Dural arteriovenous fistulas and headache features: an observational study.

Background: Dural arteriovenous fistulas are intracranial vascular malformations, fed by dural arteries and draining venous sinuses or meningeal veins. Clinical course varies widely and ranges from benign with spontaneous remission to fatal, due to cerebral hemorrhage. In a 10-year single institution experience, clinical presentation of dural arteriovenous fistulas, and in particular headache and angiographic features, as well as long-term outcome were analyzed.

Substantia nigra hyperechogenicity in essential tremor and Parkinson's disease: a longitudinal study.

Background And Purpose: Essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD) sometimes overlap in their clinical expression with ET preceding PD onset, often leading to misdiagnosis. Transcranial sonography (TCS) has been shown to be a valid and non-invasive diagnostic tool to identify early idiopathic PD and to differentiate it from ET. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relevance of substantia nigra hyperechogenicity in patients with ET.

Interatrial Shunting Through an Asymptomatic Patent Foramen Ovale in Thoracic Surgery.

Background: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is present in as many as 25% of the general population and is considered an irrelevant condition in healthy subjects. Here, we sought to determine an association between an asymptomatic PFO at baseline and postoperative short-term adverse events in patients undergoing major pulmonary resection for lung cancer. In addition, we evaluated for the rate of PFO after pulmonary resections.

Extracranial Venous Drainage Pattern in Multiple Sclerosis and Healthy Controls: Application of the 2011 Diagnostic Criteria for Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency.

The etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) is still largely unknown and it has been proposed that an impaired venous drainage from the central nervous system, defined as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI), may play a role in this. We investigated the prevalence of extracranial venous drainage pattern alterations in a cohort of MS patients based on the 2011 revised diagnostic criteria for CCSVI. Thirty-nine MS patients and 18 healthy subjects underwent blinded extra-cranial venous echo-color Doppler sonography to reveal the presence of CCSVI.