The application of machine learning for treatment selection of unruptured brain arteriovenous malformations: A secondary analysis of the ARUBA trial data.

Objective: To build a supervised machine learning (ML) model that selects the best first-line treatment strategy for unruptured bAVMs.

Methods: A Randomized Trial of Unruptured Brain Arteriovenous Malformations (ARUBA) trial data was obtained from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). A team of five clinicians examined the demographic, clinical, and radiological details of each patient at baseline and reached a consensus on the best first-line treatment for bAVMs.

Delirium and IL-6 added to clinical scores improves their performance: a prospective analysis of CALL, PREDI-CO, MRS score applied to a population of patients admitted to internal medicine ward.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of various scoring systems in predicting in-hospital mortality for COVID-19 patients admitted to the internal medicine ward. We conducted a prospective collection of clinical data from patients admitted to the Internal Medicine Unit at Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in Florence, Italy, with confirmed pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2. We calculated three scoring systems: the CALL score, the PREDI-CO score, and the COVID-19 in-hospital Mortality Risk Score (COVID-19 MRS).

Detection of "Incidentalomas" on Brain and Body Ga-DOTATOC-PET Scans: A Retrospective Study and Case Illustration.

Background/aim: One of the main limitations of standard imaging modalities is microscopic tumor extension, which is often difficult to detect on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computer tomography (CT) in the early stages of the tumor. (68)Ga-DOTA(0)-Phe(1)-Tyr(3)-octreotide positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT) has shown efficacy in detecting lesions previously undiagnosed by neuroimaging modalities, such as MRI or CT, and has enabled the detection of multiple benign tumors (like multiple meningiomas in a patient presenting with a single lesion on MRI) or additional secondary metastatic locations.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data from the Cannizzaro Hospital on brain and body Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT "incidentalomas", defined as tumors missed on CT or MRI scans, but detected on Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT scans.

Extra-Neural Metastases From Primary Intracranial Ependymomas: A Systematic Review.

Background: Primary intracranial ependymomas (IE) are rare brain tumors rarely metastasizing outside the central nervous system. We systematically reviewed the literature on extra-neural metastases from primary IEs.

Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web-of-Science, and Cochrane were searched following the PRISMA guidelines to include studies of extra-neural metastases from primary IEs.

Hypofractionated Gamma Knife Radiosurgery: Institutional Experience on Benign and Malignant Intracranial Tumors.

Background/aim: We investigated the treatment outcomes and complications associated with hypofractionated GKRS for the treatment of benign and malignant intracranial tumors.

Patients And Methods: Patients with intracranial tumors not candidate or refusing surgery were evaluated to assess eligibility to undergo hypofractionated Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS). Targeted volumes were calculated using the GammaPlan workstation, and GKRS protocols were delivered with 3 or 5 daily fractions and a maximal total dose of 25 Gy.

Acrometastases to the Hand: A Systematic Review.

The term acrometastases (AM) refers to secondary lesions sited distally to the elbow and knee, representing 0.1% of all bony metastases. By frequency, pulmonary cancer and gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract neoplasms are the most responsible for the reported AM.

Primary Extracranial Meningiomas of the Head and Neck.

Meningiomas represent the most common benign histological tumor of the central nervous system. Usually, meningiomas are intracranial, showing a typical dural tail sign on brain MRI with Gadolinium, but occasionally they can infiltrate the skull or be sited extracranially. We present a systematic review of the literature on extracranial meningiomas of the head and neck, along with an emblematic case of primary extracranial meningioma (PEM), which provides further insights into PEM management.

Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT Follow Up after Single or Hypofractionated Gamma Knife ICON Radiosurgery for Meningioma Patients.

Ga-DOTATOC represents a useful tool in tumor contouring for radiosurgery planning. We present a case series of patients affected by meningiomas on who we performed Ga-DOTATOC positron emission tomography (PET)/CT pre-operatively, a subgroup of which also underwent a post-operative Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT to evaluate the standardized uptake value (SUV) modification after Gamma Knife ICON treatment in single or hypofractionated fractions. Twenty patients were enrolled/included in this study: ten females and ten males.

Navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Motor Mapping Usefulness in the Surgical Management of Patients Affected by Brain Tumors in Eloquent Areas: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The surgical strategy for brain glioma has changed, shifting from tumor debulking to a more careful tumor dissection with the aim of a gross-total resection, extended beyond the contrast-enhancement MRI, including the hyperintensity on FLAIR MR images and defined as supratotal resection. It is possible to pursue this goal thanks to the refinement of several technological tools for pre and intraoperative planning including intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM), cortico-subcortical mapping, functional MRI (fMRI), navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS), intraoperative CT or MRI (iCT, iMR), and intraoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound. This systematic review provides an overview of the state of the art techniques in the application of nTMS and nTMS-based DTI-FT during brain tumor surgery.

Brain Mapping as Helpful Tool in Brain Glioma Surgical Treatment-Toward the "Perfect Surgery"?

Gliomas are the most common primary malignant brain tumours in adults, representing nearly 80%, with poor prognosis in their high-grade forms. Several variables positively affect the prognosis of patients with high-grade glioma: young age, tumour location, radiological features, recurrence, and the opportunity to perform post-operative adjuvant therapy. Low-grade gliomas are slow-growing brain neoplasms of adolescence and young-adulthood, preferentially involving functional areas, particularly the eloquent ones.

Survey on current practice within the European Low-Grade Glioma Network: where do we stand and what is the next step?

Diffuse low-grade glioma form a rare entity affecting young people. Despite advances in surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, diffuse low-grade glioma are still incurable. According to current guidelines, maximum safe resection, when feasible, is the first line of treatment.

Preliminary Experience with a Novel System of Facet Fixation to Treat Patients with Lumbar Degenerative Disease. A New Perspective in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?

Purpose:  We report our experience with a novel surgical device for the treatment of lumbar degenerative microinstability. Facet Wedge (DePuy Synthes, Raynham, Massachusetts, United States) is a novel technique of intra-articular lumbar facet fixation that provides a minimally invasive alternative to standard posterior fixation.

Materials And Methods:  From November 2014 to July 2015, 38 patients underwent single-level Facet Wedge implantation.

Characterization of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9, ADAM-10 and N-cadherin expression in human glioblastoma multiforme.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans, whose invasiveness and proliferation are associated with poor prognosis. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the related family of "a disintegrin and metalloproteinase" (ADAM) both contribute to increase cell invasion, and its substrate N-cadherin is involved in proliferation and metastatic capacities of tumor cells. However, these molecular determinants of aggressiveness have not been adequately characterized in GBM.