Establishing Safe Surgical Parameters for Placement of C2 Pedicle Screws: A Retrospective Study.

Background:  The study aimed to evaluate the safety and feasibility of transpedicular instrumentation for the C2 vertebra and to establish the precise anatomical parameters and boundaries within which this procedure can be safely and effectively performed.

Methods:  This retrospective study analyzed 66 patients who underwent C2 transpedicular screw fixation. Preoperative and postoperative axial, sagittal, and coronal computed tomography (CT) scans were examined.

The influence of stereotaxic lesions of claustrum on motor movements and behaviour in rats.

Background: This study aimed to expand our existing information on changes in the regulation of motor movement and behaviour by investigating the effects of unilateral and bilateral lesions on the claustrum (CL).

Material And Methods: 36 Wistar Albino adult male rats were randomly divided into six groups. An electrical lesion was created with a constant current source in the unilateral and bilateral anterior clastrum using a stereotaxic frame in rats.

Evaluation of Sexual Function in Patients with Lower Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Comparison of Pre- and Postoperative Status.

Background:  Neuroregulation of sexual functions requires coordination of parasympathetic, sympathetic, and somatosensory neuronal pathways. The nerves formed by the lower lumbar plexus provide the innervation of the urogenital organs. Lower lumbar disc hernias (LDHs) might impair the neuroregulation of sexual functions by compressing the neural structures.

Accuracy of Axis Drill Guides in the Cases of Atlantoaxial Instabilities Associated With High-Riding Vertebral Arteries, Narrow Pedicles, and Complex Deformities: Comparison of 3 Fixation Methods.

Objective: To contrast the accuracy of C2 navigation template-assisted versus freehand pedicle and/or pars screw fixation in high-risk cases where a high-riding vertebral artery (VA) or narrow pedicle and complex deformities were associated.

Methods: In our hospital, computed tomography (CT) data of 30 patients with pathology on C, who had risk factors for VA injury, that were complex cervical deformities, atlantoaxial instabilities with narrow C2 pedicle and/or HRVA variations were retrospectively reviewed. Using computer-aided design software and desktop printer we printed 3 sets of high cervical models per case.

Maternal Serum and Fetal Cord Blood Concentrations of Thiol/ Disulfide and Ischemia-Modified Albumin as Predictors of Neural Tube Defects.

Aim: To investigate the predictive role of thiol/ disulfide homeostasis and Ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels for NTDs.

Material And Methods: A total of 71 pregnant women (31 with NTD and 42 healthy controls) were enrolled in this study. This prospective case-control study included pregnant women with NTDs as the study group and randomly selected age-matched pregnant women with healthy fetuses as the control group.

PMMA Cranioplasty Making by Using Оpen-Source CAD Software, PLA Printers, and Silicone Rubber Molds: Technical Note with Two Illustrative Cases.

In this technical report, we discuss the design and production of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) implants, which we successfully applied in two patients using silicone molds, and a retrospective review of these patients at 1- and 6-month intervals. By using open-source computer-assisted design software, three-dimensional printers, and the patient's thin-sliced computed tomography data, we designed and produced the implant template and used it to make silicone rubber mоlds for intraoperative PMMA casting with good results. As a negative of the implant, we created a silicon mold, which can be autoclaved.

The Feasibility of Creating Image-Based Patient-Specific Drill Guides for the Atlantoaxial Instabilities Using Open-Source CAD Software and Desktop 3D Printers.

Objective: C1/2 cervical pedicle screw fixation is a well-known procedure for treating severely damaged and unstable C1/2 fractures. On the other hand, C1/C2 screw fixation is not safe and can lead to potentially disastrous consequences. The importance of personalized 3-dimensional (3D) printed navigational guides in avoiding these consequences cannot be overstated.

The Impact of Minimally Invasive Pituitary Surgery on Male and Female Sexual Dysfunction in Patients with Pituitary Adenoma.

Introduction: In the present study, we prospectively investigated the impact of endoscopic transnasal trans-sphenoidal surgery (ETTS) on sexual function in male and female patients with pituitary adenoma.

Methods: The study included a total of 40 consecutive patients (male, n = 28 and female, n = 12) aged 22-65 years, who underwent ETTS for pituitary adenoma in our center between March 2019 and August 2019. Twenty-seven (67.

Urgent operation improves weakness in cauda equina syndrome due to lumbar disc herniation.

Objectives: This study aims to examine the effect of surgical timing on the sphincter function and improvement of motor function in patients with cauda equine syndrome (CES) due to lumbar disc herniation (LDH).

Patients And Methods: Between January 2005 and December 2013, a total of 33 patients (18 males, 15 females; mean age 48.6±2.

Surgical management of traumatic cerebrospinal fluid fistulas with associated lesions.

Background: Head trauma is associated with a significant risk of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistula.

Methods: In this study, it was aimed to report twenty-two cases subjected to operative intervention for otorrhea, rhinorrhea and oculorrhea with associated traumatic lesions. Majority of the cases had moderate to severe head trauma with a Glascow Coma Scale (GCS) score under 14.

Endoscopic Endonasal Transsphenoidal Pituitary Surgery: Experience of 80 Cases.

Aim: Surgical approaches to the pituitary have undergone numerous refinements over the last 100 years. The fully endoscopic transsphenoidal approach has gained widespread use all around the world. We report the results of a consecutive series of patients who underwent pituitary surgery using a pure endoscopic endonasal approach and the results of the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this procedure.

Pure Endoscopic Endonasal Clipping of an Incidental Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysm.

