Enhancing Surgical Safety: Microbiological Air Control in Operating Theatres at University Medical Centre Maribor.

Background: the aim of the study was to assess microbiological air quality in operating theatres by determining the level of microbiological contamination of the air and critical surfaces using the passive air sampling method and compliance of the operating theatre staff with infection control measures.

Materials And Methods: The prospective study was conducted in the surgical block of the University Medical Centre Maribor. For two months continuously, ten operating theatres were assessed for microbial contamination of air and surfaces during quiet and active times of the day.

The Endplate Role in Degenerative Disc Disease Research: The Isolation of Human Chondrocytes from Vertebral Endplate-An Optimised Protocol.

Background: Degenerative disc disease is a progressive and chronic disorder with many open questions regarding its pathomorphological mechanisms. In related studies, in vitro organ culture systems are becoming increasingly essential as a replacement option for laboratory animals. Live disc cells are highly appealing to study the possible mechanisms of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration.

Neurosurgical Approaches to Brain Tissue Harvesting for the Establishment of Cell Cultures in Neural Experimental Cell Models.

In recent decades, cell biology has made rapid progress. Cell isolation and cultivation techniques, supported by modern laboratory procedures and experimental capabilities, provide a wide range of opportunities for in vitro research to study physiological and pathophysiological processes in health and disease. They can also be used very efficiently for the analysis of biomaterials.

May Heading in Soccer Result in Traumatic Brain Injury? A Review of Literature.

Background: Globally, soccer is the most popular team sport, unifying many fans all around the world. The epidemiological studies so far have confirmed that head playing and hitting the ball with head may cause minor head injuries, which exert their effects in a cumulative way.

Methods: Literature search for this review was conducted and data about traumatic brain injury collected from various sources.

Hypophyseal metastases: A report of three cases and literature review.

Metastatic tumours to the pituitary gland are rare. The most frequent are metastases from breast and lung. We describe three patients with metastatic tumours: (I) a 54-year-old patient with metastatic renal clear-cell carcinoma and consequent disturbances in visual acuity, cranial nerve paresis and panhypopituitarism, (II) a 60-year-old patient with a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with panhypopituitarism and diabetes insipidus and (III) a 57-year-old patient with metastasis of breast cancer and panhypopituitarism, visual impairment and cranial nerve paresis.

Biomaterials and host versus graft response: a short review.

Biomaterials and biotechnology are increasing becoming an important area in modern medicine. The main aim in this area is the development of materials, which are biocompatible to normal tissue. Tissue-implant interactions with molecular, biological and cellular characteristics at the implant-tissue interface are important for the use and development of implants.

Endovascular versus operative treatment of cerebral aneurysms: a comparison of results from a low-volume neurosurgical centre.

Background: Subarachnoid haemorrhage is a debilitating disease. The treatment options include surgical clipping or endovascular embolisation. Still, many controversies exist about which method is more convenient.

Metastasis of an occult pulmonary carcinoma into meningioma: a case report.

Tumour-to-tumour metastasis is an infrequent pathological phenomenon. Meningioma is the most common intracranial tumour where metastatic deposits may be found, the majority of which arise from breast and lung cancers. We describe an unusual case of occult pulmonary carcinoma metastasis into the intracranial meningioma.

Partial skull base tumour resection in combination with radiosurgery: an escape procedure or a reasonable solution of treatment?

Despite advancement in microsurgical techniques for skull base tumour surgery, approaches of this kind still represent a significant challenge for neurosurgeons due to the size of the tumour and its interference and proximity to important neural and vascular structures. After incomplete resection, gamma knife radiosurgery is becoming an alternative or adjunctive treatment option. In this article, some examples of our experience in combined treatment of the skull base tumours with surgical procedure and gamma knife therapy for the remaining tumour tissue are presented.

Colloid cysts of the third ventricle exhibit various clinical presentation: a review of three cases.

Colloid cysts are benign intracranial tumours usually occurring in the front part of the third ventricle. Clinical presentation may be non-specific and heterogeneous. The problems are frequently associated with development of hydrocephalus, these cysts may cause.

Abscess of cauda equina presenting as lumboischialgic pain: a case report.

Spinal intradural abscess is an uncommon form of pathology carrying poor prognosis, unless treated immediately. We report a case of a patient treated for intense lower back pain and neurological symptoms of foot paresis simulating a herniated lumbar disc. It was evident after image diagnostic procedure and surgery that an intradural abscess of cauda equina was the cause.

Resolution of blepharospasm after chronic subdural haematoma evacuation: A case report.

Blepharospasm in connection with chronic subdural haematoma is an uncommon pathology and usually subsides after treatment of the haematoma. Different mechanical and vascular factors may play a role by affecting domapinergic transmission in basal ganglia. A case of a 72-year-old patient is presented, who developed transient blepharospasm as a result of a chronic subdural haematoma and whose symptoms regressed after surgical management.

ProDisc-C versus fusion with Cervios chronOS prosthesis in cervical degenerative disc disease: Is there a difference at 12 months?

