Treatment of glioblastoma with re-purposed renin-angiotensin system modulators: Results of a phase I clinical trial.

Glioblastoma is the most common and most aggressive primary brain cancer in adults. Standard treatment of glioblastoma consisting of maximal safe resection, adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy with temozolomide, results in an overall median survival of 14.6 months.

Relapse patterns after low-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy.

Purpose: When biochemical failure (BF) develops after low-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy, the relapse site is frequently not found. We set out to find whether prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography -CT (PSMA PET-CT) scanning has improved knowledge of relapse patterns.

Methods And Materials: A database was analyzed, which contained information and long-term followup on 903 men who had an iodine-125 seed implant as monotherapy for early-stage prostate cancer.

Management of Orbital and Periorbital Venous Malformation.

Background: To review our management of common venous malformation (VM) affecting the orbit and/or periorbital area.

Methods: Consecutive patients with orbital and/or periorbital VM were identified from our vascular anomalies database. Demographic details of the patients, anatomic site(s) affected, symptoms and signs, presence of a family history of VM, and types of treatment(s) were collected, supplemented by chart review.

PHACE(S) Syndrome With Absent Intracranial Internal Carotid Artery and Anomalous Circle of Willis.

The authors present a case of PHACE(S) (posterior fossa malformations, hemangioma, arterial anomalies, cardiac defects, eye anomalies, and sternal cleft or supraumbilical raphe) syndrome with a right-sided segmental infantile hemangioma, and describe in detail, the associated absent ipsilateral intracranial internal carotid artery and anomalous Circle of Willis. Propranolol therapy led to accelerated, complete involution. Nadolol may reduce the theoretical risk of treating PHACE(S) patients with β-blockers.

Ethanol sclerotherapy for venous malformation.

Background: Ethanol sclerotherapy (ES) is the preferred treatment for venous malformation (VM) with surgery playing an adjunctive role. Results of ES, however, are not well documented in the literature.

Methods: VM patients were identified from our vascular anomalies database from 1996 to 2011.

Surgical treatment for venous malformation.

Sclerotherapy is generally the preferred treatment for venous malformation (VM) with surgery usually playing an adjunctive role. This study presents our experience with surgical treatment of VMs. Consecutive patients were identified from our vascular anomalies database 1996-2011 and patient demographics, location of the lesion, type of tissue(s) affected and symptoms were analysed.

Headache after substance abuse: a diagnostic dilemma.

An 18-year-old man inhaled a substance containing synthetic cannabinoids and 1 hour later developed a severe global headache. Imaging revealed a perimesencephalic subarachnoid haemorrhage. An angiogram suggested that a small superior cerebellar artery aneurysm was the culprit.

Surgical management of arteriovenous malformation.

This article presents our experience in managing a series of consecutive patients with arteriovenous malformation (AVM) referred to our Vascular Anomalies Centre over a 14-year period. These patients were culled from our prospective Vascular Anomalies Database 1996-2010. The medical records of these patients were reviewed to supplement the data collected.

Clinical and angiographic outcome after Guglielmi detachable coil embolization of intracranial aneurysms.

Background: Between July 1997 and April 2001, forty patients underwent Guglielmi detachable coil (GDC) embolization of intracranial aneurysms at Wellington Hospital.

Methods: The clinical notes and imaging were reviewed retrospectively.

Results: Complete initial occlusion was achieved in 28 patients (70%).

Distemper outbreak and its effect on African wild dog conservation.

In December 2000, an infectious disease spread through a captive breeding group of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Tanzania, killing 49 of 52 animals within 2 months. The causative agent was identified as Canine distemper virus (CDV) by means of histologic examination, virus isolation, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis, and nucleotide sequencing. This report emphasizes the importance of adequate protection against infectious diseases for the successful outcome of captive breeding programs of endangered species.

Ventricular septal defect and multiple aneurysms.

A 41-year-old man with a small perimembranous ventricular septal defect (VSD) developed aneurysms and aortic elongation, tortuosity and dissecting aneurysm. The asymptomatic VSD, without pulmonary circulatory disturbance, was considered hemodynamically benign and too small to warrant surgical closure. However, prolonged strenuous sporting activities could have potentiated premature development of aortic sclerosis and the unusual vascular lesions secondary to the VSD, and an injury may have precipitated mural dissection in the vulnerable aortic wall.

Combined pathological and radiological study of the effect of atherosclerosis on the ostia of segmental branches of the abdominal aorta.

A combined pathological and radiological study of descending aortae from 15 subjects from 2 to 80 yrs of age was conducted to investigate changes in the segmental vessels with advancing aortic atherosclerosis. There were (i) small hillocks of musculo-elastic intimal thickening adjacent to the apex (centre of the flow divider) in the ostia of the segmental vessels in young subjects, (ii) progressive intimal thickening, distortion and narrowing of the ostia of the segmental vessels (iii) obliteration or loss of some ostia in advanced atherosclerosis of the distal abdominal aorta and (iv) gross discrepancy in severity of atherosclerosis between the aorta and its branches, the intimal proliferation tapering rapidly in the branches and often being minimal in the outer part of their intramural courses. Distal ramifications exhibited occlusions which radiographically were probably embolic or possibly artifactual.

Cervical myelopathy, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis: problems in investigation.

This report describes a patient presenting with a spastic quadriplegia who was found to have both diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) and ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) in the cervical spine. There was a dramatic worsening of his symptoms during a myelogram examination of the neck. It is suggested that computed tomographic imaging of the neck is the preferred investigative procedure if OPLL is suspected as a cause of cervical myelopathy.

Comparative study of the sodium salts of iodamide and iothalamate in clinical urography.

In a comparative urographic study of the sodium salts of iodamide (Uromiro 300 Sodium) and iothalamate (Conray 420) the following conclusions have been made. (i) In subjects with radiologically normal kidneys and a creatinine clearance greater than 70 ml/min, nephrogram scores were significantly higher with iodamide (P less than 0.02).