Prevention of symptomatic vasospasm by continuous cisternal irrigation with mock-CSF containing ascorbic acid and Mg(2+).

Background: Symptomatic vasospasm (SVS) is still a major cause of poor outcome in cases undergoing early surgical intervention for ruptured intracranial aneurysm. Among the numbers of therapeutic trials to prevent and ameliorate neurological deterioration due to SVS, removal or quenching of oxy-hemoglobin (OxyHb) from subarachnoid colts and administration of Mg(2+) (Mg) have especially been expected to be effective. In this report the authors investigated the effect of continuous cisternal irrigation (CCI) with mock CSF containing ascorbic acid (ASA) and Mg, performed after early surgery for ruptured aneurysm.

[Case of conduction aphasia due to right hemispheric lesion].

We report the case of conduction aphasia due to injury of the right hemisphere of the brain. The patient was a right-handed male in his fifties with moyamoya disease. T2-weighted MRI showed an extensive high intensity area in the right temporal-parietal-occipital lobes.

Common carotid artery stenosis and amaurosis fugax.

Background: Clinical characteristics of common carotid artery (CCA) stenosis have been reported relatively rarely, compared with those of internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis. The current retrospective study aimed to clarify the symptomatology of CCA stenosis.

Methods: Summarized records of patients admitted were reviewed to identify patients with CCA stenosis or extracranial ICA stenosis.

[Chronological changes in MR angiography of a case with isolated angiitis of the CNS].

Isolated angiitis of the central nervous system (IAC) is a disease of unknown etiology, and is restricted to the small-to-medium-sized blood vessels of the central nervous system. We report serial MR angiography findings in a case of IAC. A 51-year-old female came to our hospital because of severe headache.

Neuroprotective efficacy of selective brain hypothermia induced by a novel external cooling device on permanent cerebral ischemia in rats.

Objectives: This study was aimed at examining whether hypothermia is neuroprotective against permanent cerebral ischemia in rats.

Methods: A total of 32 male Sprague--Dawley rats were subjected to a middle cerebral artery occlusion. In the hypothermic group, rats (n=10) underwent selective brain hypothermia for 5 hours with the use of a novel surface coil with coolant circulating inside.

Astrocytic activation and delayed infarct expansion after permanent focal ischemia in rats. Part II: suppression of astrocytic activation by a novel agent (R)-(-)-2-propyloctanoic acid (ONO-2506) leads to mitigation of delayed infarct expansion and early improvement of neurologic deficits.

A novel agent, (R)-(-)-2-propyloctanoic acid (ONO-2506), has a unique property in that it modulates functions of activated cultured astrocytes, including pronounced inhibition of S-100beta synthesis. The present study examined whether administration of this agent would mitigate the delayed expansion of infarct volume and the neurologic deficits after permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) in rats. Daily intravenous administration of ONO-2506 (10 mg/kg) abolished the delayed infarct expansion between 24 and 168 hours after pMCAO, whereas the acute infarct expansion until 24 hours was unaffected.

Astrocytic activation and delayed infarct expansion after permanent focal ischemia in rats. Part I: enhanced astrocytic synthesis of s-100beta in the periinfarct area precedes delayed infarct expansion.

An astrocytic protein S-100beta enhances the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase in cultured astrocytes at micromolar concentrations, leading to nitric oxide-mediated death of cocultured neurons. The present study examined whether S-100beta production by reactive astrocytes accumulating within the periinfarct area was related to delayed expansion of infarct volume after permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion in the rat. After rapid increases during the initial 24 hours, the increase of infarct volume then decelerated while maintaining the increasing tendency until 168 hours in this model, attaining a significant difference compared with that at 24 hours.

Presigmoid transpetrosal approach for the treatment of a large trochlear nerve schwannoma--case report.

A 61-year-old man presented with a rare, large trochlear nerve schwannoma manifesting as left-sided weakness and hypesthesia, bilateral bulbar pareses, and trochlear nerve paresis persisting for 3 months. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging with gadolinium revealed an intensely enhanced, well-circumscribed lesion with multicystic formation occupying the prepontine and interpeduncular cisterns and compressing the pons and midbrain with greater extension to the right. The mass was completely removed through the presigmoid transpetrosal approach with preservation of the posterior cerebral, superior cerebellar, and basilar arteries and their branches.