Study Design:  Prospective cohort study.

Objective:  The aim of the study was to compare clinical results and to determine differences in outcomes between anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and disc arthroplasty in patients treated for symptomatic cervical degenerative disc disease.

Methods:  Forty patients with cervical degenerative disc disease were treated with ProDisc-C disc arthroplasty and 40 patients with fusion using an intervetebral spacer with integrated fixation (Cervios chronoOS) implants without additional anterior fixation.

Genetic markers in oligodendroglial tumours.

Background: Oliogodendrogliomas are brain tumours composed of the cells resembling oligodendrocytes. They represent the third most common glial tumour, comprising 2.5% of all primary brain tumours and 5-20% of all gliomas.

Variable presentations of Currarino syndrome in three members of the same family.

The article presents an autosomal dominant Currarino syndrome with incomplete penetrance in three out of four members of the same family. The mother had only a bony sacral defect and no other signs. In the older daughter, the syndrome was completely developed with presacral cystic teratoma, a sacral defect and abdominal discomfort.

Iatrogenic metastasis of a benign meningioma to the periosteum at the site of previous craniotomy: a case report.

Metastasis formation after resection of meningiomas is a rare event, predominantly occurring with malignant phenotypes. As far as we know, the presented case is the first report in the literature of iatrogenic seeding of a benign meningioma to the scalp following surgery. A 37-year-old woman was admitted because of a relapsing meningioma in the frontal lobe.

Treatment of ruptured intracranial aneurysms: report from a low-volume center.

Background: The aim of this retrospective analysis was to present our experience and results in treating subarachnoid hemorrhage due to ruptured intracranial aneurysms at a neurosurgical department with a small annual number of cases (i.e. a low-volume center) and to discover which factors could influence treatment and reliably predict the outcome of hemorrhage.

Correspondence between the time course of cerebral vasospasm and the level of cerebral dopamine-beta-hydroxylase in rabbits.

The aim of the study was to explore whether the biphasic time course of the vasospastic response following experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage is associated with any concomitant changes in the amount of cerebral dopamine beta-hydroxylase in the noradrenergic central nervous system. A single-hemorrhage animal model was used. Rabbits were sacrificed from day 1 to day 8 after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Long-term cognitive deficits in patients with good outcomes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage from anterior communicating artery.

Aim: To evaluate long-term cognitive consequences of subarachnoid hemorrhage with good outcome and the opinion of patients and their relatives about these consequences.

Methods: The study included 10 patients surgically treated for subarachnoid hemorrhage due to the rupture of aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery 2 or more years earlier, and 10 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The preoperative and postoperative course in the patients was uneventful.

Recurrent giant invasive thoracolumbar schwannoma.

Giant invasive spinal schwannoma is a new term proposed by Sridhar in 2001 for a particularly aggressive type of benign spinal schwannoma. Only a few cases have been published, the majority of these located in the lumbosacral spine, two in the thoracic and only one in the cervical spine. A rare case of such a tumor is presented.

Abscess formation within cerebellar metastatic carcinoma--report of two cases and review of the literature.

Background: The occurrence of an abscess in conjunction with a tumor in the brain is very rare. Only presumptions exist about their origin and manner of dissemination. Preoperative discrimination between a brain tumor with cystic degeneration and a brain abscess within a tumor may be difficult or even impossible.

The influence of noradrenergic blockade on vasospasm and the quantity of cerebral dopamine beta-hydroxylase following subarachnoid haemorrhage in rabbits.

Background: The aim of this study of experimental subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and exclusion of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in rabbits was to find out if changes in the central noradrenergic areas of the hypothalamus and brain stem could be ascertained, in parallel with measurement of the intensity of chronic cerebral vasospasm in the basilar arteries.

Methods: Histologic specimens were prepared by perfusion fixation on day 8 after the SAH. The spastic effect of experimentally induced SAH in New Zealand rabbits was investigated: firstly, using our previously developed method for measuring the corrugation coefficient (CC) of the vessel intima on precisely defined locations of the basilar artery (BA) with the aid of computer image analysis; and secondly, by immunohistochemical assessment of the concentration and localization of dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH), using anti-DBH, at precisely defined sites of the hypothalamus and brain stem of the same rabbit.

Attenuation of cerebral vasospasm in rabbits using clonidine hydrochloride, a central adrenergic agonist.

The aim of this study was to assess, firstly, if exclusion of central noradrenergic areas in the hypothalamus and brain stem with the central sympathetic blocker clonidine hydrochloride could prevent the development of chronic vasospasm following experimental subarachnoid haemorrhage in rabbits and, secondly, if, parallel with the effect on cerebral arteries, changes in dopamine beta-hydroxylase concentration in the hypothalamus and brain stem could also be detected. Experimental subarachnoid haemorrhage, in concentrations of 1 ml of autologous arterial blood/1 kg of body weight was carried out on 18 New Zealand rabbits. Histological specimens were obtained by the method of perfusion fixation after the rabbits were sacrificed on day 8 after subarachnoid haemorrhage.