Results of surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis in patients aged 80 years or more. A retrospective study of thirty-four cases.

As life expectancy increases and spinal imaging techniques improve, surgery is being increasingly viewed as a therapeutic alternative for symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis in patients older than 80 years. Thirty-four patients (21 men and 13 women) who had surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis in our department between 1979 and 1994 were studied retrospectively. The most common initial symptoms were walking-related disorders (n = 29) and sciatica or femoral neuralgia (n = 34).

[Transpetrosal approaches to the clivus. Surgical anatomy, challenges and limitations].

Radical excision of skull base tumors is a real challenge for neurosurgeons. The need to preserve the nerves and the vessels in the area lead us to use lateral approaches, if the lesion lies lateral to the cavernous portion of the carotid artery and behind the petrous apex. Lateral approaches are classified into two groups: ventrolateral approaches (in front of the cochlea) and dorsolateral approaches (with or without resection of the bony labyrinth).

[Epidural hematoma. Myth and reality, based on 3 exemplary cases].

The acute epidural hematoma is a real surgical emergency with a good outcome if the operation is performed in reasonable delays. In 1994, too many young patients eventually died or were left with major disabilities, because of an unacceptable and almost always avoidable loss of time. We do emphasize some rules which have to be followed to avoid catastrophic events.

Autoantibodies against H- and M-subunits of neurofilaments are induced by PC12 cell grafts or lesions into different sites of rat brain.

Since autoantibodies against neurofilaments (NF) were frequently found in neurodegenerative disorders, this work is an attempt to investigate whether the same phenomenon occurs after intracerebral grafting or lesioning. We have thus either grafted PC12 cells or injected culture medium alone into three sites of rat central nervous system (CNS): olfactory bulb (OB), olfactory anterior nucleus (OAN) and hippocampus (HC), all three sites being impaired in Alzheimer's disease. At day 15, rat sera were collected and tested against NF by western blotting.

Are the calcium antagonists really useful in cerebral aneurysmal surgery? A retrospective study.

From 1983 to 1990, 234 patients with one or several cerebral arterial aneurysms were surgically treated in our department. Since 1983, we have been performing surgery as early as possible. As soon as the subarachnoid hemorrhage diagnosis is confirmed by computed tomography (or if unconfirmed, by lumbar puncture), we assume that each patient may have an aneurysm.