neural networks predict the need for permanent cerebrospinal fluid diversion following posterior fossa tumor resection.

Background: Resection of posterior fossa tumors (PFTs) can result in hydrocephalus that requires permanent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion. Our goal was to prospectively validate a machine-learning model to predict postoperative hydrocephalus after PFT surgery requiring permanent CSF diversion.

Methods: We collected preoperative and postoperative variables on 518 patients that underwent PFT surgery at our center in a retrospective fashion to train several statistical classifiers to predict the need for permanent CSF diversion as a binary class.

Surgery for acromegaly: Indications and goals.

Acromegaly is a disease that occurs secondary to high levels of GH, most often from a hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma, with multisystem adverse effects. Diagnosis includes serum GH and IGF-1 levels, and obtaining an MRI pituitary protocol to assess for a functional pituitary adenoma. Attempted gross total resection of the GH-secreting adenoma is the gold standard in treatment for patients with acromegaly for a goal of biochemical remission.

Adjuvant Radiotherapy in Grade II, Atypical Meningioma of the Skull Base.

 Atypical meningiomas (AM) are meningiomas that are more aggressive than their grade-I counterparts and have a higher rate of recurrence. The effect of adjuvant radiotherapy (ART) on AM of the skull base is not defined.  A retrospective review of all AM's of the skull base primarily resected at our institution from 1996 to 2018 was completed.

Cushing Disease: Medical and Surgical Considerations.

Cushing disease is a disorder of hypercortisolemia caused by hypersecretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone by a pituitary adenoma and is a rare diagnosis. Cushing disease presents with characteristic clinical signs and symptoms associated with excess cortisol, but diagnosis is difficult and often relies on repeated and varied endocrinologic assays and neuroradiologic investigations. Gold standard treatment is surgical resection of adrenocorticotropic hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma, which is curative.

Clinical and radiographic characteristics of diffuse astrocytic glioma, IDH-wildtype, with molecular features of glioblastoma: a single institution review.

Purpose: Genetic analyses of gliomas have identified key molecular features that impact treatment paradigms beyond conventional histomorphology. Despite at-times lower grade histopathologic appearances, IDH-wildtype infiltrating gliomas expressing certain molecular markers behave like higher-grade tumors. For IDH-wildtype infiltrating gliomas lacking traditional features of glioblastoma, these markers form the basis for the novel diagnosis of diffuse astrocytic glioma, IDH-wildtype (wt), with molecular features of glioblastoma (GBM), WHO grade-IV (DAG-G).

Microsurgical Gross Total Resection of an Intracanalicular-Cisternal (Koos-4) Vestibular Schwannoma via a Retrosigmoid Approach with Intraoperative Endoscopic Assistance.

We present the case of a 23-year-old female with a history of progressive hearing loss in the left ear, dizziness, and vertigo. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a left mass extending from the internal auditory canal into the cerebellopontine angle (Koos-4). A retrosigmoid approach assisted with a microinspection tool was chosen.

Permanent Cerebrospinal Fluid Diversion in Adults With Posterior Fossa Tumors: Incidence and Predictors.

Background: Posterior fossa tumors (PFTs) can cause hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus can persist despite resection of PFTs in a subset of patients requiring permanent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion. Characteristics of this patient subset are not well defined.

Combined microsurgical-endoscopic paramedian supracerebellar-infratentorial approach for resection of a pineal low-grade glioma.

The authors present the case of a 20-year-old male with a history of headaches and blurred vision found to have a pineal mass and chronic hydrocephalus. The patient initially underwent an endoscopic third ventriculostomy and pineal mass biopsy that revealed a low-grade neuroepithelial neoplasm. A microsurgery-endoscope-assisted paramedian supracerebellar-infratentorial approach was chosen and a gross-total resection was achieved.

The Transorbital Pericranial Flap.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to describe and evaluate the feasibility, mobility, and surface area provided by the simple and extended transorbital pericranial flap (TOPF). Furthermore, we compared this novel technique with the current practice of pericranial flap harvesting and insetting techniques. We also studied the adequacy of the TOPF in the reconstruction of postoperative anterior cranial fossa (ACF) defects.

Adjuvant Radiotherapy Versus Watchful Waiting for World Health Organization Grade II Atypical Meningioma: A Single-Institution Experience.

Background: Atypical meningiomas (AMs) are meningiomas that have a higher rate of recurrence than grade I meningioma. Due to the higher risk of recurrence, adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) after resection of AM has been employed. At our institution, some neurosurgeons employ adjuvant RT on all primarily resected AMs, while others employ watchful waiting with serial imaging.

Unexpected Decrease in Shunt Surgeries Performed during the Shelter-in-Place Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: It is expected that the incidence of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt malfunctions would remain unchanged during the shelter-in-place period related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To examine the number of shunt surgeries performed in a single institution during this time interval in comparison to equivalent periods in past years.

Methods: The numbers of elective and emergent/urgent shunt surgeries performed at a single institution were queried for a 28-d period starting on the third Monday of March, between years 2015 and 2020.