Anterior communicating artery (AcoA) aneurysm is the most common form of intracranial aneurysm. It occurs rarely together with other intracranial lesion. Today, microsurgical techniques and endovascular methods are used in the treatment of these aneurysms.

Biochemical and histopathological effects of catechin on experimental peripheral nerve injuries.

Aim: Catechin is a type of polyphenol, along with epicatechin, epigallocatechin, and epigallocatechin-gallate (EGCG). This study aims to investigate the effect of EGCG, a major metabolite of catechin, which is the principle bioactive compound in green tea, on rats with peripheral nerve injury.

Material And Methods: A total of 74 rats were divided into six groups, namely the control, the trauma, the normal saline, a 25mg/kg EGCG, a 50mg/kg EGCG and a daily consumption group (10mg/kg EGCG was given intraperitoneally for 14 days before the trauma).

Pure endoscopic endonasal removal of unusual anterior skull base aneursymal bone cyst extending to the frontal lobe.

Aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) are benign, nonneoplastic, hemorrhagic, and expansile osseous lesions that present most frequently at age younger than 20 years. Aneurysmal bone cysts typically involve long bones of extremities, thorax, pelvis, or spinal column. Skull base involvement is very rare.

Massive Skull Base Ameloblastic Carcinoma with Intracranial Extension.

Ameloblastic carcinoma (AC) is a rare and aggressive malignant epithelial odontogenic tumor that may arise either from the mandible (66.6%) or the maxilla (33.3%).

Neuroprotective effects of tetracyclines on blunt head trauma: An experimental study on rats.

Background: Prevention of primary damage caused by head trauma may be avoided with protective measures and techniques which is a public health concern. Experimental and clinical studies about treatment of head trauma were all centered to prevent secondary damage caused by physiopathological changes following primary injury. Neuroprotective features of tetracyclines were the focus of several experimental studies in the last decade.

Endoscopic endonasal optic nerve decompression in a patient with pseudotumor cerebri.

Pseudotumor cerebri (idiopathic intracranial hypertension) is a syndrome characterized by intracranial pressure elevation and associated signs and symptoms in the absence of a space-occupying intracranial lesion. The most common symptoms are visual loss and headache. Sometimes, surgical therapy is needed in patients who have no apparent response to medical therapy and exhibit a progressive course.

A difficult Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy procedure: perforation of a thick Liliequist membrane with high basilar artery location.

Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) is a minimally invasive and safe method used in the treatment of obstructive hydrocephalus. However, arterial bleeding episodes that arise from narrowing of the safe perforation area due to a higher location of the basilar artery (BA) may have tragic consequences. Liliequist membrane (LM) or other membranous structures located in the prepontine cistern also affect the success rates with ETV and complicate the procedure.

Endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal treatment for acromegaly: 2010 consensus criteria for remission and predictors of outcomes.

Aim: Acromegaly is a chronic disorder characterized by enhanced growth hormone (GH) secretion and elevated insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels, usually caused by pituitary adenomas. In this retrospective study, we reviewed our experience with endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery (EETS) with in remission rates using the 2010 consensus criteria, predictors of remission and associated complications.

Material And Methods: The authors retrospectively analyzed data from 56 acromegalic patients who underwent pure EETS.

Primary non-necrotizing granulomatous hypophysitis mimicking pituitary adenomas.

Aim: The authors review their experience in the endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal treatment of 5 patients, finally diagnosed as primary hypophysitis but initially assumed to be pituitary adenomas.

Material And Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken to review 5 cases of primary non-necrotizing granulomatous hypophysitis (1.61%) through 310 endoscopic transsphenoidally operated cases with the diagnosis of pituitary adenoma between 2009 and 2013.

An uncommon intramedullary tumor: primary spinal cord melanoma.

A 47-year-old woman was admitted with complaints of progressive weakness in the lower extremities and pain in the back and left leg. Thoracic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a spinal intramedullary tumor between the T9 and L1 levels, which were iso- to hypointense on T2 and slightly hyperintense on T1-weighted images. The tumor was resected as total, and the diagnosis was malignant melanoma confirmed with histopathology.

Endoscopic endonasal repair of spontaneous sphenoid sinus lateral wall meningocele presenting with cerebrospinal fluid leak.

Spontaneous sphenoid sinus lateral wall meningoceles are rare lesions with an unknown etiology. Endoscopic endonasal technique is a considerable route in the treatment of this condition. The aim of this paper is to report the etiology, surgical technique, and outcome in a patient repaired via endoscopic endonasal approach.

Unusual posttraumatic delayed cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea due to gunshot wound.

Delayed posttraumatic cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea (CSFr) without meningitis is considered to be relatively rare. However, even years after trauma, recurrence or delayed onset of CSFr and meningitis due to CSFr are possible. In this article, a case of delayed CSFr from the sphenoid sinus without meningitis three years after the transfacial gunshot wound is reported.

Endoscopic endonasal removal of a sphenoidal sinus foreign body extending into the intracranial space.

Sphenoidal sinus foreign bodies are very rare entities that are often associated with a cranial and/or orbital trauma. In this paper, a case of a metallic foreign body that pierced the sphenoid sinus and penetrated into the intracranial space due to a work accident is presented. A 29-year-old male was referred to our clinic due to a right orbital penetrating trauma.

Endoscopic endonasal treatment of a large clival giant cell tumor invading the cavernous sinus and temporal lobe.

Giant cell tumors (GCTs) are extremely rare lesions, representing less than 5% of all bone tumors. They primarily occur in the long bones. However, a small percentage of these tumors occur in the pelvis, spine, or skull bones.