3D-CT Epidurography Can Detect Cerebrospinal-Fluid Leakage in a Patient with Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension: A Case Report.

Spontaneous intracranial hypotension presents with many symptoms including orthostatic headache, dizziness, and nausea due to cerebrospinal-fluid (CSF) leakage from the spinal dural sac. Although CSF leakage can be estimated by radioisotope (RI) cisternography or computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging myelography, it is not easy to detect the leakage point using these modalities. Here, we describe a patient with spontaneous intracranial hypotension in whom three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) performed just after an epidural blood patch (EBP) containing contrast medium detected leakage point.

Synchronized multiple regression of diagnostic radiation-induced rather than spontaneous: disseminated primary intracranial germinoma in a woman: a case report.

Introduction: Examples of the spontaneous regression of primary intracranial germinomas can be found in the literature. We present the case of a patient with disseminated lesions of primary intracranial germinoma which synchronously shrunk following diagnostic irradiation. We will discuss whether this regression was spontaneous or radiation-induced.

Metabolic effects of growth hormone replacement in two pediatric patients with growth without growth hormone.

Growth without growth hormone (GH) has occasionally been described in patients who have had tumors removed in the hypothalamic-pituitary area. Most of these patients have metabolic abnormalities such as obesity, dyslipidemia and fatty liver. This report describes the metabolic beneficial effects of GH replacement in pediatric patients with growth without GH.

Spontaneous regression of isolated neurohypophyseal langerhans cell histiocytosis with diabetes insipidus.

In pediatric and adolescent patients, the most common causes for a thickened pituitary stalk with central diabetes insipidus are germ cell tumors, lymphocytic infundibuloneurohypophysitis (LIN), and Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). We describe here a 13-year-old girl who had an abrupt onset of polyuria and polydipsia. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed thickening of the pituitary stalk, and loss of the physiological hyperintense signal of the posterior pituitary gland.

Occipital transtentorial approach and combined treatments for pineal parenchymal tumors.

The deep-seated location of pineal parenchymal tumors (PPTs) and their associations with critical structures make their surgical resection technically challenging; further, the rarity of PPTs and repeated changes in their histopathological diagnostic criteria makes the study of their biological behavior and clinical outcomes difficult. Here, we describe the surgical techniques and results of an occipital transtentorial approach for PPTs together with the results in the clinicopathological study of PPTs. Since 1982, we have treated 93 patients with pineal region tumors, including 17 PPTs, with the occipital transtentorial approach using the lateral semiprone position.

Preoperative depiction of cavernous sinus invasion by pituitary macroadenoma using three-dimensional anisotropy contrast periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction imaging on a 3-tesla system.

Objectives: Three-dimensional anisotropy contrast (3DAC) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging provides clear depiction of neuronal fibers. The aim of this study was to identify intracavernous cranial nerves in patients with pituitary macro-adenoma and in healthy volunteers by using 3DAC MR imaging on a 3-tesla system and to preoperatively predict cavernous sinus invasion by pituitary macroadenoma.

Methods: Thirty-three patients (cavernous sinuses in 66 sides) with pituitary macroadenomas and 25 healthy volunteers (50 sides) participated in this study.

Basal ganglion hamartoma in a patient presenting with precocious puberty.

We report a basal ganglion hamartoma in a 10-year-old boy in whom the major clinical feature was precocious puberty. Endocrinological evaluation showed a gonadotropin reaction to luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone with no elevation of the human chorionic gonadotropin beta-subunit level in the serum or cerebrospinal fluid. Neuroimaging studies showed a small, calcified, nonenhanced mass lesion with some cystic components in the right basal ganglion.

Relationship between insulin-like growth factor-I and brain natriuretic peptide in patients with acromegaly after surgery.

Background: Increased cardiac insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I production is associated with physiological cardiac hypertrophy in athletes, and IGF-I has been recognized as a cardioprotective agent in experimental animal studies. On the other hand, acromegaly which is characterized by an excess of IGF-I has been linked to impaired cardiac function.

Methods And Results: Both the relationship between the serum levels of IGF-I and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), which is released from the cardiac ventricles in response to ventricular stress, and that between IGF-I and the concentrations of the plasma amino-terminal propeptide of procollagen type III (P-III-P), which is associated with myocardial fibrosis, were evaluated in 19 patients after surgical treatment for acromegaly.