The effect of the leukotriene antagonist pranlukast on pediatric acute otitis media.

Objective: Conventional treatment for acute otitis media mainly targets bacteria with antibiotics, neglecting to control for mediators of inflammation. Mediators of inflammation, such as leukotrienes, have been identified in patients with acute otitis media (AOM) or subsequent secretory otitis media (SOM). They can cause functional eustachian tube dysfunction or increase mucous in the middle ear, causing persistent SOM following AOM.

Management of intended durotomy in minimally invasive intradural spine surgery: clinical article.

Object: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has been increasingly used for the treatment of various intradural spinal pathologies in recent years. Although MIS techniques allow for successful treatment of intradural pathology, primary dural closure in MIS can be technically challenging due to a limited surgical corridor through the tubular retractor system. The authors describe their experience with 23 consecutive patients from a single institution who underwent MIS for intradural pathologies, along with a review of pertinent literature.

Minimally invasive direct lateral approach to the thoracolumbar junction: cadaveric analysis and case illustrations.

Background: Multiple surgical exposures to the thoracolumbar junction have been described. The minimally invasive direct lateral approach to the lumbar spine captures the advantages of anterolateral approaches while minimizing soft tissue destruction and perioperative morbidity. Utilizing this approach at the thoracolumbar junction presents unique anatomical challenges posed by the ribs, diaphragm, pleura, and lung.

Disseminated spinal myxopapillary ependymoma in an adult at initial presentation: a case report and review of the literature.

Disseminated spinal myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE) is extremely rare in adults. We report a 63-year-old man with chronic low-back pain found to have multiple MPEs in the thoracic, lumbar and sacral spine. Diagnostic and management strategies of disseminated MPE are discussed with a review of pertinent literature.

Minimally invasive transpedicular approach for evacuation of epidural abscess and debridement of disc space in a patient with discitis in the thoracic spine.

Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) often requires prompt surgical decompression to prevent potential devastating neurological deficits. Dorsally located SEA usually can be evacuated via simple laminectomies. Ventral SEA often requires an anterior approach such as thoracotomy to achieve adequate exposure and decompression.

Spinal fibromatosis: a report of two cases and review of the literature.

Background Context: Spinal fibromatosis is a unique subset of fibromatosis that is only anecdotally described in the literature in sporadic case reports. According to our review of the literature, only 11 cases of spinal fibromatosis have been previously documented. This paucity of clinical data limits our understanding of its presentation and treatment.

Ocular melanoma metastasis to the cervical spine.

Ocular melanoma is a rare type of malignant melanoma. Melanoma metastatic to the spine typically arises within the vertebral column, presents with back pain, and has a poor prognosis. We present a patient with a unique disease course: ocular melanoma metastasis occurred after an extended latency period of 14 years, attained a large size within the spinal intradural space, presented with severe neurological deficits without additional central nervous system disease, and the tumor was amenable to surgical intervention.

Spontaneous radiographic resolution and subsequent redemonstration of an untreated glioblastoma.

The authors present the first case of spontaneous radiographic resolution and subsequent redemonstration of Gd enhancement of an untreated glioblastoma. They also review the literature on MR imaging enhancement patterns of high-grade gliomas and speculate that this phenomenon could be attributed to the dynamic biology of glioblastomas but could also represent pseudoregression following successful control of seizure activity. A 57-year-old woman presented with left-sided paresthesias and numbness.

Epidural cylinder electrodes for presurgical evaluation of intractable epilepsy: technical note.

Background: This is a technical report describing a different technique for the insertion of epidural electrodes in the preoperative evaluation of epilepsy surgery. Our experience in 67 cases using this technique is analyzed.

Methods: Cylinder electrodes with multiple recording nodes spaced 1 cm apart along a Silastic core are placed into the epidural space under general anesthesia through single or multiple burr holes.

Novel in vitro perfusion model to study the interaction between coagulation and blood-borne metastasis.

The association between cancer and hemostasis has long been studied in cell culture, animal models, and cancer patients developing thrombosis. The variety of biologic mechanisms involved in malignancy and metastasis makes the understanding of the relative importance of each mechanism difficult. We have developed a novel in vitro perfusion model that allows for the isolated study of the interactions between tumor cells and components of the hemostatic system under normal physiologic conditions.