Blogs for neurosurgeons.

Blogs are useful tools to research and to disseminate information. As they allow people who do not have specific knowledge on the building of sites to post content on the internet, they turned out to be very popular. In the past years, there has been a rapid expansion of blogs on several subjects and nowadays there are over 156 million blogs online.

Meningioangiomatosis without neurofibromatosis simulating encephalitis in neuroimaging.

Background: Meningioangiomatosis (MA) is a rare entity characterized by a focal lesion that affects the leptomeninges and the cerebral cortex.

Case Description: We describe a case of a 32-year-old man diagnosed with MA not associated with hamartomatous lesions or with type 2 neurofibromatosis. Magnetic resonance images (MRI) showed an extensive parieto-occipital lesion and another right frontal lesion, initially suggestive of encephalitis.

Gliomatosis cerebri: diagnostic considerations in three cases.

Clinical symptoms and radiologic characteristics of gliomatosis cerebri (GC) are non-specific and the condition may be confused with other central nervous system diseases. We report three patients with GC; all the three patients had involvement of more than three lobes and the deep white matter, as well as bilateral involvement. Differentiation of GC from other neurologic diseases involving diffuse white matter may be difficult.

Early shunt complications in 46 children with hydrocephalus.

Objective: To determine the causes of early shunt complications in 46 children with hydrocephalus.

Method: A retrospective study was conducted on 46 children submitted to ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery between February 2005 and February 2007.

Results: Thirteen (28%) patients presented complications, which were due to infection in 9 (69%) and to malfunction of the shunt system in 4 (31%).

Intracranial aneurysms in sickle cell patients: report of 2 cases and review of the literature.

Background: The sickle cell disease has different neurologic complications, including cerebral aneurysms. This disease may lead to endothelial damage, which favors the development of cerebral aneurysms. Only a few cases demonstrated by cerebral angiography or surgery have been reported in the English literature referring to cerebral aneurysms in sickle cell patients.

[Intramedullary epidermoid tumor: case report].

A rare case of an epidermoid intramedullary spinal cord tumor, extending from the second to the fourth thoracic vertebra is reported, in a 15 years old girl, surgically treated successfully. The clinical feature, the ethiopatogeny and a literature review will be discussed.