Follow-up Brain Imaging Within 30 Days of Gamma-Knife Surgery for New Symptoms: Retrospective Analysis.

Objective: Gamma Knife surgery is a complementary procedure to open microsurgery for several indications. However, posttreatment symptomatic complaints are common and often result in short-term follow-up imaging. Here we evaluate the efficacy of repeat brain imaging within 30 days of a Gamma Knife procedure by analyzing the frequency with which that imaging reveals addressable pathology.

Multiple Simultaneous Mature Teratomas of the Spinal Cord in an Adult.

Teratomas of the spinal cord are rare tumors, particularly in adults, but there is an increasing body of literature documenting both their diagnosis and successful treatment with surgical resection. However, to date, the literature has largely characterized spinal teratomas as single solitary lesions. Here, we report on an adult patient who presented with signs of progressive lower extremity weakness.

Postmortem studies of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease: a systematic review of the literature.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS), arguably the greatest therapeutic advancement in the treatment of Parkinson's disease since dopamine replacement therapy, is now routinely used. While the exact mechanisms by which DBS works still remain unknown, over the past three decades since it was first described, we have gained significant insight into several of the processes involved. Though often overlooked in this regard, increasing numbers of postmortem and autopsy studies are contributing significantly to our understanding.

Anatomic Targeting of the Optimal Location for Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation in Patients with Essential Tremor.

Background: Thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective strategy for treatment of essential tremor (ET). With limitations of imaging modalities, targeting largely relies on indirect methods. This study was designed to determine the optimal target for DBS in ET and construct a targeting method based on probabilistic maps.

Management of Skull Base Tumor-Associated Facial Pain.

Cancer-associated facial pain can be caused by a variety of pathologic conditions. Here the authors describe the symptoms and incidence of facial pain secondary to three separate anatomic subcategories of cancer. The authors subsequently discuss the effectiveness and drawbacks of the most common methods of treatment.

Revision surgeries following vagus nerve stimulator implantation.

The vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) has been shown to provide a safe, albeit costly, treatment for intractable epilepsy. We aimed to analyze the incidence, timing, and clinical/demographic associations of revision surgery post-VNS implantation in epilepsy patients. The Thomson Reuters MarketScan database, containing data from 23-50million individuals, was used.

Random-Access Multiphoton Microscopy for Fast Three-Dimensional Imaging.

Studies in several important areas of neuroscience, including analysis of single neurons as well as neural networks, continue to be limited by currently available experimental tools. By combining molecular probes of cellular function, such as voltage-sensitive or calcium-sensitive dyes, with advanced microscopy techniques such as multiphoton microscopy, experimental neurophysiologists have been able to partially reduce this limitation. These approaches usually provide the needed spatial resolution along with convenient optical sectioning capabilities for isolating regions of interest.

Trigeminal and glossopharyngeal neuralgia.

Trigeminal neuralgia and glossopharyngeal neuralgia are two causes of paroxysmal craniofacial pain. Either can be debilitating in affected individuals. This article reviews the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment options for these disorders.

Percutaneous CT-guided cordotomy for the treatment of pediatric cancer pain.

Percutaneous cordotomy using CT guidance has been shown to be a safe and effective means of reducing pain in adults with cancer in 2 large case series. Its effectiveness in pediatric patients, however, has not been reported. Here, the authors present a case of CT-guided percutaneous cordotomy being used effectively for the treatment of unilateral limb pain in a 9-year-old boy suffering from metastatic medulloblastoma.

Glioblastoma of the cerebellum in children: report of five cases and review of the literature.

Purpose: Cerebellar glioblastomas in children are rare. As a result, an optimal treatment strategy has not yet been identified. A review of the characteristics of the disease as well as the effectiveness of various therapeutic modalities would help in optimizing the treatment paradigm.

High-speed two-photon imaging.

The small size of neuronal dendrites and spines combined with the high speed of neurophysiological signals, such as transients in membrane potential or ion concentration, necessitates that any functional study of these structures uses recording methods with both high spatial and high temporal resolutions. In this regard, conventional two-photon microscopy, in combination with fluorescent indicators sensitive to physiological parameters, has proved to be only a partial solution by providing near-diffraction-limited spatial resolution even when imaging structures deep inside light-scattering tissue. This is because the relatively slow beam-scanning methods used in most conventional two-photon microscopes severely limit the extent to which functional data can be recorded.

Neurosurgical complications of left ventricular assist devices in children.

Object: Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are continuous or pulsatile flow devices that could potentially be life-saving measures for patients with end-stage heart failure. These devices have clear advantages over extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and are often used in adults. They are only recently being commonly used in the pediatric age group.

Standing wave total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy to measure the size of nanostructures in living cells.

We present the first application of standing wave fluorescence microscopy (SWFM) to determine the size of biological nanostructures in living cells. The improved lateral resolution of less than 100 nm enables superior quantification of the size of subcellular structures. We demonstrate the ability of SWFM by measuring the diameter of biological nanotubes (membrane tethers formed between cells).

Fast three-dimensional laser scanning scheme using acousto-optic deflectors.

A scheme for fast 3-D laser scanning using acousto-optic deflectors is proposed and demonstrated. By employing counterpropagating acoustic waves that are both chirped and offset in their frequencies, we show that it is possible to simultaneously scan both axially and laterally with frame rates on the order of tens of kilohertz. This scheme was specifically designed for application with multiphoton imaging, particularly of neurons, where it will enable the concurrent monitoring of physiological signals at multiple locations within a microscopic 3-D volume (350 x 350 x 200 microm).