Safety and Accuracy of Ultrasound-guided Burr Hole Brain Abscess Aspiration.

Background:  Ultrasound-guided burr hole biopsies or catheter placements are quick and safe procedures. The use of these procedures for treatment of brain abscesses has been reported, but larger series are missing. The aim of our study was to evaluate the accuracy and safety of the methods.

Polyether Ether Ketone Cranioplasties Are Permeable to Diagnostic Ultrasound.

It is a common assumption that the human skull and solid skull implants are impermeable to diagnostic ultrasound. We demonstrated in 2 patients that frontoparietal polyetheretherketone cranioplasties allowed useful imaging of intracranial parenchymal and vascular structures with higher ultrasound frequencies than the 2 MHz used for the temporal bone window. This knowledge about additional imaging properties may be helpful in emergency situations and for vascular monitoring.

Differential somatostatin, CXCR4 chemokine and endothelin A receptor expression in WHO grade I-IV astrocytic brain tumors.

Purpose: Glioblastomas represent the most common primary malignant tumor of the nervous system and the most frequent type of astrocytic tumors. Despite improved therapeutic options, prognosis has remained exceptionally poor over the last two decades. Therefore, new treatment approaches are urgently needed.

The value of intraoperative ultrasonography during the resection of relapsed irradiated malignant gliomas in the brain.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate whether intraoperative ultrasonography (IOUS) helped the surgeon navigate towards the tumor as seen in preoperative magnetic resonance imaging and whether IOUS was able to distinguish between tumor margins and the surrounding tissue.

Methods: Twenty-five patients suffering from high-grade gliomas who were previously treated by surgery and radiotherapy were included. Intraoperatively, two histopathologic samples were obtained a sample of unequivocal tumor tissue (according to anatomical landmarks and the surgeon's visual and tactile impressions) and a small tissue sample obtained using a navigated needle when the surgeon decided to stop the resection.