Takotsubo stress cardiomyopathy following explantation of sEEG electrodes.

Objective: Takotsubo stress cardiomyopathy is characterized by dysfunction of the left ventricle of the heart including apical ballooning and focal wall-motion abnormalities. Although reported in association with seizures and intracerebral hemorrhage, there are no studies reporting its occurrence in patients having stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG).

Methods: A 38-year-old lady with no prior history of cardiac disease experienced sudden onset chest pain and acute left ventricular failure 4 hours following explantation of stereoelectroencephalogram electrodes.

15-year longitudinal study of mortality in a general neurosurgical practice.

This paper analyses patient mortality rates in a prospectively acquired database of all admissions under one consultant neurosurgeon over a 15-year period from April 1999 to March 2014. Out of 6006 admissions, there were 163 deaths (2.7%).

Use of robot-guided stereotactic placement of intracerebral electrodes for investigation of focal epilepsy: initial experience in the UK.

We describe the operative technique and our preliminary experience with use of the Renishaw neuromate(®) stereotactic robot to implant depth electrodes for investigation of focal epilepsy in the UK. Conventional electrocorticography involving a craniotomy and implantation of grids of electrodes directly onto the brain surface is invasive and carries a high risk of major complications such as acute subdural haematoma and infection. Robot-guided depth electrodes implantation for stereotactic electroencephalography is a less invasive technique that allows accurate implantation of multiple deep brain electrodes along predefined trajectories, and has not been associated with any major surgical complications in our initial experience.

Epilepsy surgery for refractory epilepsy due to encephalocele: a case report and review of the literature.

The management of medically intractable epilepsy is frequently assisted by the identification of structural abnormalities made possible by modern imaging techniques. The association between meningoencephaloceles and epileptic seizures is well reported in the literature. We report a patient with refractory right frontal lobe epilepsy caused by a right nasal meningoencephalocele who was rendered seizure free by endoscopic nasal excision and skull base repair, obviating the need for resective epilepsy surgery.